Tomorrow afternoon will find me on a plane bound for Haiti, along with the Arteest, my Parental Units, and a bunch of other neat people as part of our ongoing friendship with a remote northern village. We’ll fly to Miami, then Port au Prince, and then make our way ever so slowly up the bumpy, pothole-ridden “highway” leading up country to Gonaives and then Terre Blanche.
I am so looking forward to seeing our friends Pastor Delamy and Elvie; Mme. Julbert, the clinic nurse; Jeanti, a fantastic translator; Lunel, the primary school principal; Alfred, the unstoppable song leader; Joel, who does pharmacy consultations; Mme. Francis, a sweet lady who helps prepare our meals; Pastor Osmy, the incredibly intelligent lawyer-turned-pastor; and a host of other friends who we only get to see this one time each year.
We will go up to the clinic roof at night lathered up with potent bug repellent, sit on plastic chairs and look at a sky full of huge, glorious stars that you can’t quite see in the city.
We will walk to the top of the bluff in the late afternoon, feeling pleasantly tired after a full day in the clinic, and look out over the thatched huts and cooking fires as the dinner-time sun casts a beautiful light over the village.
We will walk down to the river and notice how the rain, or lack thereof, has provided a barely adequate water source for villagers to do laundry, and see clean clothes spread out over rocks to dry in the sun.
We will jog down the rocky dirt road in our running shoes and shorts and gather an entourage of curious children jogging alongside us in their flip flops and dress shoes, wide eyed and wondering about what these white people are running to, or from.
We will wake early to the sounds of braying donkeys, crowing roosters, and sick people singing outside the compound wall as they wait for the clinic to open.
We will laugh with our Haitian friends when our language skills fail us.
We will cry when Jesus breaks our hearts for those who are suffering.
And most certainly, we will be surprised and challenged by new and unexpected situations that ask more than we have to give and require us to ask for help from the One who is with us all of the time, and loves us best.
