Tori's Stories

Today I didn't do anything out of the norm. I welcomed my seamstresses, ate breakfast, figured out payroll, and did "normal" stuff. But all day long I've felt burdened. I began feeling overly compelled to pray for the sick people in my life. My grandpa who is suffering from cancer, my uncle who is back in the hospital for the second time in a month with still no answers, and someone else in my family having surgery Thursday. I felt helpless being so far away from home. Not being there to visit them or comfort my parents or others closest to them kills me, but I can pray. God's healing touch can do so much more than my hugs or tears can do anyway. Then, I get a call from one of our seamstresses who did not show up for work today. She usually calls right away and lets me know what was going on, so I was worried about her. She has spent the day at the hospital with her sick baby boy. He is shaking and has a fever and when I talked to her they were waiting on the ...

Tonight, with the team that is here, we ended the nightly prayer praying The Lord's Prayer. Our Father who art in Heaven Hallowed Be Your Name Thy Kingdom Come Thy Will be done On Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this Day our Daily Bread And forgive us our tresspasses As we forgive those who tresspass against us Lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever Amen As we were praying I began to really think about those words. Too often memorized things become just that, memorized. Something we say because we are supposed to. Something that we say to feel more spiritual or to be a part of the group. How often do we really think about the words of this prayer? Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Our Father in Heaven should be hollowed. What does Hollowed mean anyway? The American Heritage Dictionary defines hallowed as "sanctified; consecrated; highly venerated; sacrosanct....

I've started this blog over and over again many times because I don't know just what to say. I don't think my words will do justice to what I saw and experienced. I actually decided I wasn't going to post anything and shut my computer and started going to bed, but I know I need to post something so I brought it back up. My prayer is that this is God's words and thoughts flowing through my fingers and not my own. Today we went on the water truck run. I talked about this a few posts ago, but I'll talk about it again. We take a big oil truck filled with water to the poorest slum in the western hemisphere (Cite Soleil). As we are pulling up women and children start running with buckets in tow to get some fresh, cold, fairly clean water. Before the truck stops and we get off there is a line waiting for this ammenity. I got to play with the kids while all of this was going on. Kids run up to you yelling for you to carry them, wanting hugs, and wanting love. They f...

Today my word of the day is LIFE. I saw so many instances of LIFE today. LIFE at it's fullest, LIFE at it's happiest, LIFE at it's lowest, LIFE lived to the fullest, LIFE full of hope, LIFE searching for a little glimpse of hope, LIFE worth living, LIFE through the eyes of a child, LIFE through laughter, LIFE through communicaition, LIFE through gestures, LIFE through God's children, LIFE through love. This morning I got up, sleepy, but in a great mood. I came over to the guest house and started coffee and getting food out for making breakfast before the housekeeper even showed up. Together we made breakfast for the team. It is so much fun to be able to serve these teams that give up a week of their LIVES to serve the people of this country. I enjoy hanging out with them and seeing their views change from day 1 to day 7. I enjoy watching their LIVES change as they live in another country and see the sights and fall in love with the people. I like watching...

This morning I had the incredible opportunity to attend a Haitian church. I never thought about going to one before because I wouldn't be able to understand much of it, but the teams have said it was an incredible experience so I thought I would give it a try. They were right. Walking to church we saw an incredible sunrise (church starts at 6am) and that was only the beginning. After a bit of a journey, we reached the top of a hill where the church happening in a tent was within view. We could hear them singing a song in English--"I give myself to you". Such an incredible song to start with. Then all of a sudden we heard kids voices shouting the song so loud (they were leading worship with the main leader). Such an incredible thing to hear. Children singing about giving their all to Christ. I could not help but pray that these words ring true the rest of thier lives. In a Haitian church, they know how to worship. All service long they are pacing the isles, hands held ...

'3seams' partners with an organization called Healing Haiti. In fact, my house is owned by them and right next to their guest house. Each week they have a different team come and when I'm not busy I enjoy hanging out with these teams. Our ladies do not work on Wednesdays, so today I tagged along. In the morning we went to a Home for Sick and Dying Babies (and Children). Going in, I did not really know what to expect, but knew we were going to get to love on babies, so I was in! Upon entering, we came into a room full of sick babies in cribs. Most people started picking them up so I headed upstairs to where the older children and more healthy babies are. Upon reaching the top of the stairs little Ronnie was waiting for me with her arms outstreached. How could I pass up that opportunity? She wouldn't say much and was quiet when I asked her questions, but she didn't let me put her down. I loved on her until she fell asleep. Shortly before that happened another little...

When people ask “How is Haiti?” I look at them and reply, “It’s incredible.” Not because it’s so much fun, not because it’s so nice here, not because I feel safe to do anything I want to, not because of any normal reasons. It’s incredible because it has stolen my heart. I have fallen in love with the beautiful children, I’ve fallen in love with the simplicity of life, I’ve fallen in love with the people I get to interact with. The country of Haiti is not incredible in and of itself, it’s the people that live here that make the country incredible. Haiti is full of poverty that no human should ever have to endure. People living in less than tents, people with nowhere to lay their heads at night, people who live with bugs flying and crawling around them all the time, people with no electricity or running water; but yet they endure. They don’t know what they don’t have. They have adapted to how they live and are truly survivors. Each and every person I have met here has impressed me in som...

Today was the 2nd anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti. January 12, 2010 is a moment that all Haitians will remember the rest of their lives. The Haitian government reported that an estimated 316,000 people had died, 300,000 had been injured and 1,000,000 made homeless. The government of Haiti also estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged (according to Wikipedia). I  was not here to experience this tragedy and cannot claim at all to know what it was like, but the following are my reflections from today. This morning one of my seamstresses called me and said she and another were not coming in today because they were going to “pray to God” (I love how she says that in her Haitian accent). I completely understood and told her I would see her tomorrow. I actually didn’t know for sure if any of them would come in or not, but the other two did. I found out from another Haitian that many of them go to church to pray f...