theeeyy'rre baaaack :)

edited


The girls are back!!!  Oh happy day!! :)  Thanks to all who kept them in your prayers while they were away! I gather that overall their trip to Haiti was


challenging


   ... in terms of the hard work they did - as, truth be told, they are not used to that - at least not in the physically demanding/exhausting/draining sense. 
   
   ... and challenging in the sense that when you live closely with other people you don't really know all that well...well - I'll just say that you get to know them really well ;) 


  ...and in that both girls did get homesick at times - tho' in a  (motherly!) way, I was encouraged by that :)  Found it interesting - that Playmaker said she felt that way most often when she was alone...but that she was somehow stronger (or perhaps she just felt she needed to be?) when she was with the others. She did have a migraine & got sick while she was there so she was alone and trying to rest some of the time when the others were together. 


rewarding - in many ways - but just to name a few...:


  - friends. For Playmaker this was especially true. She left with a few & came back w/ more ;) - and along that line....
  - deeper/more meaningful relationships  - from working, serving, living, encouraging, enduring - and basically by being....together. a lot.
  - satisfaction - gleaned from working hard and doing a job well.  There's nothing quite like it!
  - needing to & figuring out how to work well as a team - so contrary to the independence we tend to encourage/aspire to & even enjoy here in America.  
  - compassion - the kind you can't quite seem to muster from continuous news feeds & National Geographic photos alone.
  - self-confidence - the kind gained only from leaving one's comfort zone - and surviving it! :) 


uncomfortable - but really only in a lack of luxury sort of way.  I have a feeling they're finding the  "luxury" (relatively speaking) we enjoy to be rather uncomfortable now, on this side of the trip. At least I hope so. 


life changing - I trust for both of them (as it just seems it would be inevitable!) & for the orphans who will one day occupy the building they helped to build - & hopefully for others they interacted with and ministered to.


eye-opening - in a heart breaking way that I hafta think one would be hardpressed to comprehend any other way than having been there and seen/heard/even smelled -  and, to some degree, experienced - for themselves.


fun - yes, they did have fun!  They most especially had fun when they were interacting with the orphans and neighborhood children. Just really enjoyed them. They held a VBS for a group of orphans and tent city children - I gather about 100 attended.  They seized & enjoyed an opportunity to take a group of orphans to the beach. I was surprised how beautiful it was there!  Seems Haiti is a land of stark contrasts.  And I gather they had fun shopping for souvenirs, etc... They certainly did their part to boost the local economy :) I loved looking thru' the treasures they brought home...almost all were either God's artwork (shells) - or handiwork made by the people there: paintings, jewelry, tinwork, woodwork .. tho' they did throw in some Haitian vanilla & coffee (ooh they know what we like!) and a beer for Daddy :)  - and they both came back with cornrows in their hair and glowing suntanned skin! They're beautiful! - just beautiful :)  And among Playmaker's most treasured treasures she bro't home with her is a Haitian Bible that Strike bought for her at the airport.


..and exhausting.


More later (pics!).  - But, in the meantime, for a timely, related  & thought provoking read visit Bunny again over at:  
http://henleythegreatdane.blogspot.com/2011/07/poverty-tourism.html