Haiti Update.
Well, for those of you that missed the post, Es and I are going to Haiti in December.
I am so excited and nervous about this trip.
I’m nervous for a few reasons.
1) Es and I are leading the team of 12 people. This is new for me, and while I know that I can do it, it is still a lot of responsibility. At the same time, I think it’s good for a leader (of anything) to feel a bit nervous. It means that their heart is still beating.
2) It’s always scary to try and raise money to go on a trip. It is amazing, however, to see the people that step forward to give. A lot of times it’s the people that you would least expect that do the most.
I’m excited for a few reasons too.
1) I’m excited to be with Es on her first mission trip. There has only been 1 other person that I can specifically think of that I’ve been able to see their heart be changed and transformed, and Es is the second. It’s not even that she wasn’t an amazing person before. But every day, I see God working in her and through her in such amazing ways. Over the last 2 years she has continued to empty more and more of herself and allow God to use her how ever He sees fit: at times requiring incredible sacrifice. I am incredibly lucky to be married to someone so passionate about God that she is willing to sacrifice her desires, comforts, needs, and wants to run the course that God has marked out for her. <4
2) I love spending time with people that have nothing, which you always find in third-world countries. And I can only imagine that Haiti, as the poorest country in the western hemisphere, will be filled with people that have absolutely nothing. It might seem kind of morbid to say something like that, but let me explain:
Every opportunity I’ve had to be in countries where people live and operate from a place of incredible need, it helps me to understand who I am and who I should be.
I am broken, messed up, and totally unworthy of…well, most everything I’ve got. That is who I am. I don’t deserve to have the life that I do. The reason I am in the top 3.17% of the richest people in the world is pretty much because of where I was born.
So who should I be? I should be grateful. I should be generous. I should be filled with joy. I should naturally want to help the people around me. I should cherish each moment I have with the friends and family that I love.
I learned this the first time I went to Masaka, Uganda. Driving out into these tiny villages, hanging out with people in huts made out of mud and dung, and seeing people happier and more fulfilled than most of my friends in America.
Most people return from a mission trip saying, “It just made me feel so blessed to live in America” and, “It broke my heart to see the way that people live there.”
I returned from every mission trip feeling a bit upset to live in America, and it broke my heart to see the way that people live here, but I felt so blessed to see the way that I should be living. To see it modeled for me. I’m not really even talking about the consumerism of American life. I’m talking about the way I eat meals. The way I play with my family. The way that I work. The things that I value.
Visiting the people in Africa didn’t help put things in perspective for me, it helped me learn how to live better here in America. And I am expecting - and hoping - for the same from my trip to Haiti.
This has been much longer than I intended, so I’ll just stop here for now. There will probably be many more posts and updates about this, anyway.
~c
If you would like to help financially, which is still very much needed for both Es & I, please send a check to:
The Gateway Church
PO Box 90366
Des Moines, IA 50393
(Please write “Haiti - Chris Kretzu/Es Kretzu” in the memo line)
