Blessing from God

Submitted by smossburg on March 28, 2008 - 4:08pm.

I have not always been a missionary, in fact I was into my second career and over the age of 50 when I first got started in mission work here in Haiti. One of the things I noticed early on was the number of people God has put in my path. Everyday most of us randomly encounter lots of people but have forgotten them by the following day. It's not been that way at all since I came to the mission field. I have made some very close friends over the years, other missionaries, short term visitors, people I sit with on airplanes and in airports, at churches I speak at and then there is the people of Haiti.

People who come from the U.S. or Canada to visit us here at Canaan often make the remark when they travel with me here in Haiti that I know or I'm known by a lot of people. It's likely that from Port au Prince North for 90 miles someone might yell my name out as I pass by in my truck or stop in some town to do business. Now Haitians have a fantastic memerory for names and I have encountered people who I may have met eight years ago who still recall my name. They do have an advantage as white foreigners are a distinct minority here in Haiti, but I have a pretty good memory myself so I don't often get caught without a name to go with the face. I have an address book full of names. addresses. telephone numbers and e-mail addresses, so I keep in contact with a lot of people,. we occassionally visit some of them, stay in their homes, get invited to weddings and exchange cards and letters. To me they all represent Blessings From God.