Haiti 2014 - How can I give enough to make a difference?

I have just returned from spending 2 weeks in Haiti serving with a medical mission team.  This was my second time, having gone with the same team last year to the same medical clinic.  Although many elements of this trip were the same, awesomely I learned many new and different things. 

First of all, I wish to express my deep gratitude to those who supported me in my desire to go on this mission trip.  My husband and children for supporting my choice, assisting with fundraising and packing and taking care of everything at home while I was away.  Family and friends who helped me prepare, donated supplies and financing.  Folks I didn't even know who came forward with donations and words of encouragement.  Being kept in your thoughts and prayers meant the world to me.

Secondly, it's important to me to thank my Haiti family.  The team I travelled this journey with welcome me with open arms and unconditional love.  Your support and encouragement lifts me up and makes me believe in more than I ever dreamed possible. 


If you ever see a sliver of a door opening to a mission trip in your life - go for it!  Going to a third or fourth world country allows you to see life from a new perspective and I guarantee you will be surprised by what you learn if you go with an open mind.  It's good for your soul.  There were many lessons and experiences for me this trip; God was so good to me.  I could write for days but I won't :)  however there was one message that was/is strongly on my heart and I would like to share with you now.  It's a question that played in my mind over and over. 

How can I give enough to make a difference?  In a country with a population of 9,893,934 we go for 2 weeks, with 29 suitcases of supplies and the knowledge we have the ability to treat about 1000 people.  It can seem like a very small drop in a large bucket.  My "sticky gut" condition starting giving me trouble the moment the airplane touched down in Miami and continued to hamper my physical abilities the entire mission trip.  We saw cases we couldn't give complete treatment for and we saw 100's of people in the village we didn't have anything for.  How is this making a difference?

It's a question I ask myself not just in Haiti, but here in my regular ole' Canadian life too.  How can I give enough to make a difference?  The answer came in bits and pieces over the mission trip, but I would like to give specific credit to a daily devotion I received from Ann Voskamp  http://www.aholyexperience.com/ann-voskamp/

I shared this one morning in Haiti, with our team at our 6:30am roof top meeting, as the roosters crowed, the sun shone bright, the mangos dropped from the trees and Haiti buzzed alive around us.

How can I give enough to make a difference?  What God has graciously given us is always enough to be abundant grace for someone else.   

In Mark Chapter 8 we read the story of how Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand 

8 During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 2 “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”  4 His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”  5 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.  “Seven,” they replied.  6 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so. 7 They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. 8 The people ate and were satisfied.

Haitian fishing boat

Jesus was moved to compassion - a Greek term meaning "that his insides turned over".  Jesus saw the needy and he was moved to compassion.  His insides turned over.  Compassion isn't a vague sense but a feeling so strong it causes  your insides to turn over, it shapes your body and life into a response. 

There will always be people who like the disciples say "how can you feed all these people in the desert?".  "How can I find enough in my own desert to feed one more?".  "How can I" often translates into "I can't".  Instead invite in all kinds of possibility with "how can I".  Jesus always answers our scarcity question of "how can I" with the abundant question "how much do you have".  Out of how much you have God can make enough to give.  The disciples answered "seven" and it was enough.  What God has graciously given you is always enough to be abundant grace for someone else. 

 

In the middle of the desert Jesus picks up just seven loaves of bread and gives thanks - he makes what he has into thanksgiving - and this is what makes him the bridge from God's generosity to peoples scarcity.  This is our God, he does not run out.  He simply invites us to be a part of running the miracles from Him to them.  God is in the generosity business and we get to be his delivery men.

 

What God has graciously given you is always enough to be abundant grace for someone else.  Giving thanks for what we have is the first step to building the bridge between what we have and peoples needs.   

 

I have been blessed with much.  My desire is to give thanks, continuously, for my blessings and the grace in my life and become a bridge between God's generosity and peoples needs. 

You can follow the full team blog at http://saskhaitimedicalteam2014.blogspot.ca/

my new job in Haiti - dental assistant - this was definitely a challenge
and learning experience for me

 

the gift of one hen makes a huge difference in this grandma's life

washing & bathing in the streams of water in Haiti

Elva visiting with her sponsored child Stephanie