In the summer of 2014 I had an amazing opportunity to travel to Cap Haitian, Haiti for a ten day missions trip with my youth group. The youth group was sending a team of nine people, five high school juniors/seniors and four adult leaders. I had heard stories from other peoples' trips to the same location, as well as what they had done and how they felt while there. I can honestly say words will never give enough to a journey like an overseas mission trip. Even now, two summers later, I have so much to share about my experiences.

Going to a country that is so foreign can be quite terrifying, no matter how much preparation happens before traveling. There are many unknowns and unexpected happenings that could potentially affect so many other things. Even with the short period of time I spent in Haiti there were things I had to get used to, such as: not drinking out of the sink, using bagged water, very little traffic laws and minimally paved streets, excruciating heat and humidity and more. Something I knew going in that became a slight frustration was the language barrier between the locals and my team, especially with the children. In Haiti, they speak Haitian Creole, which is basically a slang version of French. There were 3-4 members on our team that were able to pick up some words here and there either from previously taken French classes in school or past Haiti trips they had been on, but it was still difficult to fully interact without a translator. Imagine being at a work site with none of the people that know what they are doing able to speak your native language. That happened to half of our team one of the work days. It made attempting to help quite an adventure. As crazy as this all may seem, every single one of these things creates the real experience.

I feel that any place you travel, whether it be a vacation, a mission trip, a college visit, etc., there will always be some sort of encounter that will be exceptionally memorable. Haiti was no different for me. Sure, I met lots of people and took lots of pictures, but there was one little girl that I met that will forever hold a piece of my heart. I had the pleasure of meeting this young girl on our first work day, which was our second full day in Haiti. Our team was working alongside some Haitians in a church owned by the pastor my church is partnered with and we were staying with, Henoc Lucien. The church was a short drive from where we were staying. Soon after arriving in Haiti, we found that, to the locals, most of us were "Blans," meaning whites. This was not in any way meant to be an offensive thing, but there was an obviously noticeable skin color difference. Driving around in a van and the fact that we were white lead the Haitian people to be very curious, especially the children. It was quickly discovered that the children loved visiting the work site in order to interact with us. This was sometimes distracting from the task at hand, but it was always fun. The children adored laughing and playing games. Some would even help with the work we were doing. The young girl that has kept a piece of my heart was named Chelseana.

Chelseana was a sweet girl that became an everyday visitor to our team at this work site. Through non-verbals and my limited Haitian Creole, we were able to easily enjoy each other's presence. Chelseana was constantly up to lend a helping hand with whatever work project we happened to be doing that day. She would tease and play small tricks on our team, which left us all laughing or with a smile.

I undoubtedly cherished the opportunity to get to know Chelseana for the brief time that I did. My sadness with Chelseana arrives when I realize that I did not get to say a real goodbye. My heart is still joyous knowing the impact she had on me, and I can only hope that I might have had some kind of impact on her. No one knows what will come with the future. Who knows? I may see Chelseana again someday. Until then she will stay in my heart as the little, beautiful, smiling, energetic Haitian child.