Haiti Youth Retreat – 2009<\/p>\n
I just got back from a mission trip to Haiti. I have gone many times before and each time, it is a wonderful experience but it’s never easy. Usually, some of the hardest parts for me are in the going and coming.<\/p>\n
When I go, I get up VERY early and spend much of the day traveling to get to a place where most people would never want to go. As I wait for the plane to depart in Atlanta, I always wonder, \u201cWhy did I agree to do this?\u201d I don’t always know exactly where I might wind up, but I can be fairly sure it will not be nearly as nice as the place I am leaving. Chances are, I will be going to a place where the electricity, if it exists at all, only works occasionally. The toilets, if they exist, do not flush except with a bucket of water. Hot showers are almost non-existent. A gallon of warm water for a \u201cbath\u201d is a luxury. Keeping clean drinking water is vital, and a few Pepto-Bismol tablets are a key ingredient in my emergency first aid kit. \u201cMaking do\u201d becomes an essential part of life. Yet still I go. Because how ever hard it is going to Haiti, coming home is often the hardest part.<\/p>\n
Coming home can be a real challenge. Spending hours in airports, standing in line to get out of and into countries, customs forms, waiting for luggage . . . It’s all part of the experience. I do look forward to the blessings I have at home. The warm shower. Brushing my teeth using tap water. The little handle on the back of the toilet that actually works. But somehow when I get back all those things seem a little less important. \u201cWhat’s for dinner?\u201d seems a silly question after being in a country where just as often the question might be \u201cIs there any dinner?\u201d Thus I think it is in coming home that I struggle most.<\/p>\n
I go to Haiti with heavy luggage packed with what we Americans call necessities and a burden in my heart to share the love of Christ. I come home with dirty clothes and a lighter load, but only because I have left a bunch of stuff behind in Haiti. Friends who have become family, smiles, laughter, once-in-a-lifetime experiences, star-lit nights and warm sunny days. All these things I leave behind, along with empty packs of hand wipes, Power Bar wrappers, dozens of empty water bottles and a big old dirty green suitcase.<\/p>\n
I have left an old suitcase behind for years now. I leave it packed full of stuff I might need next time I go. Even now, I have a list of all its contents. In that old suitcase you will find hundreds of balloons, string, golf pencils, cards, game instructions, chair webbing, crowns, gold medals, markers, chalk, a big roll of paper, 200 3oz Dixie cups and 5 gallons of artificial snow. They are all things I might need next time.<\/p>\n
As the plane lifts off the ground in Haiti and turns toward America’s shores, I almost always pray \u201cLord, let me come back soon.\u201d In the morning when I wake after a comfortable night’s sleep on my big fluffy mattress, my back and body feel renewed, but my heart aches. It hurts because there is a big piece missing. A chunk of my heart is gone, left behind, stuffed in a big old dirty green suitcase sitting in a closet . . . in Haiti.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Haiti Youth Retreat – 2009 I just got back from a mission trip to Haiti. I have gone many times before and each time, it is a wonderful experience but it’s never easy. Usually, some of the hardest parts for me are in the going and coming. When I go, I get up VERY early […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":112,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1048","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1048"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1049,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1048\/revisions\/1049"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}