My First Christmas in Haiti

Christmas is a time to remember the great gift that God have to us in sending His Son, Jesus, to this world to save us. For this, I am so grateful! How people recognize this around the world is different.

Some say to fail to plan is to plan to fail, but I have learned that this is both true and false during my first Christmas in Haiti. Let me tell you how...

The night before Christmas Eve Day, Al and I made a plan that would include me spending time with his family while he stayed in town to fulfill his obligations. We would potentially meet up later to spend the evening together. Neither happened. This plan failed. What happened instead was even better.

Because of transportation problems, I had to scramble to find a way to Al's uncle's house. I finally walked down with Jose who got a message that choir practice had been cancelled- one of Al's obligations. I called him and plans changed. We both went out to Gressier-bwhere his family lives and where we will live in a couple of months-and spent most of the day framing the ceiling and a door. We really enjoy working together and had a great time that day.  Sometimes plans change for the better!

The evening plans changed too. We didn't plan to go to a gift exchange for Al's prayer group, but we did and had a great time. We didn't plan on talking on the roof with Al's cousin dancing around, but we did and enjoyed our conversation. We planned on getting ice cream, but it was really busy-this just gives us an excuse to get ice cream another time.

Sometimes to plan is to fail (the plan failed, but we still had a great day!), but what happened on Christmas Day shows that to fail to plan is to fail as well.

I woke up early again on Christmas morning. Church was going to start at 7 instead of 6, so I had a little more time to sleep. It lasted until 11. It was really great though. The leader that day was a great friend of Al's, so it was fun to see someone I knew up there. Al didn't have appropriate shoes for church, so he wasn't able to come. I went home after church.

It was like any other Sunday. We ate, we talked, we rested, we worked some. I felt lonely and wanted Christmas to be special, but failed to plan. There was no special meal or music or gifts. It was just different.  Those things aren't the point anyways are they?  I brought my Bible into Jose's room and read her the Christmas story in Creole. I explained to her that my dad would recite it every Christmas. I guess I should try to memorize it in creole so i can recite it year after year too. My family called later that night and it was good to hear from them.

My first Christmas in Haiti wasn't what I expected or what I was used to, but I did learn that flexibility is key when you make a plan or when you don't make a plan. That's not really what Christmas is about though, is it?  Christmas is a time to remember the great gift that God have to us in sending His Son, Jesus, to this world to save us.