My Haitian Family

There's a verse in the bible that says, "God sets the lonely in families." I prayed this verse before I left the States because I hated the idea of leaving my family behind. And God has been faithful. Several Haitians in my life are treating me like family.

The Uncles
- The night watchman -- Each night he greets me and asks how I am. Then if I'm walking from one house on the compound to another, he will get his big spotlight and shine it on my path until I'm in my door. He's kind of like a protective uncle.

- The two sailors -- They have very different personalities. The one is small and chatty. He keeps some of his boat stuff at my house so he comes often to pick up stuff as he needs it. And each time he talks to me in Creole, and laughs and laughs as I try to understand. He kind of picks on me a bit and really gets a kick out of it when I have a language epiphany and say, "Oh, mwen konpran."
The other sailor is a strong silent type. The kind who holds the door for you and grabs your hand to help you get safely onto the boat. But he too picks on me. The other day he tried to tell me something. I didn't understand, so he laughed and laughed and lightly grabbed my wrist. (this would be something like a mix between an American knee slap and cheek pinch)

The Moms
- A cook and a nurse -- My friend's mom was cooking at my house the other day with one of the nurses. As they cooked they of course asked me if I was married. When I said no, I explained that I will not marry just any man. They both understood and said, "We will pray for you to find a husband." There was definitey a lot of motherly tenderness behind those words.

Some Dads and a brother
- The other missionaries -- They have pretty much fathered me. Before heading to the States Pastor Dan was pretty protective of me, giving me advice he'd give to his daughters. And Butch will walk me to my house at night if he thinks a stranger is on the compound.
He and Zach (a father/brother team) have also had to rescue me twice this week. Once when I locked myself out of my house and the other time when I locked myself in my bathroom. (the bathroom is a good story for another time.)

Sisters
- The women in my English club -- These women really treat me like sisters. They tell me they worried about me when the other missionaries went to PAP and left me here. And they wondered if I was ok in the thunderstorm. They also make sure to give me advice about who I should and should not talk to, and they help me with a lot of the stuff you talk to sisters about. :)

My Extended Family
- There's also some extended family around here, you know the third cousins and such. They're the ones I see once in a while but really enjoy. Like the laundry lady who shows up behind my house and yells for me through the windows. She's small , round, and spunky. She's friendly ike a great-aunt, but a fierce worker who would do anything for her now grown kids.

I could go on, but you get the picture. "He sets the lonely in families," and makes them lonely no more. :)

Trash

This evening as I went back to my room, a sound behind my house caught my attention. I looked out my windows to see what it was. I expected to see the pack of stray dogs that frequent the trash pit (which is also just behind my house). Instead I saw two teenage boys, running, backs bent, heads nervously turned in my direction.

The one boy had in his hand a white trash bag. I knew it was mine because when I threw it out earlier this afternoon, there were no other bags in the pit. I watched as they carried my trash to the back wall, then dumped its contents on the ground.

As saw them sorting through the trash with their eyes, I felt like they were sorting through me. Guiltily I wondered, what had I thrown away that week? An empty milk box, rotten salad, a couple of mango pits.

I was ashamed by the amount of food that had rotted in my fridge before making it into anyone's stomach. Would these boys take some of that food? Maybe I shouldn't have thrown that out yet. But soon they too had determined that my trash really was trash. Then they hopped back over the fence leaving my trash on the ground by the back wall.

The whole episode took less than a minute, but I can't stop thinking about those two boys. Why did they dig through my trash? What did they hope to find? How often do they sneak into the trash pit?

A little gift

Today I listened to worship music with my friend. It was the neatest thing because she started try to explain her worship experience to me, and neither one of us could quite put into words what happens when you sing a song and your heart connects with God.

Then a few minutes later a song came on that I recognized. It was "I Can Only Imagine," but all the words were in French. As it played she roughly translated for me, and said how much she enjoyed the song. It was so beautiful to hear her say, "when I am with God, I can only imagine." She spoke softly and deliberately, and looked up toward heaven when she said it.

When I tried to answer back, "Yes I understand," I felt tears coming to my eyes because I really did understand what she meant and I knew we were both at that moment feeling near to God.

This was the first time that I have connected with someone here (other than a missionary) on a spiritual level. It was a huge gift!

I cannot wait to develop my Creole so I can really begin to know people's hearts.