The Day After

Family and Friends,

This blog entry comes from Cory's journal and was written on December 8th.  It is called "The Day After" because it was written after the mission team had to return to Ti-Rivier due to blocked roads and roving mobs of people demonstrating against the government in Haiti. 

Dec. 8, 2010-

The current mission team is sitting in the eating area tonight, discussing the tense moments that occurred last night as they attempted to drive to Port-au-Prince for their flight and ended up having to turn back. I think it is good for them and a chance to process the feelings of fear and helplessness they must have felt in that moment as the rocks were hitting the bus and the windows were breaking. I'm sure that wasn't too much fun, but it is nice to see that they can already joke about it tonight. There is a lot of laughing over there.

What a privilege, though, to be able to share in some way with the Haitian people their frustration with corrupt governments and the daily struggle associated with living in an unstable land. I'm convicted today of every little headline I have read in my life and really not thought too much about...

     “10,000 die in mud slide in China”
     “Political uprising in Africa leaves hundreds dead”
     “Unrest in the middle east could lead to increased violence”
     "Child sex-slavery on the rise in Southeast Asia”

Headlines like these are always there in the back sections of the paper and at the bottom of the world news updates on whatever email site you use, but how often do they really hit home and cause us to feel the pain of the people affected by these tragedies? I have to admit that being in the middle of one of those situations today opens my eyes to my many years of apathy towards the situations people endure in developing countries on a regular basis. I've really missed out on a lot by not caring to look too far beyond the borders of the United States. I haven't really cared about what is going on, much less done something about it.

So maybe at least now we can actually do something to help the people of Haiti. After all, we live here! It is just like God to work like that...to give people like me, who consistently miss out on opportunities to care and serve, more and more chances to get it right. I'm so glad God is so patient with me. So the best thing now is to share the burdens of the people, to get it right, to look for those opportunities to help out and make a little difference in at least a few lives.

Lynn and I were frustrated with the kids this morning. The team tried to leave around 1:30AM, and they came back not too long after that. They got situated and tried to get some sleep for the remainder of the night. In the morning I could tell people were tense and exhausted, wondering what would happen next. I thought it would be nice to give them a hearty breakfast, so I started making pancakes.

I asked Kester to go out to the eating area and set up about fifteen plates with forks. He copped an attitude right away and didn't want to help. I said, “Fine, I'll ask someone who actually wants to help.” So I asked Alexandra, our 3-year old. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea either. She was willing to do it, and Elizabeth was willing to help her. About a minute later I heard them bickering out in the eating area. I went out there and saw them fighting with each other and yelling. To my horror I also saw the mission team about 15 feet away standing in a circle praying. So I quickly walked out there and tried to get the girls to be quiet, but instead they started dropping dishes and yelling louder. Meanwhile the crop of pancakes I had going on the griddle were getting nice and dark.

So we have some work to do on being servants to the mission teams that come down here. The kids are young, but I had hoped they had a better idea of what we are doing here and what is going on around them. Instead of being ready to help the team as they go through this trial, all they could think about was their own play time and fighting with each other. Sad. But I have to take the blame as the parent. I need to do a better job of carefully communicating to them, in ways they can understand, that we are here to serve people, both the Haitians and the mission teams that come down, and we always need to be on the lookout for ways to bless people.

On a more positive note, our kids have had a fun week playing with the kids that came down with the team. One family visiting here has a nine-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl who have made friends with Kester, Elizabeth, and Alexandra. They spend time playing games together and swinging on the playground. I just hope there isn't too much of a barrier between the white and the black kids in the yard this week, but I understand their frustration at not being able to communicate as well with the kids in the orphanage. Complicated situations like these demonstrate how raising kids on the mission field is never simple or easy. However, we do enjoy many teaching opportunities and chances for all of us to grow in our faith. That is one of the big reasons we came here!

Some of the Haitians who visited today talked about being embarrassed and ashamed for their country. Some of the youth were genuinely sorry for the mission team, and they understood that the Americans miss their families and will have to deal with missing work and other responsibilities when they finally return. I never stop being amazed by the Highschool aged Christians here. Many of them are so much more emotionally and spiritually mature than their counterparts in the US. There is an upside to how many of the kids here basically raise themselves from a young age...they grow up fast. Of course that comes with both postives and negatives.

One reason growing up fast is bad is the atmosphere of rampant sexual abuse in Haiti, which I discussed in an early post. We touched on that in Youth Group again last night, because one of the mission team members was willing to share about being molested as a child and the process of recovering from that tragedy. It really got the youth thinking deeply, and hopefully it will lead to some opportunities to help kids get out of those situations. It is difficult for kids in the US to come forward and ask for help, and that feeling of shame is only multiplied here, but at least we continued to let people know last night that God has a better plan and there is hope for healing.

It is really quiet tonight in Ti-Rivier. One thing I have enjoyed doing lately is going up on the roof of the mission house and looking at the stars. As I mentioned earlier, they are building a little house up there for Sue, and they recently completed a staircase on the side of the main level, which makes it easy to head on up and take in the night sky. This would be a perfect night to spend a few minutes up there. All over Haiti people are rioting in the streets and doing who-knows-what. As we prayed with the kids tonight before bed, we simply prayed that God would move in the hearts of thousands of people and simply give them the idea to just stay home tonight. I hope that prayer was answered. And as I look at the stars I will be reminded that if God can create and arrange those enourmous balls of burning gas across an immense universe, He can surely find a way to work out this difficult and perplexing situation in Haiti for His purposes.

The adventure continues in the morning!

Good night.
-Grimm Family Adventurers