{"id":780,"date":"2015-06-04T07:47:27","date_gmt":"2015-06-04T11:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joshuastairhime.com\/?p=780"},"modified":"2015-06-04T07:47:27","modified_gmt":"2015-06-04T11:47:27","slug":"content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.joshuastairhime.com\/index.php\/content\/","title":{"rendered":"Content"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s our first full day in Haiti as a team, and as I sit down on the floor of the second level porch with a nice cool breeze blowing off the nearby ocean, I am ever so glad to be here.<\/p>\n

As I look down the length of the porch, I can see most of the team that I am here with.\u00a0 They are sitting together, gently conversing about the day, the gorgeous sunset or about home.\u00a0 The energy and excitement that they used to climb in and out of the box truck we rode around in has gone, replaced by a soft contentment.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t asked any of them to express themselves yet, (that is coming\u2026I am here to tell their stories after all) but I know they will struggle to find the words to describe how they feel.\u00a0 I have been in their shoes, and it is only long experience that allows me to put their contentment into words.<\/p>\n

In the United States, we each have jobs, families, and places to be or places to go.\u00a0 Work is never done, and all of our obligations are never fully satisfied.\u00a0 \u00a0In Haiti, we have work to do, the family of the team, and many places to go, but when the day is done we can relax.\u00a0 Together or apart, we find time to stop, reflect, and explore a quiet inwardness that we have not found in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the satisfaction comes from a job well done.\u00a0 The team saw nearly 160 students today for eye exams and basic physical exams.\u00a0 Each student now evaluated to be seen by a small medical team that arrives in July.\u00a0 Nearly 800 more students will be seen by our team in the next few days.\u00a0 It is a big job made harder by the language barrier, but those obstacles only slowed us down, the work for today is complete.<\/p>\n

\"Alitza<\/a>

Alitza, Troy, and Beth at the school, surrounded by students!<\/p><\/div>\n

Perhaps it comes from the climate, it is beautiful here, and I can\u2019t remember the last time I have been so enraptured by the scenery around me.\u00a0 8 miles on a trail in Shenandoah, one of our nation\u2019s fine national parks, can\u2019t even begin to hold a candle to the beauty that just naturally is around us here.\u00a0 I could spend hours describing just the sunset.\u00a0 Even as the palm branches wave beside me, I know that isn\u2019t the true source of our contentment.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The picture hardly does it justice…<\/p><\/div>\n

Instead of spending the next hours describing all sorts of incredible things and then telling you that they don\u2019t bring contentment like this, I\u2019ll cut to the chase.<\/p>\n

Our contentment is found in being people, in a community, giving of our time, talents, and treasure to a larger goal.\u00a0 Our contentment is found in forgetting about ourselves, as we seek to serve those who, though dirt poor, could teach us worlds about an inner life that we may never know.\u00a0 Our contentment is found in this place without a TV, with limited connection to the internet, because we are fully present here.\u00a0 There is so little that can overwhelm the immediacy of where we are.\u00a0 I cherish these trips because I get to experience so much that I would never experience at home.\u00a0 I experience it because there are no distractions loud enough to break through the noise of life around me here.<\/p>\n

It makes me wonder if we could live like this in the United States.<\/p>\n

In community.<\/p>\n

Content.<\/p>\n

I must leave you for now my friends\u2026the moment needs me!<\/p>\n

Yep…lots has happened since I wrote this post on our first night…and now that I’ve discovered the trick to internetting down here I should have more posts coming along soon. \u00a0Subscribe for the next adventure…which is really quite powerful and involves speeding down the road in the back of a pickup truck…seriously. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

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