When we knew God was calling us to move to Haiti, I
envisioned what life would be like there.
I envisioned speaking the language fluently, abiding by the local
customs, maneuvering gracefully about the country. After all, we had visited Haiti on short-term
trips for 22 years! And the local
cuisine… well, I pictured that I would make all the local dishes so they would
make our mouths water…
Well, we are here, and although we have seen God moving in
so many ways already, I have a long way to go before I am close to that image I
had in my mind! Language learning is slow and tedious, my cultural “faux pas”s
abound, and we often get lost as we move about the country. And as far as mastering the delightful local
flavors, well, I’m not sure why I thought I could do that… after all, I am not considered an
accomplished chef in my country of origin!
Just ask my friend Maureen about my infamous “Mexican Salmon Bake”…
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| "Their" Finished Product |
Take the other night, for example. Our oldest and youngest child were visiting
us in Haiti. I didn’t even try to make a
local dish; I was merely attempting to use what I had available to make “Easy
Chicken Pot Pie”. A handful of
ingredients – “1 can of cream of chicken soup” (well, I had a box of soup, yes
a box, leftover from a group that visited, that should work, I thought), “9
ounces mixed frozen vegetables, thawed” (our refrigeration isn’t adequate to
keep frozen veggies, so these canned veggies should do), “1 cup cubed cooked chicken”
(again, refrigeration – I can swap canned chicken), “1/2 cup milk” (swap water and a large dash
of powdered milk), “1 egg”, and “1 cup all-purpose baking mix” (I don’t have
Bisquik, but the last group left Gluten-free flour… Bisquik and flour are
mostly the same… maybe that will work…).
Whoops – forgot the recipe said to use the soup CONCENTRATED and not add
all that water and powdered milk I just added… well, I will heat it on the
stove and maybe some of the liquid will boil out… hmm looks a little
runny… maybe the extra liquid will bake
out…
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| My Finished Product |
Anyway, you can imagine how it turned out! My oldest, Kelsi, was trying her best to be
positive, and tried hard to find a compliment.
“It’s really hot!” she said. Then she ate some more. “The crust isn’t so bad if you think of it as
a dumpling… a gluten-free dumpling…” She
put a little more in her bowl. “Look! My serving looks like a cat!” she said
cheerfully. After seeing my dismay, she
said “at least you got us all fed and gave us a hot meal! Sometimes I don’t do that for myself when I
am cooking!”
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| "Their" Serving |
So what is my point?
NONE of us is called to do EVERYTHING we see our other Christian
brothers and sisters doing for the Lord.
And even when we are called to a specific task, a task we believe God
has gifted us to do well, we will have days when we feel we can’t even get that
right. So what do we do? We laugh about our ridiculous minor mishaps,
learn from the big errors, and start the next day anew knowing that our God is
a God of second chances and new beginnings.
And we rely on Him to guide us step by step.
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| Kelsi's Cat Serving |
How did our dinner end?
Well, Kelsi said “The GOOD news is I never ate any of Mom’s infamous “Mexican
Salmon Bake” so at least I can be in on THIS family joke about Mom’s cooking!“ What is “Mexican Salmon Bake” you ask? Well, that is a story for another day…
Thank you, Kathy! 😊❤️
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