Four things I've learned

 Hello.  It's been a while.  

We made is to Canada on 22nd December and had a lovely Christmas with Bill's family.  They have a house for us to stay in here on the farm and apart from the getting ready to go outside the boys have been mostly enjoying playing in the snow.  It has been pretty much minus 30 celcius which meant outside for 30 minutes at a time but last week it has 'warmed up' quite a bit and is around zero to minus 5 which is much much more enjoyable and tolerable. 

 

Bill has been teaching his final course at Emmaus at the weekends which will last for four weekends.  I have been continuing working on communications for Bethesda and trying to figure out homeschooling which I'll be honest I haven't really done much.  Afterall play is learning isn't it 😀

So I wrote half a post after our two weeks in the states but never got round to finishing it or posting it.  So we are re winding a bit to just before Christmas...

I am having a hard time putting into words what a gift and unexpected blessing the last two weeks have been. We knew it was going to be good to see our friends again but we didn’t realise how much we needed it and how much it came at exactly the right time. We spent the first week with the Ayars in Mississippi and the second week with the Grosses in Indiana where Janeen also came to stay. 

It has shown me many things...

Firstly, God is provident.  

Our primary reason for staying in the US was because of covid tests but it was absolutely the right length of time.  After 3 days at the Ayars we quickly realised that our initial plan of 3 - 4 days was never going to be long enough. So even with the frustration of more covid tests and staying longer than we had planned it was definitely the right thing.  Also if we had of stayed in Haiti and left next summer like we were planning we would have never got the opportunity to visit the Ayars and the Grosses and Janeen believe me it was much needed.

Secondly goodbyes are really important. 

 

The last time we said goodbye to the majority of our OMS team was on our last evacuation in March 2020.  With 12 hours notice we didn’t have a lot of time to prepare to leave and at the time I kept saying to Bill at least we are all leaving together.  Which, well that did not happen. Our whole team left and we were unable to go with them.  We said goodbye after hours of waiting, phonecalls to embassies and tears all thinking we would come back in the summer as normal like we do every year except that didn’t happen.

March 2020 evacuation

Now to be able to have spent time together and say goodbye well and properly has really helped to redeem that awful day at the airport in March 2020 which is something I never even thought would happen on this trip.

Thirdly its all about relationships.

When you have lived alongside people and had certain experiences with people you have a very close, deep relationship which no one else can really understand except those people you lived with.  Stacey hit the nail on the head when she said those were the good days and we didn’t even know it. The days when we were able to meet together, to eat together, to go places without the security or fuel concerns.  Back then we had no idea how bad things would get or that Bill and I would be the only OMS missionaries left in Haiti and the last ones to leave.   The last two weeks have given us time to talk, to laugh and share so many experiences in Haiti that only we can really understand with each other.  We have been able to talk about our struggles living in Haiti, what the best bits were and what the hardest thing about leaving is.  It was just so so good to be able to have time together. Melissa asked me what did I like most about the mission field and I talked about being part of something with purpose and knowing that what I am doing is changing peoples lives.  But there is one more thing, it’s the relationships.  It’s the people you get to meet and spend time with and get to know and share these experiences with.  Its one of the reasons why its so hard to leave. Any why its hard to go in the first place.

Turns out I don't have any photos of any of the adults! 

Fourthly, being obedient to God’s will is absolutely worth it.  

These past 6 years have been difficult there is no doubt about that.  In fact when I look at all my experiences in Haiti they have all been hard.  Treating earthquake victims, working in a cholera clinic, political unrest, land issues at Bethesda, road blocks, insecurities and evacuations.  It has all been hard but completely worth it.  When I look back and see the experiences we have had, how we have seen God work, been part of God working, the places we have been and the people we have met, its all been worth it.  Although we have no idea when we will see the Ayars, the Grosses, Janeen again or anyone else we met in Haiti again, we know that we will always have a special relationship with them because of what we have experienced together.  As we all reflected on our time in Haiti together it really struck me how difficult it was yet how worth it it all was.

Our boys had a wonderful time, first with the Ayars kids.  They all just picked up where they left of  almost two years ago and enjoyed each others company so much.  Even Jacob and Ben, who wouldn’t have remembered each other at all were having a great time – just following their siblings leads.  They really do act like brothers and sisters. 

Then with the Gross kids or the teenagers as the boys call them.  They loved running around the park, making gingerbread houses and being taught how to play chess by the big kids.

 So even though leaving Haiti was extremely difficult we are so thankful for the opportunity to spend time with our friends in the states.  Here are a few photos from our time.  It looks like I only take photos of the kids!