Last Haiti blog

Wrap Up

When I pause to reflect on the trip we made to Haiti the one word that comes to my mind is blessing.

It was truly an adventure filled with blessings of all shapes and sizes. One blessing was that Peter asked me to write a short blog each day about the things we were doing. It has been a blessing because it has caused me to spend time thinking about the work we were doing, the mission we were on, the people we met, and most importantly the things that matter in life.

I was blessed by our accommodations. I will be the first to admit that when I first heard we were staying in a tent, all of us together, I had my doubts about how comfortable it would be. Just like a spoiled kid.  As it turned out, our tent was probably 2 to 3 times larger than many of the stick and mud shacks we saw many families living in.   On top of that it was air-conditioned and kept very clean by the Haitians.  But the blessing of that tent for me was that our group was able to spend a lot of time together with no radio, no television, no computers, just six of us sitting in a room staring at each other.  We talked and we laughed.   It made it so much easier to get to know the guys.  That in itself was a huge blessing for me. Each one of those guys has a heart of gold and it was great bonding with them.  It is after all the relationships we build in life that matter.

I was blessed by the people of Haiti. A couple of evenings ago and older gentleman, Daniel, sat down with me and we were able to spend some time just getting to know each other.  I had met Daniel before and had seen him speak and knew he was a man of God.  Daniel lived over 2 1/2 hours away from the love of a child village. Quite a commute for anybody.  His first wife had died and he had since remarried and cared for six children. What struck me about him is he always had a grin from ear to ear. Every time I spoke with him he would tell me that this is  the day God has given us And to be thankful for it.   I am certain Daniel has  little to nothing of material things.  Yet he was joyful every day and thankful that he had been saved. Daniel is an inspiration to me.  I was truly blessed to have met him.

I think we were all blessed by the children we met in Haiti.  I'm confident that each one of us has spent a fair amount of time thinking about their plight. They are precious children of God and I know we all pray for them, their well-being, and their salvation.  

I could go on and on but I think you get the point. We have been blessed by builders without Borders. They have made all this possible.  I know we hope that the project we completed gets put to great use and that the Haitians find value in it. But I have a sneaking suspicion that we are the ones That received a great gift.

 It is an honor and a privilege to call each of you brother.  To builders and Mr. Peter Fenger, thank you for everything. Thank you so much for your work and all of your effort to make this trip a great success. Until next time

Charles