Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Hope for Haiti

  December 17th- 22nd I was blessed with the opportunity to serve in Haiti. I had been wanting to go on a mission trip for awhile, so I began to search the web for anything and everything I could find over Christmas Break. After searching for hours and feeling hopeless, I decided to give it up to the Lord and if it was his will for me to go on a mission trip, then it would all work out. It's unfortunate how much I try to do on my own first just to find out it fails! A few days later, my roommate Morgan told me that Mission of Hope was taking a trip over December and that I should check it out. Everything about the trip seemed to line up with what I had in mind. ( Funny how God works!) In October, I sent in my forms and committed. Then it was time to start raising money. Now that I can reflect on the entirety of the trip, the support God provided was incredible and such a growing experience for me. People I would have least expected to financially support me were writing checks and not only that, but giving so generously. A lot of people knew I was heading to Haiti, and on the drive to the airport I could actually physically feel the prayers. It was so humbling and encouraging to know I was right where God wanted me.

    Trying to describe my time in Haiti to others has been a bit of a challenge because some of the experiences I had are hard to put into words. I have heard about the poverty in Haiti on TV, magazines, from others etc. but until I actually was involved in it, smelt it and saw it with my own eyes, did it actually resonate in my spirit. Driving from the airport to Mission of Hope (MOH), where we stayed, I kept thinking " I am actually in Haiti! Is this real life?" Driving ( exceptionally fast) past the people that crowded the streets and the mass amount of "homes" struck my heart immediately. Going into this trip I had no expectations because I really didn't even know what I was going to do while I was in Haiti. God completely blew my mind. 


   Mission of Hope's goal is to reach every Man, Woman, and Child in Haiti and I really think they are moving in the positive direction towards that. We stayed on their campus where they have their own school, clinic, church and orphanages. The people they are teaching and influencing are growing physically, spiritually and mentally and it's evident. At church on Sunday, we were blessed to be able to worship (for 3 hours) with around 300 Haitians from the surrounding areas.What an encouragement it was to see people worship with such passion and boldness. If you simply live in America, you are beyond blessed. Since things seem to come simply for so many of us, it is easy to think we can do life our own. For a lot of the Haitians, they don't have a lot more than the clothes on their back, so they are completely dependent on the Lord for everything in their lives. During my time in Haiti, being disconnected from my phone, computer, etc. and even my friends and family, took away so many distractions I have in my daily life. He became so real while I was there. After interacting with all these beautiful children, I kept thinking " These are all God's children too!" I can easily put God in a box when I become self absorbed or closed minded, but he did not only die on the cross for me and people that speak English... But absolutely every person. What a beautiful thing. 


    
   Since there was only around 20 of us on this mission trip, we got to really experience the culture of Haiti. For example, the market. This was the first time I really felt a culture shock and that I was getting completely stared at for being a minority. Everyone is just trying to make a penny and it felt like complete chaos. You aren't supposed to take pictures with out permission because some Haitians believe it captures your soul, but I couldn't resist!                                                                                               


     MOH has also started building houses in a village called Leveck. They have built 100, and they have plans to build 500. Compared to what we saw in passing, these houses are luxury homes. They have 3 rooms inside, and each house has a plot of land for agriculture. I think they said they pay around $5 a month so each family can actually own the house, which is almost unheard of in Haiti. We spent a few hours one day painting the inside of a house.  




The kids loved to help out! At one point, one of the boys started painting the wall behind me. The rollers would spray back paint onto your skin so by the end of the day we were covered in paint. The little boy tapped me on the waist, and with his dark skin covered in cream paint he pointed to the wall to show me he was done. Haitians are hard workers to say the least. 

