A Word from Kristen

Ou se tout bezweh mweh – all I need is you, Lord

These lyrics from Hillsong, translated by some of the Haitian students here on the compound seem to me to be the theme for my trip so far. Arriving yesterday in the airport in Port-au-Prince seemed surreal at first, not to mention scary, exciting, new, sobering… It was easy to think, WOW I cannot believe I am here, look at ME, little nineteen-year-old Kristen Ballard, all (insert number of choice) pounds of me instigating change in a foreign country. It was easy to think about all GOD did to bring ME here. It was easy to start planning and strategizing and bonding with teammates. It was easy to be prideful until you meet someone here, then there is nothing to do but be humbled.

My name is Kristen Ballard, I am entering my junior year at Transylvania University, a small private liberal arts college in Lexington, KY. I have been humbled by my first few days in Haiti, to say the least. The community is so loving, so intelligent and so hard working. The US Campus Crusade for Christ staff and Haiti CCC had made it clear that God had always been in Haiti and that we are mere instruments for tiny tasks in HIS plan. Upon arriving, I could not agree more. This morning God led me to read Phillipians – here is what Chapter Two, verse three through four say: “When you do things, do not let selfishness or pride be your guide. Instead, be humble and give more honor to others than to yourselves. Do not be interested only in your own life, but also in the lives of others.” Could a better verse be sent to me?

The tasks we are sent to do are not yet clear, and may never be fully clear to us even after we leave. They are more than building, teaching, learning or playing soccer. They are simply for now giving honor to others and leading as many people to Christ as we can. Meanwhile, we learn so much by being here, because all anyone ever needs is the Lord, he provides the rest.

Highlights of the trip thus far:

• meeting all the awesome Haitian students who are our ages (many of them can speak at least FOUR languages)
• having Professor Phil from University of Alabama tell us about the Physiology behind God’s existence
• learning what international pastors have to say about American mission trips
• being taught Creole! By a Haitian linguist and also by eleven-year-olds while playing football and foutbol

Soundbites:

• Rachel from Purdue (warning nerd joke): “The Trinity is like the triple point in Chemistry…”
• Phil: “Show a little appreciation and love and you will learn the right to share the Gospel [with your professors]”
• St. Augustine: “Men go abroad to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the oceans, at the circular motions of the stars, and pass by themselves without wonderings”