Haiti Mission Trip

I, Abigail Wynd Zwart, was born on November 29, 1996 at approximately 11:42 A.M. Since then, I have grown. I have obviously grown physically but also mentally and spiritually. Many people and events have shaped how I’ve grown and helped pace my rate of growth. One of those events occurred fairly recently and has changed how I act and think about a lot of things. A mission trip to Haiti changed my life.

Last year Kirk Vander Pol organized a trip to Haiti through Solid Rock Youth Group and three area churches. In June of 2011, three groups of youth and adults went to help out at Children of the Promise (hereafter COTP). I was in the third group along with my mom.

When I first heard about this trip I kept saying to myself, “This is not something I would do. There are plenty of other people for the ‘job’.” Nearing the deadline for sign-up, God obviously changed my heart. Haiti was all I could think about. After praying about it and talking with my parents, I was on the list to go to COTP.

Upon arrival at the Cap Haitien airport there was a little bit of culture shock for me. Going from Minneapolis International Airport to driving down a “road” lined with shacks, shelters, and people was obviously a lot different for me. However, because of all the preparation meetings there wasn’t as much culture shock as I expected. We readily encountered the new culture.

One of the first things I noticed was the absolute beauty of the country. While most might think of Haiti as a dump, some of the country is incredibly breathtaking! Mountains, palm trees, fields, and much more cover the countryside where I was.

While our group was there, we did all sorts of different projects: cleaned the baby house, organized the depot, cleaned toys, helped the nannies, and spent time with the children. I enjoyed "working." In fact, it didn't seem like work at all. The language barrier created some interesting situations but for the most part it was a lot of fun spending time with the nannies and children despite what we were doing.

Every morning and evening the nannies would lead a time of prayer and singing with the children, staff, and volunteers. This was my favorite, most blessed time of the whole trip. I looked forward to this every day we were there. It was in Creole so I couldn't understand it but I didn't have to understand what they were saying and singing to understand what they were feeling. Their passion and love for the Lord is so incredible. I saw it in the way they took care of the children and especially in their praise and worship.

My most remembered part of the trip was quite unexpected. I, along with other members of the group, were playing with some children underneath the pavilion. As we were playing one nanny started to sing. Then all of the nannies joined in! One by one, everyone was dancing, even the children! Everyone was jumping around, clapping, and singing. I was incredibly close to bursting out crying, crying tears of joy! I can't even come close to describing the amount of joy I saw. That time blessed me more than you could imagine and has impacted my life.

Coming back to America was extremely difficult. After seeing and being with some of the people of Haiti, I did not want to go back. Arriving in Minnesota, I was to the point of anger and frustration of how we could be living like this when so many people are living like that. I no longer could stand there and tolerate what they have to go through every single day to stay alive.

That trip changed my life for the better. It has shown me how incredibly blessed I am and how many privileges I take for granted every day. Missions are now something that is on my heart all the time. I started with the mindset of this being a one-time thing. After I came back and still to this day I am definitely going back!