Below are CJ Rhoades pre-trip thoughts in poem form:
young and fruitful, their spirit shined
dirty and terrified, their bodies broken
young and restless, my spirit wonders
fresh and excited, my body’s shaking
-CJ Rhoades
Junior Soccer Player
Vanderbilt
On Friday afternoon a group of college students decided to sacrifice their Spring break to go serve in Haiti. We arrived in Jeremie, Haiti around 12 o’clock and were shuttled by Dou Dou, who would become our official mission guide to getting around Haiti. Since our arrival we have been blown away by God’s presence. The orphans and people around Haiti have taught us more than we have taught them. I believe that we all came with different intentions in what we wanted to take away from the trip, but God helped us forget about our intentions and focus on his. If there is something that I have taken away, it’s that God wants us to throw our schedules away and focus on trusting in his perfect plan for our lives. We make our lives so busy and believe that time holds us in the palm of its hand, and in a way we worship the busyness above the God that created us. Just think if we took time out of our lives to just look around and listen for God to talk to us in the mist of all the chaos. God desires and longs for our undivided attention, and we owe him that because of what he did on the cross. Overall, the experience has been mind blowing and I can’t wait to come back. My prayer is that the orphan children would grow up strong both physically and spiritually and find that they have a Father in Heaven that loves them unconditionally.
Ryan Fowler
Junior Football Player
Vanderbilt
