A Stirring Life

Good morning from Haiti!

Monday was a long trip day for us because of a long delay in Atlanta but we finally made it. As I looked out the window of the plane just before we landed, I saw a rainbow and really felt God’s presence with us as we start our week of mission work.

We sang a song in church a few weeks ago and the lyrics say, “Go make a difference, go make a difference, go make a difference in the world! Go make a difference, we can make a difference, go make a difference in the world!” The devotional that I read yesterday morning talked about “…leading a life stirring enough to start a movement. Will the movement start in our generation? I hope so. But even if it doesn’t, even if we never see it, it will occur. And we’ll be part of it.”

Tuesday, we went to Reiser Heights School. It is a long ride to get up there but the views are absolutely breathtaking. Off in the distance are the mountains and the valley below is filled with homes and fields. It was very peaceful there. We taught the younger children how to play kazoos and were treated to a kazoo “concert” by one of the classes. We taught the older grades about Minnesota. They laughed when we told them about snow and skiing or sledding down hills and about the lakes getting frozen over and skating on the ice. I think they were a little skeptical when we told them about going ice fishing! As we had our team meeting last night, we gave a one word description of what we saw or felt. “Smiles”, “Connectedness”, “Joy”. Even though we speak different languages, we were able to teach them to play the kazoos. We brought joy and smiles to the children and they brought such joy to us.

My heart is heavy as I write this blog. A demonstration has started against the government last night because a very large amount of money promised to the people is now gone.  We have been told that we cannot leave the guest house until at least this afternoon and now this morning, it looks like we will not be able to get out at all today. I keep wondering when the people of Haiti are going to get a break and finally get back on their feet. At first glance, it looked like not much had changed here since the last time I was here. But roads have been paved and there is new construction happening. Finally, there are signs of growth and renewal. Along with all of the other mission teams that have come to Haiti and the other teams that are here now with us, we have been part of the change. We are here living that stirring life. The movement has started and we are excited to be part of the movement.

Lynn Arcand