If you were to ask me "How was your trip to Haiti?" this is how I would have genuinely replied. It WAS a wonderful trip! And truly, it felt like going home to visit family. But anyone who has ever taken a "mission trip" understands that such a response never seems to fully express all the emotions you felt, the stretching challenges you experienced, the changes that took place in your heart. Such a question, though well-intended, in passing, seems almost trite and it can be overwhelming to summarize the vast experiences that inundated your senses for the past week. To be asked immediatly upon arrival in the States, a week or even a month later seems too quick. There needs to be time to process what you've seen, heard, smelled, and felt. Some may be satiated by the quick answer above. For others, I'm writing for you, because I want you, in some way to be moved too. When my husband goes away even for a short time, I want to know everything that happened while he was away. I want to keep up with him by growing the same way he might have grown through his experiences apart from me. The following is one of several parts of a series in this blog dedicated to letting you in to my thoughts as I journaled them away in an airport, on a bumpy bus, sitting by the ocean, lying in my dorm on the mission base. And it's intended for your growth as well as mine because upon re-entry into my everyday life, devoid of the routines of bug spray, sweating in 98 degree heat, learning creole, and being surrounded by others (mostly of whom do not speak my native tongue.) I need to process. And while I'm doing that, I can answer your question of, "How was your trip?" a little more thoroughly. Here goes:
Friday, 10:00am
Time to say goodbye to the girls. Man, I'm gonna miss them! The moments before leaving loved ones are always the hardest. You soak in every glimpse of them, every sweet moment, every funny thing they say or do. In fact, when Adelaide woke up this morning she wanted snuggled, a routine upon waking that she had long given up since Mercy came around. I held her like a little baby on the couch and could have cried! Why do they have to do the cutest things right when you're about to leave?!
6:30pm
We are now en route to Haiti. After packing everything into vans and trucks, driving to Kansas City, and making one more phone call to my girls in the airport, we are on our flight to Atlanta, Georgia. My thoughts? I deeply miss Adelaide and Mercy, and hated leaving them behind. But, I can't help but feel like I'm in my element as we embark on this trip. I love doing this stuff! Someday maybe they will come with me. We are a little nervous as our connecting flight to Miami from Atlanta is only 45 minutes apart and Atlanta is a pretty big airport! Tiffany and Chad have been commissioned to "jog" ahead to hold the flight for the rest of us! Tiff is the fastest among us. But before we arrived in Atlanta, Dave received a notification on his phone that our flight to Miami was significantly delayed. So it looks like the Williams won't get their evening run in.
Saturday, 12:00am
Friday and Saturday are quickly melting into each other. Our already late arriving flight into Miami was delayed by 2 hours causing us to make the team decision to cancel the hotel reservation we had in Miami. By the time we would have gotten to the hotel it would have been nearly 3am and we may have only gotten 2 hours of sleep before turning around to come back to the airport. Not to mention we would have had to lug 18 bags weighing 50lbs each to the hotel and then back. So instead we will bunk down in the Miami airport to sleep as much as we can until check-in at 4:00am (which actually ended up being 6:00am.) For now, we sit on the plane at mid-night waiting to brave two storm systems along our path, one south of Atlanta and another entering Miami. Should be an interesting evening.
2:30am
In the Miami airport. Most of my team is sleeping. I cannot sleep for the life of me. Maybe it's the adrenaline, or the feeling that the day has not seemed to have ended yet, or the fact that there is no comfortable place to sleep. My teamates seem to have overcome the obstacles: Tiffany is stretched out on the strangest shaped bench ever (kind of like a three legged starfish) with her feet propped up on a suitcase. Jan, Turner, Galynn and Chad have found a kind of 'haven' right outside the bathrooms, where it is quiet and carpeted, but the air conditioning is blowing right on them making it freezing. Dave, Ron, and Kyle help me guard the mass of luggage we have. All drift off for moments here and there in their chairs or on the awkward bench.
4:00am
"Morning" comes and we discover Dunkin Donuts is open. Glory of glories!! Kyle returns with a donut for me and coffee for him. He must be delirious because he has sweetened his coffee. By this point I have been up for 24 plus hours and I didn't even feel tired! It came in other forms than heavy eyes though: like being a little punchy (maybe even grouchy at times I'll admit.) My enthusiasm for trip leading dissipated a little when Air France wanted us to pay for our bags AGAIN. This time $75 a bag! Highway robbery that is! Delta had also left Turner's bag in the Atlanta airport. It was beginning to be just a bit too much for this plan oriented softy. Praise the Lord for my husband who did not crumble under pressure. He stayed firm when I was about to give in. And our good cop, bad cop teamwork paid off. Turns out the mistake was on their end, and after a little convincing of that (;-) we were back on track. Turner's personal luggage is still MIA though.
9:00am
We finally make it onto the plane bound for Port Au Prince and I am spent! I was asleep before the plane took off!
11:00am
When we arrived in Haiti I couldn't help but be excited through my exhaustion. The heat, the sites and the smells were welcomed though many may not consider them pleasant by some standards. It was even more exciting to be greeted by AJ Edme. So nice to see him again! As we rode through Port Au Prince and it's surrounding areas on the bumpy school bus (that had been signed by others who had come to visit), I was in awe at the improvements to Port Au Prince and the airport. So much has been rebuilt since the earthquake 5 years ago. All the stimulation must have been too much for me apparently because I was soon conked out on my back pack. When we arrived at the base around 1pm, our day was not quite over. We had an orientation (and hugs!) from the missionaries, Lex, Renee and Alexis Edme, then a dip in the ocean. My shower was cold but amazing after a long (2) day(s?). Sleep soon followed around... 7pm?? We found out we will be teaching Sunday school in the morning at church and Kyle will preach! Each day we have a devotional in which there is a place to jot down your prayer time, today I wrote/prayed:
"God, you are sovereign. I trust your plan for whatever happens on this trip. May I honor you with my actions and may my weaknesses be met by your strength."
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