WHY Do You Go To Haiti? -

The question of why we go to Haiti comes up quite frequently. And of course we also hear, why would you consider LIVING in Haiti?

Going to Haiti just comes so naturally, it’s almost hard to explain the why behind it to people. My first thought is always, why not? But I’ve given it some serious thought and here are reasons why we go.

Relationships – We go for the relationships. When you fall in love with people, you want to be with them. There is a connection we have with the people that we can’t shake. We are drawn to come alongside them and work with them, however that might look.
To Learn – We don’t have savior complexes. We don’t believe we have ideas to save Haiti. We enjoy learning about their culture and their language. We love learning about the people and with the people of Haiti.
We’ve Been Asked To Come – The first trip I chose to go. I’ve always felt a draw to Haiti and when I heard years ago that our church was hoping to take a mission trip to Haiti, I KNEW I would be going on that trip. Whatever it required.
After that, we were asked by a ministry to come and spend time with them while we considered a job position with their ministry. So, we went and while we did decide that wasn’t God’s calling for us, we didn’t feel God close the door to ministering and being involved in Haiti in some way.

And then we were asked by someone else to go again. So, here we are 8 days out from leaving for Haiti. In the past couple of months, we’ve had two more organizations contact and ask us to come as well. We just take it one step at a time. What does God want for our family? We’re not exactly sure, but we’re willing to do what He asks.
Support – We also come to offer support and friendship to the missionaries serving in Haiti. We get to see first hand the work they are doing. To understand it a little bit better. And we can come back to the states as advocates for them. Missionaries need friends and support. They need us to be behind them and encouraging them. And sometimes, they need to have friends present that speak their language, hug them, to laugh and cry with them, and bring a taste of home. Being a missionary on a foreign field can be a lonely place for our missionary friends.

It’s not a vacation (trust me on this one) though my husband uses his vacation time to serve. And yes, there are some fun times had while we are there, but we go to serve God’s people.

Last year, we went to really see how Haitians live and what it would look like for our family to live there. We stayed in a house with no electricity or running water at night (we hauled buckets of water for bathing and flushing the toilet)and during the day we were at a main house with electricity and wifi. And we realized our family could live there, if that’s what God has for us.

We go because it’s changed our lives and hearts. We go because we don’t want to forget what our eyes have seen and what our hearts have experienced. We go because we feel God calling and tugging our hearts there.

What has God called you to do that others find baffling? How do you respond to those why questions?