Speaking of Haiti

S, K, and I spoke at the First Congregational Church in Sutton, MA this morning. Not sure I kept it together as well I would have liked. My experience is Haiti last March is still very vivid and I am able to very easily transport myself back to that time and re-live each and every moment and emotion. It is a pain sometimes, but it does point out how real that experience is to me.

While I had written about 3 pages of text that I was meant to share, I quickly went off script. I do hope I got most the message across, it is all a bit of a blur to me. Not quite sure how long I was up there. It felt short, but time has a funny was of passing when you are speaking to an audience.

Overall I think the talk went well and we showed the video from last years trip after the service as we chatted with a few people from the congregation. The church was very gracious to invite us to speak and I am truly grateful for the opportunity.

I met a gentleman who served in the South Pacific during World War II. We spoke about how you can still live past traumatic events. He was still able to go back to a couple days during the war were all but a few men (about 130) were lost in a battle. These were men that he considered brothers.

We learned some interesting things about the church as well. It was established in 1720, so it has been around quite a while. Their pulpit has a bullet hole. This happened way back when the town was under attach by the local natives. That same pulpit also almost went up in smoke once when the church caught fire. It was saved by a group of men who ran into the burning building and carried the pulpit to safety.

It was a good experience and I hope some from the church decide to join us on the trip. I think it is a worth while experience to participate in a trip like this and it definitively changes your life.