May 27, 2010Living for Eternity--Haiti Reflections, Part ThreeMariana Valbuena, our youngest participant in the recent Haiti trip, has unpacked her thoughts. Here's post one of three. Read the whole post at her Facebook page. *** I thank God for this experience. It was an experience like no other I've ever had. This was not your typical mission or service trip. In fact, we did absolutely nothing for the people of Haiti. Instead, we went there to receive things. We went there to learn from the Haitian people, to hear their stories, to hear their voices. We had the chance to listen to them, to live with them, to understand their struggles, their dreams, their lives. Obviously we can't ever know their true feelings until we live through what they have, but it gave us a much better picture and understanding of Haiti. It gave me a better picture of life in general, of God, of myself. This is definitely an experience that changed my life; it is the start of a new phase in my journey with God. A start of a line of decisions I will soon make. It was a further glimpse into the eyes of God (a prayer that has been the theme of my cry to God to help me see things the way He does). I want to thank God for opening up yet another clear door in my path and thank Kent and Haiti Partners for offering this great, life-changing opportunity to me and to the rest of the group. It is definitely an experience that many more people need to have. This I guess leads me into the topic of: what am I going to do now? How will this experience change the way I live? What did God want me to get out from this trip? I can honestly say, a lot. I know this trip taught me about myself, my weaknesses and my strengths. It reassured many of the seemingly extreme ideas that have been growing in me for the past couple of years and helped me further develop my knowledge of God, life, and our role on this earth. It also taught me many practical things and I received a lot of advice that will help me make many decisions that I will soon have to make (such as my course of study, the school I will stay at, the type of skills I want to build up and the type of life I will live in the meantime as I prepare for my life after my studies--as well as where I want to work and live when I'm done).
The trip has given me practical tips and advice as I prepare for God's calling in my life. I have learned about a method called "open space." It's a method that Haiti Partners uses in its effort to help develop Haiti. I will not go into the details here. I have a lot more that I need to research about things that I learned in Haiti. One time, while sitting at our host family's place, Jimmy Francois, the son-in-law of the family, asked me, "If you were president of Haiti, what would you do?" He knew I was studying development and he wanted to hear my opinion. I didn't know how to answer the question. I know that I would first need to learn a lot more about Haiti and its people before I could come up with a plan. He then asked me, "What are three things you need for the development of a country, town, or group of people?" . . . I answered that education would definitely be one of them. He gave me a thumbs up. I mentioned several other things, but he led me down to these three things:
1. Education
2. Communication
3. Volunteers
It's true. I would also add God as a most important number 4. As one of the development leaders that we got to speak with during the last night in Haiti explained, without lives being transformed by God, no matter how much we give to the poor, the cycle will continue. No permanent change will take place. I agree completely. Another good thing to keep in mind.
So here I am. Back from Haiti. I have several decisions to make this summer and I pray that God is the center of it all. I ask for your prayers as I continue in my personal search for God. I also pray for all of you and I encourage you all to take some time and reflect on these things as well as on your own life and what you are doing to show radical love in this world. Could you do more? I'll answer that for you, you can. Will you? That's for you to answer . . .
Posted by Dave Zimmerman
at May 27, 2010 9:29 AM
The complete post is actually found on my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=451405809675 Comments are closed for this entry. |
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