Reflection Of The Trip

Can you think of a moment when you may have had the following thoughts “we could get this job done so much faster if we did it this way,” or “this would be so much more effective if done another way”? Throughout the week our group worked with people in the community with cactus’s in a field. The group of Haitians would use machetes to cut the cactus’s down, move the dirt and widen the road path and replace the old dirt with new dirt. Then they would put the cactus’s back in place on the new dirt. Our team wanted to do our best to work together and give ideas to help each other out with the job to get it done quicker. I thought to myself maybe if we used different tools or not have so many people the job may get done quicker. There was limited spots to help out. Some explained how they felt like they were in the way because they were not given a job. March 30th i talked about what the definition of community means and how our team could make ourselves a part of the community. Going back to the subject, we worked as a team on the cactus’s communicating on what needed to be done and how we can get the job done correctly. We even saw a couple of taranchula! As for me, i do not like spiders but seeing my first taranchula ever it was a pretty exciting thing. I did not touch it but just looked and took some pictures of it. 🙂

Overall this trip was pretty amazing. Everyone’s hearts were very tender with being a new area and being thoughtful of others. The group was supportive to one another and helpful in the community. Thank you to Jedlain and the other 410 Bridge leaders, thank you newhope church for giving us the opportunity to go on the trip, and most of all thank God for safety and the adventure we had together as a family!

Silvia Bourn

Where Do I Fit?

Going into the community today to visit the families this morning I had a young boy come up to me and give me a high five. I felt the excitement building up after every home and seeing so many kids. Our team has had quite the experience with the kids. As we all knew the kids would follow us around most places and ask us to play with them. Most days that is all that our group wanted to do, but we helped widen the roads with the cactus’s for a couple of days. A lot of people were there and wanted to help which is good and what gets me excited because that is what a community should be like.

After devotions Ethan Mikhail and I walked down the street to look across at the school to see what the kids were doing and what other things were going on around the area we were staying in. Most of the kids were in school, but we had a couple of kids asking us what our names were, and asking if we could play soccer with him. We both told him our names but we could not play soccer at the moment due to us doing other things in the morning at that time. Ethan has done really well with his French and hearing him communicate with the kids telling them we were not able to play soccer yet made me smile. The kids were not sad, but yet they were still happy they were able to talk to us and give us high fives. The kids definitely brightened my day every day. They always had smiles on their faces no matter what the circumstances were. Walking back to the guest house the kids waved at us and watched us walking back. There was never a good bye moment to the kids and families in the community. It was an I will see you later. I do not like saying goodbye, i always say see you later or catch up soon!

Silvia Bourn

Don’t Underestimate Your Role

For our team some may not have played the central role but they did play a crucial role. Some of the members on our team may have felt out of place in the area of the community, but we have a place in the body. God made each of us unique. You play an irreplaceable part on this team, in this community and in Christ’s global body.  1 Corinthians 12:15-20 says suppose the foot says, “I am not a hand. So I don’t belong to the body.” It is still part of the body. And suppose the ear says, “I am not an eye. So I don’t belong to the body.” It is still part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If the whole body were an ear, how could it smell? God has placed each part in the body just as he wanted it to be. If all the parts were the same, how could there be a body? As it is, there are many parts. But there is only one body. With verse 18 it talks about how God has placed our body in His image and how he alone made it to be that way. I think of it as a community. We all have our desires in life, but we are also one family in the presence of the Holy Spirit. We all have the same parts we were blessed with, so we should use our body to please God. I have a friend who once told me to guard my heart. Proverbs 4:23-26 says “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the  paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Solomon in the Bible refers to guarding your heart; he means the inner core of a person, the thoughts, feelings, desires, will and choices that makes who that person he/she is. These verses always help me with my thoughts when i feel tempted or when something is not right. I look to these verses and know that God made me for a purpose and that purpose to be a shining light to others. We are one body. One family. Let’s remember this with everything we do and with the friends and families that we have! Jesus made everything the way He wanted it to be. Lets remember this. 

Silvia Bourn

One Body, Many Parts, Unified Together

1 Corinthians 12:12-14 says “The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up only one body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into Christ’s body by one Spirit, and we have all received the same Spirit.  Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part.” On this trip our team was made up of a diversified group, which of a range of strengths and weaknesses.One thing that was said in the journals we did every day was “Now imagine asking (or better yet, actually take some time to ask) some of your Haitian hosts what is one thing you really enjoy doing?, and what is something your really no good at?” I remember asking a girl at the school what her favorite thing was to do. She said said she loves to cook for her family. One thing that she said she was not good at was sports. God created us individually. There are no replications. There is no uniform, but there is unity. Paul talks about how we can find unity in the midst of different diversities in 1 Corinthians 12 which is said above. The girl is no different them me. We are unified together through Christ but with different varieties in life. 

Challenge for today was to focus on the One who unifies you with the rest of your team. Throughout the trip our group had some struggles but in the end we all unified into one family and that is what made my heart melt. Some questions that were asked through our daily reflections were; “What difference did you see in people, culture, and worship?”, “What similarities did you see?”

The difference that i saw in the people i compared to America. The people in Haiti are full of laughter and smiles with what they have. The culture works hard to get things done, and the worship is by far the best part of the trip. I think everything you do is a sign of worship. Tuesday night our team went to a church to see one of our 410 Bridge leaders sing and he did fantastic! He had a great voice. Even though we could not understand every word to the songs, it was still beautiful to hear the power of everyone’s voices coming together to worship our One true king. Our group knew the song called Majesty. I could tell that that song was one of the Haitians favorites. They loved saying Majesty and that is just beautiful to me.

Some similarities i saw was the laughter, joy, hard work they put into everything and all of them worshiping our Heavenly Father. The excitement from everyone got me excited. The laughter and smiles on the Haitians put it on the team. My heart smiled in the field at the school; seeing our team interacting with everyone by singing, dancing, clapping, praying, playing soccer, jump roping, and doing arts and crafts. This is what defines unity. This is what family is about. This is the power of Jesus Christ dwelling into our hearts. This is the joy that everyone should have. This was the best part of the trip!

Silvia Bourn