May 12, 2024 • 35 mins
Have you ever sat down for a lunch that altered the trajectory of your life? Our guest Ann would answer with a resounding "yes," as she shares the unfolding of her remarkable journey from a simple meal to dedicating herself to the service of Haiti's most vulnerable. Ann's narrative is a stirring testament to the power of turning ordinary encounters into paths of profound change. Her annual pilgrimages to a Haitian village showcase the incredible difference one person's nurturing heart and steadfast spirit can make. From the joyous task of buying goods from local elders to the more complex endeavor of providing mattresses to orphanages, Ann's experiences are a beacon of hope, reflecting the immense ripple effect of kindness.
There's an unspoken challenge in Ann's tales: to remember gratitude amidst abundance and to seek fulfillment in lifting others. We are reminded that the comforts we often take for granted, like running water and household appliances, are luxuries in many parts of the world. Through Ann's passion and action, we witness the extraordinary impact that arises when we let our lives reflect a greater glory, encouraging all of us to spread kindness and build hope in our own corners of the world.
🎥 Watch the Full Video: https://youtu.be/zbjbBLrNUYc
💭 “You can’t change the world, but you an do things to make it a little brighter.” ~Ann
💭 “I don’t preach, but I try to show Jesus through my love.” ~Ann
1 Samuel 3 is the Bible story we referenced
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Thank you for making Ordinary People Extraordinary
Things what it is today.
Thank you for sharing.
You are the best way for peopleto hear about Ordinary People,
extraordinary Things, and aboutfaith and hope and how it
impacts us.
We are in 42 countries.
I cannot believe it.
(00:21):
Continue to share.
Continue to share with peopleall over the world, in your own
city and the country where weremember that, at Ordinary
People, extraordinary Things,your story is His glory.
Welcome to Ordinary PeopleExtraordinary Things.
I'm Nancy and I'm here withAnne.
Anne, thanks for being on theshow, thank you for having me
(00:43):
and I'm excited.
My mom, luann, said you have totalk to Ann, and so I was
excited to get her comments andher thoughts on that, and I'm
looking forward to our chattoday.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Thank you.
Your mom is very sweet and verysupportive.
I can't imagine what kind of asupportive mom she is, because
she's a very supportive friend.
How long have you known eachother?
Well, she was quite a few yearsahead of me in school, so I
can't say that we've known eachother for a long time.
But, as you know they, you grewup down the road from where I
grew up.
(01:15):
So for a long time in our adultlife and go to the same church,
yeah, yeah, your mom was ournext door neighbor, right?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
yes, I mean next door as far as when you live on the
farm between you.
But yeah, yeah, well, if peopledon't know who you are, could
you do three words or phrases todescribe yourself?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I would say strong, outgoing and nurturing.
Do you want me to elaborate onthose?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think strongbecause I just am able to go
into difficult situations and Idon't get riled up by them and
(02:02):
nurturing, because I was astay-at-home mom and I started
out that way and then my kidsgot older and flew the nest.
Then I found other people tonurture, from patients with
dementia to Red Cross, to justanybody that needed help.
But just God puts them in mylife and and outgoing is just
(02:24):
part of my family.
You know my dad, it comes withthe territory just can talk to a
wall.
That helps me a lot and thethings I love to do, because
sometimes you have to be thetalker when someone else isn't
able to talk and sometimes youhave to be the listener, and
that's easy for me too.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
So oh, that's great.
Well, that goes right into whatwe're talking about.
So one of the things that youdo is you go to Haiti.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, yeah, my first trip to Haiti was in 2011.
And it's kind of funny how itstarted, because I was having
lunch with one of my bestfriends and her son was joining
us and he was in his probably30s at the time and he knew
someone that was lining up thistrip to go to Haiti.
(03:14):
And he said, just out of theblue orange, hey, do you want to
go to Haiti?
And I said, yeah, what will wedo?
And from then, my daughterwanted to go as well and she was
, I think, 20 at the time, andhe hooked us up with the guy
that was doing the trip.
And I've been going every yearsince, sometimes twice a year,
and the first trip I went, Iknew I was going to be a lifer.
(03:36):
I loved the people, I lovedbeing able to help with the
smallest of things.
You can't change the world, anduh, but you can do things to
make it a little brighter andthen so I've formed lots of
relationships over the years, ofcourse, with this many years to
go to the same village everysingle time.
