Day 8 – May 26th

Day 8: Since we were staying a little longer on our trip than the mission trip to Haiti in April, Annette decided to take the group to the Citadel in Milot.  Henri Christophe built this giant fortress on top of the mountain because he feared that Napoleon and the French would return to retake the country.  I could try to tell you the history of it, but it would take a while and would probably be wrong haha so here is the Wikipedia link page.  Give it a quick glance if you’d like to find out more info about the Citadel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citadelle_Laferriere

Just a few quick thoughts on The Citadel:

It is awesome.

You have to ride mules up a 7-mile path.  Sounds cool.

You have to ride those same mules down the 7-mile path.  Not cool.

The views are amazing. (You really get to see how mountainous Haiti is)

Ok, so it’s def. more awesome than what I am making it sound like.  Go experience it for yourself.  Which also means go to Haiti on a mission trip!…Like how I snuck that in there?!?

Anyways…After we left the Citadel we went in to Cap-Haïtien for dinner. Cap-Haïtien is one of the major cities in Haiti and has about 190,000 people living in it.  As we drove in you could see crowds of people, neighborhoods stretching out with people living on top of one another.  I love big cities, but to see that much poverty crowded together gave me a sense of claustrophobia.  Even thinking about it now makes me want to get up out of this chair and walk outside where I have room to walk around without seeing a single person.  My mind couldn’t comprehend the situation.  So we arrived at the restaurant and I tried to shake that feeling and enjoy the night.

Hanging out with everyone and sharing a meal was a great time (sort of, Pizza was a bad call…I know, I know…I knew it was but couldn’t resist).  After dinner we walked back out on to the streets.  A light rain was falling and the sun had dipped behind the mountains.  I stood there in the road looking at a beach shore filled with trash.  We got on the bus and started out of the city.  The same images of people stuck in terrible living conditions just trying to survive filled my eyes again.  My guilt, anger, confusion, came to a head at this moment.  A weeks worth of emotions crashed together on that dark bus ride home.  Questions racing around:  Why me?  Why have I been given so much?  How come I wasn’t born in this country?  Why do these people have to suffer and struggle just live through one more day?  I couldn’t wrap my mind around why some have been given so much while others have nothing.  I was angry.  I sat there in the dark with my iPod playing the music of Brett Dennen (Again, Here I am with this expensive music device, while others can’t eat).  The song changes and the next song begins, it’s called “So Much More.”  This is a song that for some reason I usually skip over, but tonight I let it play.  All of a sudden I hear the words to the first few lines and I am chilled.  Somehow the very emotions that I was feeling came out in the form of lyrics in my ear buds.  I had to rewind it to make sure I heard them correctly…Here they are:

“I wonder how so many could be in so much pain,
While others don’t seem to feel a thing.
Then I curse my whiteness and I get so damn depressed.
In a world of suffering why should I be so blessed.”

There it was, my exact emotions summed up in a single verse.  I listened to that song over and over again, struggling with the question of why I had been so blessed.  I just kept asking God over and over again why He had given me so much.

In the darkness of the bus I began to find some clarity.  I started to remember one of Jesus’ teachings in the Bible I learned while taking a Biblical Financial Class (If you haven’t taken this class you definitely should, Crown Financial…Get a hold of Ted & Donna Tassos, they’ve been known to teach a class or two).  The parable was from Matthew 25, the “Parable of the Talents” (Talent was a monetary instrument in Jesus time, worth more than a thousand bucks).  Pretty much the teaching explains that if you are faithful with the few things God gives you, He will entrust you with many more:

“…’Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” – Matthew 25:11

That thought brought all my questions together.  There is no doubt that God has given me so many talents, monetarily & otherwise, and it is because He finds me faithful and trustworthy.  Some how He sees in me the ability to use those blessings here on this earth to bring glory to His name and to do what is closest to His heart.  That thought is just crazy to think, that somehow God trusts me.

Let me just state real fast that I am NOT saying that why the people of Haiti aren’t rich or struggle every day to eat is because they don’t have enough faith.  I have seen the most beautiful examples of people living by faith in Haiti.  Amazing people trusting on God day after day to give them their daily bread.  A type of faith that I dream of one day having.

What I am saying is that I have been given endless blessings and have been entrusted with so many amazing resources.  God is placing them in my hands, trusting in me to use them to glorify His name.  What an amazing responsibility to have.  And guess what, you have it too.  Every one of you reading this has been showered with resources, gifts, and blessings to use to glorify God and to serve those closest to his heart.

We should ask ourselves the question daily:

“How can I use all that I have to glorify God, today?”

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Here is a short clip of the verse I mentioned above from the song “There Is So Much More” by Brett Dennen.  Just click the link and it should open up a new page and start playing.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/6129631305f2cdf6/

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The palace.

Val on a mule!

A view of the Citadel on the way up...

Samantha on her mule...

View from the top of the Citadel...

Yep...that's my friend...

Leaning over the 200 ft. drop off the Citadel...Not smart, but had to do it...

Abby freaking out just a tad because of the height!

Some hot chick down at the palace...She needs to learn to be a little more modest though...It's a family place!

A look at the giant palace from the front...Could you imagine this place when it was brand new? Crazy...

Here is a look at the trash filled beach that I mentioned above...

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