  


 One of the most memorable things for me while I was there was when we evangelised through a town called Minoterie (pronounced like minnow-tree). We prayed that the Lord would guide our steps towards the people he wanted us to approach. With the help of our translator, we would start by asking questions such as what they thought of Americans being in their village or how long they have lived in their house for. We would then ask if they are Christian, and all the houses we stopped at said yes. We would follow up with questions like why they are Christian or what it means to them to be Christian. A lot of times they didn't really know. We would then ask if they had any prayers requests and if we could pray for them right then. One of the houses we stopped by, the two women we were talking to immediately invited us inside their home to pray over her sick husband. He had been lying on the floor for over a week with stomach pain. He was in excruciating pain, which seemed to be the result of worms. Something that is so easily preventable and treatable in the States. I continue to pray for those people we encountered in the village. I pray they continue to develop a growing relationship with Jesus. And that he blesses them with good health, shelter and hope. 

     On our last day there, we visited 3 orphanages to act out the Nativity scene. It was so much fun! After, we sang "Jesus Loves Us" and had the kids jump in and sing and dance. That was followed by playing soccer, hand-clap-games, and lots of love and giggles. It was so amazing to witness God break down a language barrier in order to love on these kids.

    I have left out the beauty of the country of Haiti. I never imagined the landscaping to be so breathtaking. We were surrounded by mountains and crystal blue water. Every day the sunsets and sunrises were beautiful. ( Yes, I was awake to see the sunrises due to the wild roosters). And at night the sky was so dark with the stars so bright. The Lord's creation was taken to another level in Haiti:

   One thing God really put on my heart was finding out my purpose. What God created me to do in order to further his kingdom. I really feel that it may have something to do with poverty, not necessarily in 3rd world countries but anywhere. I can't wait for him to reveal my purpose. Now that I am back in the States, I can see how quickly I can fall into the Americanized way of living. To an extent, I loved how minimal the Haitians lived. Don't get me wrong, I love warm showers, but there is so much in our every day life that is so unnecessary. I really hope that God blesses me with another opportunity to serve him in another country in the future. I learned so much and grew within that short amount of time it excites me to think about going back! As this trip has forever changed me, I am sure I will be talking about it lots in future blog posts :)  






Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Martin Family Dinner

   Last Monday night, Kate invited a few of us over for a Spaghetti Dinner at her parents house. I love being at "real" houses in Statesboro. As I have grown older in this town, I am realizing how much more of just a college town this place is, and I love it. It was so sweet of them to open their house for all of us for good food and good fellowship. Here is the group shot for the night: 

Charlie Brown Christmas

   After the Southern game on Friday, we had some people over to Tillman to watch the LSU vs. Georgia game. This was a rather random night, that included lots of Oreo Milkshakes and Morgan wanting to be a cheerleader.. 
And also wanting to get into the Christmas spirit without spending a dime on it. Luckily, we had some friends come over to help us compose a plan. My friend Kate and her brother Johnny are Statesboro Natives who have a lot of land close by.

So we piled up and headed out to find the perfect tree..

And Johnny cut us down a tree!
Here it is! Every person that comes over, we have them make an ornament. Now Tillman totally has the Christmas Feel. 
 Jack ( little boy Meghan babysits for) made us an ornament too. He got a little bored with the paper.. 

   I love this time of year so much! Although it doesn't feel like December at all as I write this blog in my living room with the windows open since it's about 70 degrees. So many fun activities it's hard to keep up on Beloved Cocoa!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Updates!

   Living in Statesboro, we are only 45 or so minutes from Savannah. I really want to be better about taking advantage of how close we are! I love that town. Since Statesboro does not have the greatest shopping.. a few of us decided to head to the mall and out to dinner one Friday night. I got a few good deals at the mall, and more importantly we went to such an awesome restaurant. It's called the Green Truck, and had the best burger I have ever had! All the meat is local, and everything is homemade- even the ketchup! It's definitely my new go-to. After dinner, we headed down to River Street to watch the people fireworks and of course we had to stop at Savannah Sweets. 



Okay it may not look as good as it tasted.. But I promise it was!

    More football updates! We keep winning and I am loving it. We beat Maine (35-23) this past weekend which means we are headed to North Dakota State! Kassi and I had 2 recruits on official visits so we were quite busy. Basically, we plan their every minute all weekend and make sure they get there when they are supposed to and really just spend a lot of quality time with the players and their families. It's so fun, but can be quite exhausting. All I know is one more win.. than off to Texas for the National Championship!


