Planting Seeds, Building Relationships

Haiti tends to capture your heart when you visit. For those who have had the opportunity to travel to this amazing little island, not too far from the borders of the US, it is a life-changer. Why? Maybe the simplicity of life, the Haitian’s joy through hardship, the beauty, oh the beauty of Haiti, but mostly it’s the relationships that are born out of a common foundation in Jesus.

After returning from a summer in Haiti working with Haitian Christian Outreach our incredible interns had time to debrief and begin working through their experiences, thoughts, and how to process it all. Blaine Hoxworth from Millersburg, OH put some of his thoughts in writing:

I had no idea the amount of impact this trip would make on my life. This summer was hard. Hard to be away from family, hard to adjust to a completely different lifestyle, hard to see the struggle and desperation of the people, but most importantly hard to leave my second home. This summer had its hardships, yet through them all God was revealing himself! He was breaking my heart for the country and the people, which in turn created a love for them that I could have never imagined! I was able to learn the language, learn how to cook Haitian food, create relationships with many people there, share the love of Jesus, and plant seeds for His Kingdom!

Now, I want to take a moment to clear up a common question that many people ask, “What did you DO there?” Well, I can tell you that I didn’t go to DO. I didn’t go to Haiti to paint a room in the hospital. I didn’t go to build something. I didn’t go to organize hospital supplies. And I definitely didn’t go to Haiti to DO for the Haitians. So you may ask, “What did you do?” I went and built relationships! I sat down and talked with people. I spent time with people even if I didn’t understand what they were speaking. I played games with people. I was engaging with people. Because at the end of the day it doesn’t matter what projects I did because those are all temporary. It’s about the seeds that were planted and the relationships that were built because that is all that matters when Jesus comes!

Blaine, Nazara, and Rebecca were in Haiti for over six weeks and they did DO a lot of things but most importantly they pointed people to Jesus through the relationship they built. Those relationships will last not only a lifetime but into eternity. Praise God!