So I know, okay, I've seenlittle kids grow up and it's
(04:00):
yeah, so it's like seeing family.
When I go back there, the firstthing I do is you gotta see
this person time in town andthis person, and so I have a day
or two of greeting everyonethat I know and then get down to
the business of finding peoplewith needs that haven't been met
by other organizations, becausethere are so many great
organizations there but theycan't fill every little need.
(04:22):
So, being just a single, I usedto go with groups to start with
, and then I decided I wanted togo on my own, because I wanted
to do my own thing where.
I saw the needs instead of whatthe group the needs they saw.
So I just go out into thecommunity and into what they
call the countryside which wouldbe like where my folks live and
your folks live, where thehouses are a little further
(04:43):
apart and check on those peopleand see what their needs are as
far as maybe some health needs,or there's always food needs,
housing needs, so you just wow,you just go on your own, you go
to the same village.
I have a translator always withme and I have a place to stay
(05:04):
before I go.
I there's.
I stay with a mission groupthere's three different ones I
think that I've stayed with andso I do have a nice bed and a
cold shower.
There's no warm water there,you know, but you don't care.
When you're in Haiti, for menothing matters.
All the roughing it meansnothing, like I'm going to be
(05:26):
hopping all over the place here.
But the last time I was thereand I was in church, and that
church is three hours long and Ihad to go to the bathroom, like
for the last, there was an hourleft and so I asked my
translator, I asked someone andthey took me out to the bathroom
.
The bathroom was a roomprobably the size of, maybe
(05:50):
bigger than, a porta potty, butall it had was a hole in the
floor and you just squat downand you go to the bathroom.
And in america I was like I amnot finding me a decent bathroom
, but over there you're like oh,yeah, and you go.
You know, so in haiti, nothingbothers me, nothing at all, not
the poor accommodations, or andthe accommodations are not all
that poor, they're just notAmerica.
But um, yeah, so I always havea nice place to stay and no air
(06:16):
conditioning no, a lot of timesno electricity just depends on
what's going on but it's so muchbetter than all the people that
I visit.
There's nothing to complainabout, nothing, nothing.
These, yeah, these people livewith rats coming in and out of
their house, and I've stayed inplaces where we've had rats.
I mean, it's just that's theway it is.
(06:37):
The homes are not built likethey are here, so you have rats
and mice and some people sleepwith a net over their tent or
over their bed.
I never did that because I'mnot that afraid is that
mosquitoes or?
and oh wow, all the above justto keep critters off you.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
And there's a lot of cockroaches so how long are you
there mostly?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
when I first started going with the team, I was there
for a week and I maybe did thatfor five or six years and then
one time I decided I wanted tostay a week longer, because
after a week my heart was notfull and I, when I came home.
It was such a hard adjustmentbecause I did not feel fulfilled
on what I did there.
(07:28):
And walking from a third worldcountry into America is crazy
because you all of a sudden arein a grocery store, you can buy
anything you want and you sit inyour home, you push your
dishwasher and you push yourclothes washer.
And still my mind is in Haiti,with these people that it takes
them an entire day long to washtheir clothes at the river or at
(07:51):
their house, if they carrywater there, and then to dry
them on cactus bushes and toshower outside with a big tub.
And so I found, if I went fortwo weeks, I really felt
fulfilled, I got a lot more doneand my heart was happy when I
left, instead of having a sadheart when I left, because that
just didn't do me any good toleave with such a sad heart.
(08:13):
I wanted to leave on a happynote and know that I felt
fulfilled and I would be readyto go back the next time instead
of dreading that week just goesway too fast.
So since then I stayed a weekafter with the group trip and
since then I just started goingon my own and I go for two weeks
now you say, you kind of go outand you see a need and you try
(08:34):
to fill the need.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Can you give us a couple examples of how you, how
you can do that?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
well, one way of meeting a lot of people is
giving up food.
So I do that every time I gothere, and their main staples
are rice beans.
These are the things I put inthe giveaways Rice beans, oil,
sugar, bouillon, matches, soapthat they use to wash by hand.
(09:06):
And when I started, in the verybeginning, we just went in the
countryside and looked for theshabbiest houses we could find,
and they're all pretty shabby.
But now I am down to in thelast few years.
