Following Him to Haiti!

I have been home for 2 days now, but I would like to back track a few days to share the ending of Following Him to Haiti!

On Thursday, we said goodbye to the moms and kids. We told them that we needed Friday to pack and finish last minute things before our flights left Saturday, but the truth was we were going to surprise them with a night visit!

When we walked up the hill Friday night, everyone was SURPRISED!! It was great to see all the smiles on the moms and kids’ faces! They did not expect us to show up, and word spread quickly that we were there!!

After everyone was there, we did a scavenger hunt with the moms and older kids. They had the best time racing each other to find the objects! The remainder of the team cheered for the person hunting the item, and it was so much fun!! At the end of the scavenger hunt, we chose 3 people from each team to go and find their seashell that we gave them the first week I was there! Believe it or not, those 3 women found their seashells after 7 weeks!! After the scavenger hunt, we played another game where the moms passed the ball around the circle, and when the music stops playing, whoever has the ball is out. At the end of the game, I won!! The moms and kids were cheering so much because I won! J Then we played the same game with the kids, and Celina won!!

After the games, we sent the kids to their classroom, so I could pass out pictures to the moms. They LOVED getting pictures of me, Cierra, and mom! They told me over and over that they were going to miss us! I showed them some other pictures of our family, and the moms went crazy! They enjoyed seeing pictures of dad, grandma, and granddaddy! I gave away all the pictures except for 4! It was so funny to see the moms asking for pictures of grandma and granddaddy when they have never even met them!

Then, Cierra and I went into the kids’ classroom to give them their pictures! We made picture frames for the older kids with our picture in them, so we passed those out along with individual pictures of ourselves and mom! The kids LOVED them too!! I don’t know how many times the kids ran up to us and told us that we were beautiful! Then they would tell us how much they were going to miss us!

Cierra and I had a lot of toys that we wanted to give away, so we were trying to think of ways to give them away without just handing them out. We came up with the idea of a talent show! The moms and kids had to get up and either sing or dance to get a prize! It was so much fun! After the talent show, it was dark, so we broke open the GLOW STICKS!! The moms and kids had so much fun playing with the glow sticks! We stuck around for a little while longer, but then sadly it was time to say our goodbyes.

As we walked down the hill for the last time in the dark, it was bittersweet. Part of me was ready to be home for hot showers and some rest! But MOST of me was not ready to come back. I fell in love with Haiti and with these moms and kids, so it was definitely hard to say goodbye after being with them for 2 months! Some of the older boys walked hand in hand with us to the street, and it was so precious! It wasn’t until we were driving away in the back of a truck looking up at all the stars that the tears hit me. They were happy tears because I was so full of joy in the Lord! I have been so blessed over the last 2 months! There is no greater feeling than knowing that you are doing God’s Will for your life! There is such peace and overwhelming love and confidence in Christ!! J It was the best experience ever!

Saturday morning we woke up around 5 AM to pack last minute things, and we were supposed to leave at 6 AM. Our driver arrived at 6:30 and off to the airport we went. We arrived at the airport around 8:20, and we had plenty of time to get through security and check in. When our plane took off from Haiti, I shed more tears because up until that point it felt like a dream that it was really time for me to go!

We arrived in Miami around 11:50, and we went through customs, security, check in, and found our gate with about 30 minutes to spare. At this point, Cierra and I were no longer on the same flight schedule. I left Miami at 1:50, and Cierra was supposed to leave Miami at 5:45. I arrived in JAX at 3:30 because it began to rain in Miami when my plane was leaving, and we had to fly around a storm. So, I was a little delayed getting to JAX. My first meal in America was of course Chickfila! It was so good! I have to share a funny story…I went into the bathroom at Chickfila and I was leaning over the sink to look in the mirror, and all of a sudden, the sink turned on and I jumped out of my skin!! You know you have been in a 3^rd world country for a while when you jump because of an automatic sink!!! J

We had a few hours to spare before Cierra’s flight arrived, so we went to sit in a parking lot. Well, Cierra called us, and said that her flight had been delayed because of storms in JAX and Miami, so we were thinking okay that will be okay. It’s just a little bit of a delay. Then, she calls back to say her flight had been cancelled! Thankfully, the Lord provided her with a flight to Gainesville, FL. Her flight did not get in until 12:30 AM Sunday morning! We finally got home at 5 AM! Needless to say we slept until 2 PM Sunday!!

It still has not completely hit me that I am no longer in Haiti. I am readjusting quite well to American living (besides the automatic sink incident!). I am enjoying the washing machine, but I am missing the fellowship and quiet time that hand washing clothes brings! There are a good many things that I am enjoying that I did not have in Haiti, but I would gladly give them up to be with those sweet moms and kids again!!

These past 2 months have been the best 2 months of my life! Like I said earlier, there is no greater feeling than being in the center of God’s Will! And I know that God has called me to the mission field! I don’t know yet what He wants me to do on the mission field, but that is okay. In His timing, He will reveal to me what He wants me to do! Right now, I am filled to overflowing LOVING on His children!

I do believe that it was a lot easier saying goodbye because it was not truly goodbye! I will return to Haiti!! I have fallen in love, and I cannot imagine Haiti not being a part of my life! I miss those precious faces and the sweet laughter, but it is only a few short months before I return to see everyone again!

I am so thankful the Lord pricked my heart back in January to seek mission’s opportunities, and I am so in awe that He chose me to go to Haiti for 2 months this summer!! I have LOVED Following Him to Haiti!! And I cannot wait to Follow Him to Haiti over and over again in the coming years!!

Thank you to everyone who made it a possibility for me to Follow Him to Haiti! Thank you for the encouragement and countless prayers! Even though I am not in Haiti right now, continue praying for the country and for the moms and kids of Empowering Haitian Moms! If any of you would like for Cierra and me to share with your church or Sunday School class all that God did in and through us while we were in Haiti, just let me know! I would love nothing more than to share with each of you what Following Him to Haiti looks like and how you too can Follow Him to Haiti!!

I love each of you!

Blessings and Love!

Ashley