Chapter One: Of Travel and Transitions

Hello friends and family!

My adventure is 6 days in, and I can finally say I am typing in the humid Haitian air. I wish to first off express my deep appreciation for my prayer warriors out there… I have been feeling the impact of your prayers as I have gone through these first days of transition. There are certain discomforts, surely, but much joy as well!

The trip here went as smooth as one could hope. I arrived in Port au Prince early in the morning, and Sandy was there to greet me. After a couple hitches that prevented us from leaving the airport, we went around the city for most of the day to collect supplies for the pharmacy and also did some errands for the construction work that is ongoing at HHM. I hadn’t been down the roads of PAP since the earthquake, but I was amazed at the work that has been done since!

I came to volunteer with Haiti Health Ministries at a very exciting time. HHM was previously located very close to the epicentre of the earthquake, and they lost all their buildings (as did most of the town they were in). They have since purchased the site they now operate out of in Gressier, and rebuilt from the ground up. Had I arrived three weeks earlier, I would have seen them in action providing their care in tents… however, they are now in their brand new facility, and what a blessing that is!

The clinic opens at 7:30 am, and fills up quickly! The clinic staff lead a hymn-sing and devotional in the morning with their patients in the waiting room, while the medical staff gathers for a short education session and to pray. The rest of the day is filled with seeing patients. Right now, I am being oriented by a missionary nurse who has been working with HHM since September. She assists with surgeries, administers vaccinations and medications, assists with dressing changes, takes vital signs, and really just jumps in where extra hands are needed! She is awesome, and has been a great teacher.

It’s been an amazing learning experience these first four days in the clinic! I have seen many things, and have many more to learn. I have had the opportunity to sit in on minor surgeries for the removal of keloids and even a lipoma (a fatty tumour),  seen a gangrenous rotting foot, I’ve been taught how they do prenatal assessments, I have seen breast biopsys and warts removed… I’ve taken many sets of vitals! It’s such a variety of things to learn, and I am loving it!

There were some hard nights, but the transition has been made much easier by the lovely staff here that has been so welcoming. A couple of the ladies have had me over for scones and tea and a couple episodes of “Call the Midwife”. They have also had me along for walks outside the clinic walls… I will be sure to bring my camera along next time so I can show you pictures of this beautiful country!  I am really looking forward to spending the next 9 weeks here.

As I had my quiet time the other day, I remembered back on a patient that I had back in Lethbridge who was a cinematographer. I remember talking to his daughter, and she had told me, “Growing up, my dad would always pause to show us things he found beautiful. He had such an eye for capturing beauty. It got to the point, once I grew up, that I could see my dad’s work and know it was his before I even saw his name on it, because I had learned to see things through my dad’s eyes”.
I feel that is so profoundly what I desire in my relationship with my Heavenly Daddy. I find that I am still that little girl, needing Him to direct my gaze to see the things of His heart. And that’s part of my prayer as I spend the next couple of months here. I know full well I didn’t need to leave Canada to see as He does, but I believe He called me here at this time, and I hope to make the most of it. I long to be trained by my Daddy to see the beauty that He sees in His created, and to call that out! But I need much prayer as I learn to be still with Him and open my heart to do that. The Lord is so gracious in supplying for my needs, and in His lavishing of grace as I stumble through learning the many things I don’t know here.

I hope my thoughts have not been too disjointed as I try to paint a picture of what my role will look like for the next couple of months, and in the stirrings of my heart as the adventure kicks off!

If you are praying, I’d like to highlight some requests.
- Pray for the Lord to shine His light through all of us at HHM
- Pray for opportunities to minister not only medically, but to share the gospel
- Pray for me as I stumble over learning the language
- Pray for me to learn well how to be still, and to see with my Father’s eyes

Thanks again for your support, love and prayers! It means more to me than I can express with my words.

TWO sets of footprints

Hello, wonderful friends and family of mine!

I cannot believe how fast the time has gone.. in less than a week, I will be back on Haitian soil after four years! As I have reflected on what has brought me to this moment, I have re-read my accounts of Haiti, I have thumbed through my scrawled prayers... and I eventually came back to this blog, and thought a little bit about the title I chose... two sets of footprints.

It's kind of funny, because the famous poem "Footprints" emphasizes that in times of struggle or anguish, only one set of footprints marked the sand. The imprint would be deeper in the heels, for they bore the extra weight of one carrying another... not of one being alone.

I did not entitle my blog two sets of footprints because I am fool enough to think I can walk each step on my own. My heart is prepared to struggle, to break, to ask questions, and I think I will encounter many of those "one" set of footprints in the sand moments. I believe, when I first wrote this blog, that it was a reminder to myself that the one set of footprints will never be mine on my own. There is not a single fraction of a second of this trip that I will be alone, not one sliver of a moment that I will be apart from the God who promises to be with me always!

So here we go again, stepping into the glorious unknown. I marvel at the amazing ways that God has already been revealing His heart through provision, through open doors into a tiny seed of a dream of a naive 18 year old girl. I go, with very little to offer once more, but willingness and a fairly green nursing diploma!

Heartfelt thanks to all of those who have invested prayerfully and financially into this step of my journey! I hope that this blog will be a means of baring my heart and allowing you to experience the beauty and struggles of this adventure alongside me! May you be truly blessed for the outpour of love and support you have shown me!

T - 6 days to take off!