Ultra blog 5000

While I was washing I kept thinking of how grateful I am to have a washer, though. I washed about 5 articles of clothing, and it did take a while. And they still have a good bit of dirt in them. They're way less oily, though. I guess I produce a good chunk of body oil. Anyways, while I'm washing I'm just thinking about our washer at home. And thinking about how I'm always thinking about how awesome it would be to have a front loader washer and dryer. I suppose I'm less worried about that now. Especially since I saw a woman bathing and washing her clothes in the stream today. In Haiti, you just don't care about all that American decency. Well, because you can't. It's not really a choice. The pastor that we're with said a good truth last night, "The definition of poverty is when you don't have a choice." I hope I never forget the plight of these people, and that I can be open to God's will for me to do something about poverty somewhere. 

Yesterday as we walked through the tent cities it felt like we were in a movie. Someone made mention of hitting the pause button to go grab a snack. I really resonated with that comment, it didn't feel real at all. I don't know why. I've not been hit super emotionally yet, but a lot of our team has. Lot of crying yesterday. Mostly all of us not knowing how to process what we saw. Not sure how many know this, but as our plane arrived, the minute we got off the plane, the country experienced an intense tropical storm called Matthew. At least that's what the pilot said it was called. So I hear that 5 people died. Those with access to CNN and regular news probably are more in the know than we are. I mention that because the tent cities were having a difficult time, and many tents were destroyed. There was tons of mud everywhere. Apparently there's just been a lot of rain lately. 

So I don't know what we're going to do about all of this when we get home. Lots to process. Later this week we hand out 100 backpacks filled with water purification systems that are just so fantastic. I really want one to showcase to people as they visit our home, and all. It's smaller than what I thought it would be. Like a thermos, or something. But it's a neat little device, and we're going to drink the worst water in Haiti, filtered of course, to show that we believe in the filtering capabilities of these devices. I'm sure somehow we'll still get sick. We're not supposed to dring any water here. Glad this will be towards the end of our trip, where we have the benefit of American doctors.