Beautiful Mess: Connecting Two Worlds

One of the neatest parts of living in Haiti is getting to watch the stuff that doesn't actually take place in Haiti! By that, I mean, watching how the communities and people-groups I belonged to in the States have really come alongside of me and gotten to experience Haiti as well. It is so neat to see how all these different communities have chosen to get involved in Haiti and live for something more - more than just their daily jobs and routines, more than just their typical life, and more than just watching my journey, actually becoming a part of it.

Just two examples:

1. The team we are hosting in March is made up of my parents, aunt and uncle, a few couples from the church I grew up in, and a few teachers and residents from Hershey where I used to teach. That, in and of itself, is so cool! But, they have been doing a few fundraisers for their trip. One of them is hosting 5 weekly Zumba classes throughout January. From what I understand, close to 40 people have shown up for the weekly classes!!! And the best part is...some of the dances they are doing are ones that I have been teaching the girls at Good Samaritan. Check out one of our dances below:

2. Before I left, I was doing a few speaking engagements to various groups about what it was I would be doing, etc. One of those groups was a youth group in Hershey. The following night after I met with them, I received an email from one of the high school girls, Gabi. She asked if she could put together an 'art packet' for the girls and boys to make bracelets. The following day I picked up all the supplies she had bought and put together. This December, a team and I spent the morning helping the kids create bracelets! Two different cultures, two different worlds...united by One purpose!