feel life while you are living it

I came across an article about Sean Penn and his work in Haiti recently. His typical snarkiness and colorful language were there - despite that - he seems to have a good model and his work in Port-au-Prince is helpful. What really got me though, was when the reporter asked Penn what he was doing here, why not stay in the comfort and safety of America?

Why trade in a life of luxury and ease for a crowded flop house near a refugee camp?
“The hardship that’s here allows an individual to feel alive with a clearer lens and more honest perspective,” he says. “You feel your life while you are living it.”

Feeling life while you are living it.  There is no other choice. List making and plans are not the way we live day to day life. We certainly have specific ministry goals and plans to accomplish these goals. What I think Penn's point is - is here you live life exactly in the moment in front of you. Your perspective - is NOW.

The lens you see through is so much clearer, living in the past is useless and looking to far ahead will cause you to miss the current problem -- and the current problems are to grave to miss.

Adjusting to this new normal has been, surprisingly, easy. My mind turns off all the white noise when I see someone who is severely ill or a child who just needs to be loved. I am so thankful for this chance - - to live life while it's happening. To experience each moment throughly. I hope and pray it is a way of life I will be able to carry with me for years to come.

mail

I've had lots of inquries abourt mail, so here you are! Haiti does not have a postal system (a strange concept to grasp, I know) -- but we are blessed with Missionary Flights International, who diligently delivers mail and supplies to missionaries in Haiti and the Caribbean. 
All mail for me can be sent here:

Unit 1069 -- HAFF

April Lambiotte

3170 Airmans Dr

Fort Pierce, Fl 34946

Packages can also be sent to the FL address. If you send a package there are additional shipping charges and customs costs. For the shipping from FL to Haiti, the charge is $1.50 per pound. If you send a package over 3lbs, I would ask that you also considering covering that shipping cost. To cover additional shipping, please separately send a check to MFI at the address above (without my name on the envelope) and include "April Lambiotte (HAFF) Shipping" in the memo line.

Generally, MFI flies into Pignon on Thursdays, the same day HAFF goes into Pignon for errands, so we pick up mail and cargo then. Thursdays can be exciting around here ;)

If you have questions about sending something specific, feel free to email me! Any piece of mail brings a smile to my face and makes me feel closer to home!

VBS with 410 Bridge

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and a great start to the new year! HAFF is hosting a team of youth from Michigan and keeping very busy this week. Just after Christmas, a 410 Bridge team came to Bohoc for a VBS with some local children. I stopped by to pick up some items brought through a mutual friend and…

got to love on some pretty cute kids. 

I was also reunited with some very familiar faces!

Plus, learned some new games to

pass onto our kids at HAFF. 

Check out the HAFF blog for a few Christmas updates!
Wishing you and yours a lovely 2013 from Haiti!

overload

I stood there, trying to take it all in. Like everything else here, I want to experience it all - I can't though. I can't take it all in and I realize I am in sensory overload. The smells, the sounds, the sights. 

Over. Load. 

As I try to find the English words to the Christmas song I recognize the tune of, I laugh to myself and decide just to be grateful. God doesn't need me to be specific, He's already in these details - gratitude will suffice. 

Gratitude is what He is seeking most from me - I've been lacking true gratitude lately. While beginning to live in this society where joy and pain exist simultaneously and life is a constant juxtaposition, I can't find gratitude as easily. I'm too busy fighting tarantulas and moths, watching the smiles of a people full of hope. I am too busy processing a sick mother moaning on her bed as I hold her hand and pray for something supernatural to happen. I'm too busy trying to simply communicate. The gratitude has been lost in my overload - all I can do is go to God with open hands asking for help. Fright, anger, confusion, sadness, loneliness and a quiet contentment have won out in my heart. God knew this was coming and He's full of grace, which is important since I feel grace-less. So, in the season when He gave the greatest gift I finally realize that just a "thank you" breathed to my Father is enough. He's in this juxtaposition of life and He knows it's hard to be here. So my gratitude - whispered, yelled or cried is enough right now. The life in front of me feels like such a mystery and I don't understand any of this - yet - but I know enough to be thankful and I think that means that for now, I get it. 

Jumbled thoughts, from what is turning out to be a rather jumbled life - all put together by a rock solid God. 

Emmanuel, God is WITH us. Thank you, thank you, thank you.