Monday, November 9, 2009

Contrast




We had a great trip to Des Dunes this afternoon. It went by too quickly. We passed out candy right and left. The village children are so delightful! The desperation in their eyes is unfathomable. As we pulled out of the small village, Ray said; ‘we are bringing more candy!’ His sentiment says it all. You wonder how a piece of candy can change a child’s life, just ask Robinson. He can tell you from experience. As I stared at a pig, standing at a little puddle made in the front yard of a home, tethered on a three foot rope, with two piglets still trying to suckle, I declared, ‘there is a Haitian farm.’ I was reminded of the incredible contrasts in this country. Beauty exists right beside vast corruption and spoiling. One faces one direction and the luxury of a blue ocean greets your eyes, you shift your gaze downward and a scene of a different nature robs your momentary elation. I continue to be mystified by the contrast and seek a connection to justify the terrible discrepancy. A setting that would be the envy of host of vacationers is littered with sewage and eroded by abuse. My heart yearns to restore, and there in I discover the heart of God. He yearns to restore as well. The nature of His heart is revealed in the progress being made here. One of the roads to Des Dunes has been restored to a respectable condition. A drive that took us 30-35 minutes last spring was reduced to ten minutes. I mentioned to Robinson and his reply was ‘election is coming.’ I had to laugh, sounded familiar. No matter the reason or way, I believe God is working through His people to bring change. I measure the success of our trips incrementally. It is all working together for a greater good. Our labor weaves in to a much bigger fabric of God’s design and plan for these people. And I am thrilled to be a part. Tomorrow is wrap up day. I am instructing and training for the well completion. I have built a really nice set-up, and with some elbow grease and time, we should have the well completed before Christmas. Ray and the gang will complete what we can at the house and final packing to head home happens tomorrow-late afternoon. We have hit the jet stream of the final wrap up. These trips end like a Haitian day, all at once it is dark and the day is over, so ends our visit this time. The consuming fire of our endeavors to finish, and to finish well sweeps us along. We are grateful for all your support. Ray and I trimmed out the kitchen today, and Naromie’s glowing face as she pronounced ‘belle’ (creole for beautiful) fueled our aspirations to complete as much as we could. Robinson also shared with us a surprise of his own for his wonderful wife. I will share later, but let it be said, this journey has filled our hearts with unexpected joy and satisfaction. It has been a hard-fought one, but so successful and rewarding. As always, upon further review I have discovered errors in my grammar on the blog posts as they have not been proofed yet. Bear with my humanity; I will fix them when my eyes are no longer bleary or my mind so weary! Blessings from St. Marc.

4 comments:

Gram said...

Dear Jack an Team- got your message tonight- made me happy- we just read the post- delighted to see my girls with Rob- Have been seeing you Lynn all week in your great kids- Busy but happy week- Exited you're coming soon but share the burden of your leaving- Can imagine Naromie's delight- Jesus answered prayer in big way for us today- Told we had to move the camper- Lord took care of it fast after prayer- Lots of hugs for all, especially you Jack- Bob called tonight- Dan fine- hurry home- Love DJ

dspachman said...

I am glad you had the opportunity to travel up the mountain and see from a different perspective. I think that we can become depressed looking down when our Heavenly Father is calling us to look up and see God's beauty all around us; the contrast. May God continue to bless you as you wrap up this trip. We pray for and look forward to your safe return home and the sharing of what God has done and is doing. Grace and Peace! (P.S. Don't worry about and mis-spelling or grammar issues. The message is getting through. :)

John G said...

This is it! Have a safe trip. Can't wait to see you guys!

Lynn. You're amazing! I love you!

-John

G~ said...

Oh my goodness you guys! You are going to be coming home to us! I can't even imagine the mix of emotions you all must be feeling right now! I'm praying hard for you that they flow as they need to and that you get strength to keep going when it's harder. I love you guys all sooooo much.

Krystle, we are this close (pinches fingers together... leaving just a wee bit of room... Haha! Yes, I said "wee bit") to being in the tramper again having our late night parties and reading about handsome pirates... and apples. :] Hehe! Oh how I can't wait to see you my love! I love you sooo stinking much! Btw... Maria and Michael kept texting me from your phone! And each time, like a fool, I would jump up with excitement thinking you were texting me........ from Haiti. LOL! So, when you come back, although I may be right next to you, I would like you to text me to make up for their cruelty. :]

Mommy, oh my goodness dad can't wait to see you! I am so excited for you to come back... I know I won't get to see you but until this trip I have totally underestimated the power of being able to talk on the phone! Ohhh how I can't wait to hear your voice! I am sooo proud of you. Seriously! And I'm in love with the picture of you and aunt bethie and rob rob. I shared it on facebook. :D Your skirt poofed out! It looks beautiful! I'm cracking up thinking about you on the back of a motorcycle! I can just see you throwing in a couple "oh yeah!"'s in there. ;] Hehe! I'm rather proud to be your daughter. :]

Grandpa, Gram is almost beside herself thinking about you coming home to her! You really aught to pick her up and kiss her like crazy when you see her. :] She would like that. Trust me! And I'm soooo pumped to see you again! I'm missing all your hugs... and mischief!

Kelly, I'm getting quite excited to see you. Believe it or not, I feel as though we have bonded in those couple days before you left. And I am quite excited to have you back. :] But when you do come back... if you say one word about this comment... I will deny it. And most likely slap you. ;] Hehe! I love you bunches and bunches more!

Aunt Beth, I'm praying hard for you! I know you especially (and probably my momma now!) would just love to take each one of those kids home with you! You guys have such big hearts... all of you do. And I'm hoping and praying so hard for you that the transition will be as smooth as possible... I know it's a lot of feelings and emotions to sift through. I'm so proud of you guys.

Uncle Doyle... :] I do actually miss you. Hehe! And I'm very excited for you and your family to come back. I might even kiss all your feet... ok maybe not. But it sounds dramatic. And it fit nicely in the sentence. :](I wonder if you made a sarcastic comment about that... Hmm... if you did... I give you my stank face. :])Haha!

I love you all even more than I love the thought of car chases... And REALLY love the thought of car chases. :] Sooooooooo many X's and soooooooooo many O's! Praying for you all!

Love G. <3