I leave for Haiti in four days.... Only four more days really? These couple of months have flown by. I have prepared for Saturday even before summer started. It is just unbelievable that it is actually here.
I have never done a blog before, so I'm sorry if I ramble a lot or just jump around to different topics. I wanted to do a blog during my trip so that my friends and family could actually see what I was doing, and how the trip actually was. I just love the fact that I can be as detailed as I want, as well as put pictures and videos, or whatever! It just seemed like the perfect idea.
Throughout the summer I have prepared and prepared for this trip. In order to raise money for my entire trip and my school supplies, I decided I needed to think of a creative and fun way to raise money. I instantly remembered a couple weeks before when my sister and I made jam for her wedding. It was fun, easy, and super yummy!! So I figured what a great way to try to raise the money! I also wanted to be extra creative and make jewelry. So i made two different rings and a necklace. It was stressful at first because I had no idea people would actually be so interested in what I was doing. Now that I have finished it all, I am just thankful that I am surrounded by people who love me and are excited enough for my trip to help me with the expenses! God has truly blessed me with some amazing people in my life.
I have only gone to Haiti once before, which was last December. My dad had gone the summer before, and just the way he talked about it and the pictures he showed me made me so interested to go with him one day. The opportunity became available and I took it with no hesitation. I immediately fell in love with Haiti and the Haitians. They are such loving and gentle people. You walk through the streets and you see nothing but people smiling and saying "Bonjour!!" to you everywhere you go. It was nice to see such kind and compassionate people. They made me open my eyes and see that we live in great world, but we sometimes are too focused with our own lives to see past it all. I was able to take a step back and thank God for that trip.
I was very sad to leave Haiti, and even though I was quite excited to sleep in my bed and take a hot shower, I was no longer going to be around those sweet and precious kids at Christian Light School. Christian Light is an orphanage and also a school where tons of kids go to get an education. The kids there are eager to learn, and it was such an exciting site to see. I had talked to someone about maybe volunteering the next summer in the classes. She told me how in the summer, the school gives their normal teachers a summer break and ask for anyone interested to teach classes to come volunteer. Instantly I was ready for that challenge. I was nervous because I had never experienced something like that before, but something in my heart was telling me this was an opportunity I couldn't miss out on. Through Spring semester of college, I talked to my parents about maybe going back to Christian Light for two weeks and teaching a first grade class. At first they were a bet on edge on the fact that I would be going alone, but they said they would pray and think about it and would let me know. Well, their, and my, prayers were answered when we learned that a father and daughter who went on the same trip in December were going at the exact same time I was planning on going. Coincidence? I think not. To this day, I smile at the fact that God knew all along this was my plan for the summer. I went in not knowing what I would end up doing, and now I am about to go on one of the most exciting, and nerve racking, trips of my life.
I know this post was long, but I wanted to give all the small, but important, details about my trip and how it came up. I am so excited to get to Haiti and honestly cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for me. Never in my life would I imagine that I would get the opportunity to teach my very own first grade class as a 19 year old. That just doesn't seem like it would ever happen. But my God is the Almighty God and He is the reason I will be getting on that plane Saturday morning. I thank Him everyday for what He has brought into my life, and I don't know who and where I would be without His guidance.
Stay tuned for my posts on my journey in Haiti, this was only the introduction to the trip. I will try to post everyday or at least every other day!
Katy
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