This was my seventh trip to Haiti, fourth to Yvon, and perhaps the most joyful trip I\u2019ve made yet. It was a joy to take another daughter with me, although I tend to worry more when one of my children go with me. My joy was to help her experience the suffering of others and to help her to realize that she can help alleviate that suffering in Christ\u2019s name. It is one thing to become more aware of your blessings (go to Haiti and you will more fully realize how much you\u2019ve been blessed), it is another to understand that you can bless others.<\/p>\n
I also got to see the church which so many of us had labored on for six years now nearly completed. We were the first team to stay in the church with it\u2019s new pews and smooth white walls. That was a joy, but the real joy is to see old friends again. To see children who have grown up over the years. To see women who work so hard to raise them, and to see and talk with men who have the same hopes and fears for their families and country as I have for mine. That is why I go to Haiti; to build relationships. We can and should help end human suffering, but if we do it without building relationships, we have wasted a golden opportunity to be like Jesus to someone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This was my seventh trip to Haiti, fourth to Yvon, and perhaps the most joyful trip I\u2019ve made yet. It was a joy to take another daughter with me, although I tend to worry more when one of my children<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-missions"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t