December 27, 2012

It's quiet in the plane.

Well, kinda.

In reality, it's so noisy inside the DC-3 that one needs ear plugs.  So, it's quiet inside my head anyway; I have the purple foam ones in place!

As I look out the window, we're cruising just over the clouds and I can see what should be Bermuda to the right.  And then the beautiful expanse of ocean and sky, as far as the eye can see.

We're on our way home.

It wasn't as hard to leave as I had anticipated.  The good-byes occurred over the span of about a week; so, diluted, the leave taking wasn't as wretched as it could have been!

But, there's no mistaking it; we've left a bit of our hearts in Anse-a-Galets, with the people of Haiti - our amazing students, the ever-present children, the special Haitian friends who work on the compound, our neighbors who became like family; the other missionaries and families on the mission compound with whom we have shared life this past year.

And, then there were the members of teams from around the world who came for short term missions.

The familiar faces at church in town.  The Haitians who encouraged us with our creole and those who would laugh at us when we murdered it!  The ones who would wish us a good morning when we passed on the street and those who would ask about our family with each greeting.  The amazing women and children who were making it on their own, living under a tarp or less, and cooking over the charcoal fire on the ground just outside the tarpHome, getting their water from the community fountain at the corner.

The women who cooked and cleaned at the mission guesthouse and cleaned our home and would cook Haitian for us once a week.  The men whom Larry befriended who would sit on our back porch and work on the computers under Larry's watchful and instructive eye.  All the people who would show up at our door with computer, cell phone, printer and copier issues because surely the "blan" techie could help them!  (And the "blan" computer techie learned to pray over these machines, and began to understand when he actually could work the issues out, with help from son Wade!).

Our students who would work long days which often began before day with hauling water for their families, then come to sit in English class and computer class for another 1 1/2 - 3 hours.  Men and women who wanted to improve their skills, to improve the life of their families and, perhaps even make a difference in their country.

The ones who invited us to their daughter's wedding where WE were the honored guests.  The young single father who asked Marty if she would be his new baby daughter's godmoher.  The husband-wife team who responded to the poverty plight of so many of their countrymen by establishing a ministry to enable some of the poorest to send their children to school.

Those who embraced us and allowed us to be part of their lives in many ways.

It's been a great year!  An unexpected gift.

We are taking full hearts home to South Carolina.