The Ordinary Ones

The past few weeks have been filled with preparations for Haiti. There has been and still is so much to do. I don't think I really knew how much preparation has to go into a mission like this. Here are some things we have been doing: figuring out electricity and solar panels, cars, phones, internet, what to pack, health insurance, shots/meds, communicating with the priest in Haiti who will be serving with us, communicating between all of our mission team (one member of our team is joining us in january and is currently living in Dallas), traveling to a school and raising awareness for the mission, fundraising, writing thank you cards, trying to learn and practice the language as much as possible... and so much more. I have a constant running list of things to do, and I seem to think of new things every day. Yesterday, we bought our plane tickets! It is official! We are flying out on October 9th, and will land in Haiti on October 10th. Please, please pray for us. Buying tickets ha

Alarm goes off. Trying not to hit the snooze button. Turn off my alarm, fall back asleep. Wake up a little later than planned. Whoops. Holy hour & morning prayer in the chapel at Covecrest. Get in the car with another missionary & drive down to Atlanta. Meeting at a school about how they can be involved with our mission in Haiti. Talk with the school cook about cooking a Haitian lunch. September 25th. Date set! Talk with one of their staff members who is from Haiti. Share, chat, hear about milk in Haiti, the cathedral in Port-au-Prince, her childhood etc. Ice cream break at Brusters. Yes please. Drive to our mentor family's house from our Atlanta mission last year. Eat dinner with the family, catch up, play checkers with the kids. They beat me both times. Who ever heard of being crowned four times? They say, "It's the fun way." Sitting on the couch as Zoe brushes my hair, reading with Clare, while Simon tells me about his lego car garage. All at one

The past couple of weeks have been full of many different things for me. I've begun seriously sitting down with the language, Creole, that they speak in Haiti. I have never tried to learn a language through computer programs in this way, so it has been interesting. It requires so much discipline to actually sit down and either go through flashcards in a computer program, practice pronunciation, or listen to sound files where you repeat words in Creole over and over. One minor problem that I have is that I studied spanish on and off for years in school. When I don't know a word in Creole, the spanish word pops up in my head, and sometimes I think I know the right word when I actually don't. Whoops. Hopefully this will diminish as I keep practicing. One exciting thing for me is that I love learning. Sometimes I miss being in school, so this is an incredible opportunity for me to continue growing as a student, and learning some new things! However, I really think I will lear

I used to HATE fundraising. I found it so difficult to ask people for money when I know that our culture tells us to fend for ourselves, earn our keep, work hard, get a job, and be independent. It was humbling and difficult and awkward. It made me nervous, sweaty, anxious, and left me feeling inadequate. In the past couple of years, I feel like my relationship with fundraising has changed significantly. While I still often find it awkward, and it still makes me nervous, I have experienced some really beautiful God moments through asking for other people's prayers and financial support. Let me give you some examples: 1. My first year of missions, someone set a reminder to pray for me at 2:20pm every day. I love the intentionality and commitment there. 2. A couple of people who were my prayer partners for a year or two, began supporting me monthly last year, at a rate that I know was a sacrifice for them. It is incredibly humbling to receive gifts like that. 3. Someone who co