The Ordinary Ones

I just want to take a moment to say thank you to every person who has donated a dollar or said a prayer (or many dollars or many prayers), or who has given me their love and support to help me be on mission for these past six years. I am so thankful to the Lord for this time that I have been blessed enough to spend as a missionary for Him. What a gift! Thank you for your yes to being on mission with me. The three years that I spent in Haiti were some of the hardest and best times of my life. I had to wrestle with a new language and culture, with suffering, with poverty, with my own human weakness, but ultimately learned to trust more in the goodness of God the Father and His deep, unending love for me. While I am convinced that my time in mission will never really be over, I know that God is calling me forward to something different and new. I left Haiti on August 21 st and am confident that this is exactly what the Lord is asking of me at this point in my life. I cannot c

When my Dad came to Haiti, I remember him commenting after mass one day that for a people who don’t have much, Haitians sing a lot of songs that say, “Thank you, God.” This has stuck with me especially in returning to America. While there are many temptations to say “Well, that didn’t go the way I expected or wanted,” or “What do I do now that I am not a missionary?” I am trying to remember just to be thankful for the past six years that I was blessed enough to spend serving the Lord with every moment of my time. What a gift. And when I doubt or struggle or questions what the Lord’s plans are for me next, I am trying to remember to find my inner Haitian and remember to thank God for His many blessings in my life. While I sometimes feel directionless and confused about where God could be leading me, I have to look back and remember all the ways that He has led me already, and the joy that has come from following Him. I must thank Him for getting to have relatio

“You just came back from … wherever … you deserve a candy.” “Do you have a job yet?” “Don’t put that food in front of her. She’ll think about starving people and then she’ll have to eat it.”  The things that people think are appropriate to say to a girl who just got back from three years of foreign mission are rather astounding sometimes. Mostly, I enjoy talking about Haiti. I enjoy when people ask me about it because it’s the only thing that I really know how to talk about right now. It’s the most recent passion on my heart. Haiti is what makes me lean in during a conversation. Talking about Haiti may be the only way to get me to say anything significant that I have been thinking. I may even talk about my feelings about it if you are special enough – if I think you can handle it. Mostly, the people who ask enough questions are the ones who are willing and ready to hear it. Other people ask and after a few sentences seemed to be overwhelmed and I feel like I shouldn’t go fur