Tori's Stories

Today was one of those days where my emotions soared from really high to really low. Thursday night I recieved not so good news about my grandpa and have been feeling down since. This morning I had planned to finally get to go to the wound clinic and help there, but upon getting up, I knew I would not be effective there. I went with the majority of the team to Cite Soliel. When we got out at our first stop I was not who I normally am when I tag along to Cite Soleil. As always, kids grabbed us the second we got off the tap tap. Rather than playing with the kids, I just stood there and held them. At that moment I was so thankful for the hugs and love even though I barely knew these kids. Eventually a jump rope was being used and a child looked at me and told me to jump. How could I say no to those eyes? I jumped a little and they laughed at me. I was loosening up and enjoying myself more. Later, a child looked at me and said "Kouri" (run). Agian, I can't say no, so I pull...

Each team that comes through has a time at night where they come up with a word that describes their day. Even if I don't participate in that sharing time I like to come up with a word to help me process my thoughts. Today, as I was coming up with my word I was struggling and decided that was my word. Life has its own set of struggles for anyone and they are different for each and every person. Here is what I'm struggling with right now. I struggle with remembering that life here isn't "normal" (what does normal even mean?) because it is what I see every day. I struggle with knowing if what I'm doing is really making a difference. I struggle with being asked everytime I go anywhere for things as simple as food or a pair of shoes. I struggle with wanting to give these items away because of the beautiful eyes staring at me asking for them, but knowing I can't. I struggle with knowing the fine line between handing out and handing up. I strug...

I was invited to go to Jacmel for the weekend with someone and since my plans to go to the beach with some friends didn't pan out I decided to jump on the opportunity. The person I was going with was going to work and since he's an engineer, I thought it would be boring smart people stuff and I'd spend most of my time sitting and reading or something. I sure was wrong! We had to leave the house by 5am because we had a three hour drive to Jacmel and then another two hours to where the project was. I didn't feel like packing or showering Friday night, so my morning came with a cold shower wake up at 4am followed by overpacking and loading up the truck with tile, a door, wood, paint, clothes, food for us, and some items to give away. Based on what we were taking I still thought it would be boring, but I wanted to see Jacmel. At 5:15am we passed the first person walking on the side of the road not too far from where I live. In my mind it was still four am and I wondered...

This morning we got up before the roosters started crowing to get to a Haitian church service by 6am. I had been before, but each time I am amazed by their worship. During the service (that I can only understand a word or phrase every now and then), I was convicted of something and felt heavily compelled to pray for my grandpa. The Holy Spirit was definately present even though a different language was being spoken. My grandpa has not left my thoughts all day and tears have even came muliple times. I wrote in my last blog about visiting the elderly and related that to my grandparents (take time to read it right now if you haven't). This blog wont' be so much about Haiti like most, but rather about my grandpa. For those of you who don't know, he's fighting cancer and from what we can tell, has almost lost the battle. Being in a whole nother country, I feel helpless. Not that me being there will help anything, its just I really miss him. I want to be there to see hi...

This morning I knew the day was going to run a little like the following: Elderly in the morning and Grace Village in the afternoon. Spending time with the elderly is not my passion, its not where my heart lies, and its not something I have spent a lot of time doing before. From teams that have came through in the past weeks, I heard this was an incredible experience. I was up for a new adventure and couldn't wait to experience this part of Healing Haiti. Our first stop was the Haitian market in Titanyen. I had never walked through one of these, but had seen many from the side or from a distance. This was an experience in itself. Our mission was to buy fruit, vegetables, hot food, and drinks to take to these elderly people. There was so much action going on, goats bleating and sounding like kids crying (their legs were tied up and they were laying on thier side), people where shouting what they had for sale, staring at the blancs, trying to get to where they needed to get to, and...

Today was a bit less exciting than most days I blog about and a whole lot more sad. Has your skin ever been so dry that all you wanted was some lotion to put moisture back into it? Have you ever been so sick that you couldn't go anywhere for any length of time and wished for visitors? Have you ever wanted a massage so badly because your muscles were so tight? Today, I had the blessing of being all three to many women at the home for sick and dying adults. I had never been here before and didn't really know what to expect, but I was up for a new experience. I was told we were going to rub lotion on these people. I know how to apply lotion, I've been doing that for 20ish years, lets go. The thought was kind of wierd, like we were rubbing up strangers, but I figured they would like it, so I was willing. The ladies would rearrange their positions to ensure we did not miss any spots. Their frail bodies would make the efforts to lift thier legs or their arms even though w...

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 ...