True Blue!




Sunday, November 27, 2011

Black Friday!

   Black Friday: The day the O'Connor clan conquers. This year, we started by getting breakfast + coffee ( or for most of my family, Diet Coke) at Panera Bread. Then, we headed to the mall. This year the stores had such good sales. I ended up getting most of my Christmas present at Banana Republic- the entire store was 40% off! Our first stop this year was visiting Santa!
Terrible quality, but a group shot none the less. 


As I was at Macy's looking for Black boots, the girls decided to play dress up. The shoe department there was probably the busiest place we went all day( Besides the food court). As you can tell by the picture it was a mess. 
Trying on heals was a common activity shopping apparently. 

     After a long day of shopping, we stopped at the Alpharetta Diner for dinner. We ended up sitting in a private room at a round table which was awesome! All 12 of us sat around the table and had such a good time. Lots of good food and laughs. I wish I would have taken a picture of our table because at one point we had over 29 cups ( Lauren counted). And that was after our super friendly waiter collected a few..I feel like more often than not this break I have walked away from the table hunched over. 
My 7-Layer cake may have contributed to putting me over the edge.

   Our last stop after dinner was Kohl's. That topped off our 13 hour shopping day with no breaks! When we got home, we unloaded everything in grandmas room and ended up having a mini fashion show of our new purchases. Such a fun day and I am pretty sure my feet are still throbbing.

And finally.. a group shot of the entire gang:
Happy Thanksgiving!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Thanksgiving time!

   This may be one of my favorite times of year. Lots of food, lots of family, and lots of shopping! We always go to my grandma and grandpas ( who live right down the street) and our family comes from all over: Georgia, Virginia, and Maryland! Grandma and the girls do such a good with preparing the meals and the guys do a good job at watching/playing football. ( Oh, and the dishes!)  Us girl cousins decided to sit out and watch the game.. 
Lauren (9) Taylor (14) Me, Jessica+Aubrie and Allie (4)
The Guys Post-Football Game


























Yes, that is all cheese sauce. 


    


     Just another way grandpa spoils us each year is by giving us diamonds. Hey,I said we were spoiled! After dinner, he pulls out these boxes that are wrapped so perfectly. After all are boxes are in hand, we open them as quickly as possible to see what's inside. This year.. Diamonds by the yard!



All of us with our new bling! 

     I have so much to be thankful for, and it's so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holidays. I am so blessed that my family has the opportunity to all gather under the same roof to celebrate the holidays. And Christmas is right around the corner! Tomorrow we have such a big day ( Black Friday) so I will be blogging about that! 

Village Time

   Dad and I decided on Wednesday that it would be a great day to put up our Christmas Village. Every year, my grandma and grandpa buy one for each family and we are up to 17 village pieces. Once the village is up, it feels like Christmas to me. I had Christmas music playing ( until dad told me it was too much) and was so pumped to be putting decorations up. I placed them, and then dad did all the wiring. That junk is complicated! 


              During the day:                                                                                  At night:

             


If you can't tell by all the pictures I took, I was very proud of it this year! 


We had so many it had to over flow to our chest. Dad and I had a good time putting them up and I just love to stare at them this time of year!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Jo Jo got hurt!

   As I was driving home from Eastman Tuesday, there was so much traffic on I-75. I was in the left lane in stop and go traffic for quite some time. At one point I ended up slamming on my breaks.. which led to the person behind me hitting me and the person behind them hitting them. I immediately pulled over and my adrenaline was pumping. I was thinking, did I just get hit? Is this was a car accident feels like? I called my dad and he said to call 911. I stepped out and talked to the girl who hit me who was coming home from Albany State for Thanksgiving break. Her car got pretty damaged but that person didn't even stop! I got back in my car and dialed 911- my first time ever! I was so nervous for some reason. The dispatcher wasn't very much help, but luckily a police just happened to pull up behind us because he was looking for another car accident. Praise the Lord that no one got hurt! I just feel sorry my baby ( Jo Jo) because she is all scratched up. My first car accident ever.. could have been way worse!