10 Days...

In 10 days, Craig and I will be leaving for our mission trip to St. Louis du Nord, Haiti with Ebeneazer Evangelical Missions. This will be Craig's third trip with EEM and my first. I am excited, anxious, and nervous all at the same time.

Excited because I am finally going to understand what captured Craig heart 5 years ago and why. I've been to Haiti and I can understand it now, but I will finally get to see what he saw and maybe experience what he felt that first trip.

Anxious because who knows if our stuff will arrive!! The boat is supposed to be there by the end of the month. Sooooooo our stuff could be waiting at the docks for us or maybe not. It could be unloaded or still be going through customs. It could get there while we're there. It could....the list goes on. So with not knowing if or when our stuff will get there, we've had to change our plans a little bit.

Nervous because this will be the first time since 2005 that any group has been to Chamois. Chamois is a little village nestled in the mountains of Haiti near St. Louis. It is about a 10 hour hike to the village. In 2005, a team with EEM, including my DH and several of the team members on this trip, went to Chamois for the first time - EVER. No Haitian doctor, let alone American doctor had ever gone up there to minister to those people - physically and spiritually. That trip had some similarities to this one in that their stuff didn't arrive for them and it didn't arrive until after they left. There were 12 people on that hike, including one doctor and three nurses. The hike in was long and hard - taking up to 14 hours to hike in the hot, October Haiti sun. They ran a clinic the next day, using what meds the doctor was able to bring from the states. On the way down, one of their team members passed away due to heat stroke...he was 27 and one of the nurses. I will never forget getting that phone call from Craig and I hope never to make or receive a call like that again.

So this trip has more meaning to it than just running medical clinics. It will be about healing - mentally, spiritually, and physically for the Haitians and for those on or affected by the 2005 trip. It will be about showing the Haitian people that we love them and we serve a God who is so much bigger than anything we encounter. It will be about faith and trust and patience. It will be about God.

Despite the anxieties, nerves, and fears, I am truly looking forward to this trip. Don't like leaving my DD and DS behind...they will join us one day.

Oh, and by the way....we get to spend a few hours on the way in and out with our beloved Joshua. Thanks Hal and Chris!!