Faith

He Said to them, Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature Mark 16:15

This weekend, I watch “The Letters” on Netflix. The movie is based off of letters written by Mother Teresa during her time of following God’s will to serve the poor. It shows her struggles and triumphs in Calcutta, India where she served. It was amazing to see how God was with her and had his hand in every move she made. I learned, however, that Mother Teresa felt very lonely through her time of service, she felt as if God was not with her, but she still carried out his plan. She felt the call from Jesus to share his love with the poorest of the poor in Calcutta by teaching their children and providing medical care. Many of these people were Hindu and did not believe what the Catholic church did, never the less, Mother Teresa continued to serve God and follow her call. This lead to the start of a new order called the Missionaries of Charity. At the end of the movie, it stated that even though there has been a decline in commitments in the Catholic church in recent years, the commitment to the Missionaries of Charity keeps rising. I was so inspired after watching the movie that I decided it was time to share about my experience at one of her hospitals and share a little more about my mission trip to Haiti.

I honestly never saw myself ever going on a mission trip. There seemed to always be material things in the way. I never had a lot of money to my name during college, I mean who does, and missing a week or more of work during the summer seemed impossible. However, God defiantly had this trip planned for me long before I ever considered thinking about going. God caught my interest during a winter Cru conference that took place in December 2016.

This conference was the first one I had been to since going to a Steubenville Conference in high school. The Cru conference was very big on mission trips. One of the talks was about missions and how God calls each of us to serve his mission in different ways. He either calls us to be senders or goers. I was dead set on being a sender, the thought of going to a different country kind of scared me to be honest, so I figured I’d stay here in Ohio and let others go. I’ll donate items and give some money but someone else can go do the work. Well, as we know, God always has way better plans then we could ever imagine.

In the spring of 2017, I felt the urge to find out more about going to Haiti with the St. Henry Mission group and Linda Thieman. So, here I a “sender” was going to find out more about the possibility of going to Haiti for a week during the summer. And just as I’ve said before, God has better plans and before I knew it, I was signed up to go to Haiti June 13-June 21^st, 2017. Much to my surprise, I was looking forward to this trip. I was not scared or worried because I knew God was with me.

On June 13^th, I woke up to hop on a plane and began my journey to Haiti. Our journey began in Cap- Haitian, here we got off of a huge airplane in the middle of a runway, much like you see the president walk out of a plane. The first thing I noticed was the beauty of the country. Mountains, trees and the feeling of hope surrounded you the moment you stepped off the plane. After stepping off the plane we went through the airport, well shack, right next to the runway. Drummer Bill, our tour guide/ interpreter for the week met us at the airport with a van. We than drove through the streets of the city to the place we were staying the next couple days. First off, in Haiti, NOBODY follows traffic laws. It was a little terrifying but also added some adventure to the trip.

Our stay in Cap Haitian was short, we visited an orphanage, a couple churches and the beach! After a few days in Cap Haitian, we traveled to Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. We stayed at The St. Joseph’s Home for Boys. This is where Drummer Bill grew up, so it was great to see where he spent his childhood. Now, I have skipped over a lot of the trip, trust me if I talked about everything, this post would be 5 or more pages long. But anyway, while in Port-au-Prince, we visited Mother Teresa’s baby hospital in the city. This was one of the most humbling experiences I’ve ever had in my life.

The Missionaries of Charity in Haiti has a hospital for sick babies and children. There are 5 different rooms in this hospital and the children are separated by the severity of their sickness. Parents bring their children here to receive care when they are sick. However, sometimes parents have no other options and choose to make their kids sick so they will get into the hospital and have a better chance at life. Parents can visit their children but sometimes, they never come back. A lot of these babies never make it out of the hospital, but the ones that do have a great chance at life after their stay. While we were there, we were able to hold the babies and play with the children. There are about 100 or so babies and children in this building. All of them want to be held. Each room has a “momma” to feed and change the babies, but they do not have enough time to cuddle or hold them. I was very overwhelmed and lost it the moment I walked into the first room. After choosing which child I wanted to hold first, I went outside and held her for a while. When it was time to bring her back, I cried as I laid her down and as she began to cry from me putting her back down. (Crying currently writing this) I then went into the room with the smaller babies who were sicker than the room I was just in. It was feeding time for the babies. Each baby gets a certain amount of food they can consume each day based off of their problem. The nuns took care of the children, giving them medicine and taking care of the sick ones, but the mommas were the ones we were really helping. After feeding the children, many of them fell asleep for an afternoon nap. During this time, we had a little down time to take everything in. A lot of us went upstairs to play with the older children. Soon it was time to go back to St. Joseph’s, I could not believe how these little children changed my life. I wanted to spend the rest of the trip at the hospital, but I knew there was so much more for us to do.

But, remember how many times I’ve said God has a plan? Well guess where we unexpectedly went again that week? Yep, the hospital. My second day at the hospital was just like the first, however, I really took in the experience and decided to go to the smaller babies this time. Linda told us that the children who can’t cry or make noises, are the ones that need the most love. So, I found a little girl who was very small for her age, or the age they assumed her to be. She was very skinny, and her hair was in the process of turning from black to red, which meant she was very sick. She had a full set of teeth but as I said before, looked like she was a 1 year old when it said she was around 4. I sat with her for over an hour just taking in her beauty and praying for her. During this time, a man from another group began to play his guitar and sing. We sang songs and just enjoyed the time with the children. I was able to reflect on my life and how blessed I have been even though I struggled with many things. My college debt, lack of the latest electronics, lack of a brand-new car and not having certain clothes was nothing compared to what these children did not have. They were happy with just having people there to hold them for a few hours and give them attention. After putting this little girl back in her crib, I saw tears fall from her eyes. She didn’t make a sound, but I knew she didn’t want me to put her down. Now it was time for us to leave once again, and I knew I would remember that little girl for the rest of my life. When we left this time, one of the sisters was leading us out and noticed my shirt. I was wearing a YMCA Half Marathon shirt, and all she did was point at it and say, “That is a great organization.” I did my usual awkward laugh and said thanks and went on with my day. (Does anyone else think this was a sign from God or just me???) Anyway, long story that was still long, my life changed because of Mother Teresa. Linda later went on to tell us she met Mother Teresa shorty before she passed. She told Linda to keep bringing her people to Haiti to see the people that need help and that’s exactly what Linda has been doing the past 18+ years.

Now, I know you probably finished this and are either really inspired or like what the heck! I didn’t follow any of that. First of all, I am very sorry, I have so so much to share about Haiti and it is hard to just narrow it down to one thing because every experience led into the other! If you ever want to hear more or are considering going on a mission trip, feel free to ask! God is so good. God showed me through these children that children are my passion in life. I need to help children, whether it be teaching them swim lessons, teaching them about Jesus or just holding them like in Haiti. I need to work with children. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of that little girl and say a prayer for her, whether she’s still in that crib bed or with Jesus in heaven, I know that one day I will be able to see her again.

How many times do we feel like God has abandoned us? Or that he is not with us when we most need him? Do we remain faithful like Mother Teresa? Or do we turn to sin instead of turning to prayer?

God is our refuge and our strength Psalm 46:2

{Thought I would share some of my favorite pictures from Haiti! However, none of the pictures are from the Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa did not want her children or nuns to be photographed.}