The Place
From November 23rd till our Haiti team flew back to the States I was pumped! I was excited, full of anticipation, and ready to see my parents. Everything that I wanted to do while being back I was able to do. I even got to see some of my siblings, which I did not expect. It felt good to be “home”.
The concept of “home” has been on my mind a lot lately. This idea actually means a lot to me. Growing up my parents did a great job making a place I could call home. It wasn’t just the physical house we lived in, but more. It was the feeling I got when I would walk in the door. It was my family I shared it with. And, it was the place where so many memories were made.
When it was time to leave home and go to college all the emotions came out because I didn’t want to leave my home. It was then that I realized how much “home” meant to me and having that no matter where I go.
Thankfully, after several weeks of adjusting and intense prayer God allowed my college campus to also become home to me. When I would drive onto my campus after being gone I felt like I was coming “home”. I lived my life there, I had great friends that felt like family, and everyday I had work, school and soccer. This place that I did not want to be, became home. And, not because of the physical dorm room I lived in, but because of how I felt, who I was with, and what I did. By the time I graduated the same feelings came that I had when I left my home the first time.
Once again I was scared to leave and go somewhere else. This time the somewhere else was in a completely different country. Before I left to go to Haiti a real question started to place doubt in my mind: Could this new culture that is so different from what I am used to become “home”? College was different than my home, but at least it was in the same country. Even if I am only in a place for a little bit I still want it to be home. When I first got to Haiti, it was one of the things I prayed for the most. I didn’t need Haiti to be comfortable or have things be convenient, I just wanted this place to feel like home.
And sure enough God answered my prayer.
The Feeling
Where I grew up, college and Haiti are different from each other for multiple reasons, but they all felt like “home”. I used to look at “home” as being this physical place. But, coming back to Haiti for the second time I have realized that for me it is not the physical that I consider home anymore. It is how I feel, what I do, and who I am doing it with that makes it “home”.
I love how in my life God has allowed me no matter where I go to find a home. Whether I am with my family, or on a college campus in the States, or I am living life in Haiti. God brings people into my life no matter where I am that have felt like family. No matter the environment or culture He allows me to immerse myself into it, and end up enjoying it. All change at first takes some adjusting, but God has been so faithful in making Haiti feel like home, and I have no doubt that the next place I go will be the same way.