30til30: Day 2

I have 30 days until I turn 30, so I thought I'd try to choose 30 moments that have helped shape who I am and want to be. Coming up with the list has been challenging...and enlightening. These are in no particular order.

2: Short-term missions in Haiti.
"Oh, hey...I've never been on a missions trip before. Maybe I should go to HAITI." I don't think I fully understood what I was getting into, but I got into it anyway. Ten days in that country truly rocked my world. I still can't believe some of the images I saw and things I experienced:

• Someone plucking a chicken into the Pool of St. Jacques.
• Three heads on the spikes at the top of a gate.
• Looking down the street in the dark and, as my eyes adjusted, seeing hundreds of people walking around.
• Kids playing in a pile of trash right outside of a gated Royal Caribbean resort you pay to get into.
• Four men walking toward us with machetes on their shoulders.
• Riding a "tap-tap" (you just jump on whenever and hit the side when you want to get off. sometimes they stop, sometimes they don't). They are usually pickup trucks and mini vans filled with about 60 people.
• Talking with the Haitian kids that frequented the compound. 
• Worshipping with the Missionaries.
• Visiting the medical clinic.
• Teaching English to some Haitian students in the school.

How it shaped me:

• I don't plan to support Royal Caribbean with my business in this lifetime.
• I have a healthy perspective of needs and wants.
  
• I have a high tolerance for "bad things" happening.
  
• I am pretty sure that I am not meant to have a vocation in overseas missions.