You will have to forgive all of my Haiti talk. It's seriously all I can think about right now!

People ask why I go to Haiti.

I am never quite sure what to say.

Especially now, since I am taking my 4th journey to Haiti "team-less" this summer.

Why (oh why!) would a little white girl go to a place like Haiti all alone? That is just stupid and irresponsible!    Right?

Right.

We all choose how we spend our time. We choose where and with whom we spend our time.
But we can't really choose how this time that we spend will affect us.

We don't really choose who we fall in love with.
True, the more time you spend with someone, the more likely you may be to fall in love with them. But if you don't have a connection, you don't have a connection. That is usually the end of the story.

I went to Haiti once, and I fell completely, unequivocally in love with the entire country.
I chose to spend two weeks there in August of 2010, and I now choose to go back every year.

Let's just clear something up here.

I DID NOT WANT to fall in love with Haiti.
I wanted to marry the boy I was dating, buy a cute old house, have kids, create art, write music, plant a garden, make furniture, travel....

And here I am.

I spend 2 weeks in Haiti. I spend 50 weeks thinking about Haiti constantly.

God says:
-break up with the guy you were going to marry
-move to Vancouver alone and go to school
-enroll in a program that you have never heard of
-trust Me to provide financially, both for school and to return to Haiti every year
-art and music may no longer be the priority, or be part of the direction your life is taking.
-trust that I have better plans.

I am trying. Really really trying. I have done all these things. But it is not easy and not always fun.

All of that to say, I agree. Maybe going to Haiti alone IS stupid and irresponsible.

BUT if I feel like God is leading me to go this year, even though my team is not, what else can I do?

I have to go.

Now, nothing can be as good as experiencing a trip like this in person, but this is a really great video. I used to know some of the people on this team. They went to Rwanda, not Haiti. But they had similar experiences, and the video tells their stories well. So, if you want to know kind of what a missions trip looks like, there you go!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ5m-_aToxw&list=UUJM3aPmvfkOJWU8KhBybRsg