We just look for the elderly,because they seem to have more
needs than the younger people.
They have some health needs,they have house needs, they just
have most people that have nopossibility.
But these people really have nopossibility.
(09:27):
So in doing that just rollingup on homes and we always my
translator will yell out gramun,which means grandpa or grandma,
it's the same word, and that'swhat we're looking for people I
say if they look over 70 or youcan just tell by looking at them
how, what kind of need they are, and then we'll often attract a
(09:49):
crowd around us and some of the40 and 50 year olds will be
saying I'm a grandma and I'llsay you don't count, and even if
you, uh, aren't a grandma, youhave to be older than me.
I always say to people in orderto be get food, you have to
look a lot older than me and youlook younger than me, and then
you laugh and it's a lot of funwith.
Oh, it just it's a lot of funwith everybody that comes around
(10:11):
us.
So then, once we get to them,then we'll find out just in
conversations I don't do aquestionnaire or anything, but
just in talking with them we'llfind out.
Maybe their back has beenhurting or their vitamin, they,
they need vitamins for a certainthing, and so I feel like the
Lord just places these people infront of me and then we find
(10:33):
their needs.
A lot of the people simply justget food and they are so, so
happy.
My favorite thing is when we aredriving down the road and we're
always on a motorcycle becausethat's the.
The roads are horrible, sothat's really the main means of
transportation, and we'll see alady in the age group that I
want to hit and she's carrying abasket on her head, which is
(10:56):
very common there, and we'llstop and ask her, talk for a
couple minutes and then say wehave some food to give you and
ask her where she's heading to,and several times this person
will be heading to market, whichis, you know, like a open
market where they just sellthings.
They'll put things down infront of them and hope someone
buys them.
And this lady, one of theladies, on her last trip she had
(11:18):
already walked three miles andshe had three more to go to get
to this market to sell.
She had some small sticks andsomething else, but then I
always buy everything that theyhave so they have the money for
that and don't have to keepwalking, and then we fill their
basket up on top of their headwith the food that we're giving
(11:40):
them.
And it's just, it's a doubleblessing and it is so much fun.
Wow, I love it because thefirst thing we always ask
someone when we catch someonewalking is how far they have to
get to their home, because ifit's a long distance it's kind
of heavy stuff, but they're usedto carrying heavy stuff.
But anyway, that's how we findout where they're going and
she'll say I'm going to market.
(12:01):
So I'll say ask her, because myeverything's through my
interpreter I don't know anycreole is the language that they
speak and so I'll say ask herwhat she's selling and we'll
look at it.
I'll say, tell her we're gonnabuy it.
I'll ask her what she wants andthere's no differing what, and
we usually give her more thanshe wants, and it's usually a
gal sometimes it's a guy, butyeah, that's fun.
And another fun thing thathappened this last time was kind
(12:23):
of along that same lines.
We were heading back and we hadno food left and a lady on the
road.
They'll often sit in front oftheir homes with their oranges
or whatever they have spread outin front of them to sell and
she flagged us down and shewanted some food and I felt so
bad because we had nothing left.
We'd given out everything forthe day.
So we bought everything thatshe was selling on the roadside,
(12:44):
which was a huge bag of beans,and then we took the beans to an
orphanage where you saw themattresses from.
And so it's just like it's adomino effect that you get to
give something, get something,pass out something on.
And those are the days thatreally feel my heart.
And then the days that break myheart's heart is the orphanage
(13:07):
yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
I saw a video that you posted of the orphanage and
the beds and yeah, that was.
That was sad.
Could you kind of explain topeople if they have that?
Speaker 2 (13:34):
children are orphaned .
It's just that maybe their momdied and their dad dads there
aren't the best at taking careof the children if the mom
passes and so they get, they goto an orphanage.
And this was the first time I'dbeen to this orphanage.
The place that I was stayingthis time was called
Philadelphia Mission Church ofPeon and he said there's this
orphanage over here that doesn'tget really any support, because
(13:55):
he knew I was giving out foodand he asked me if I'd give some
to them and I didn't even knowit existed where it was at in
this little town.
So we went over there and metthe people and, yeah, they have
no support from anyone.
I don't know how they do it.
Usually every place has someAmerican support and this place,
they said I was the first whiteperson they had ever seen.
(14:16):
She gave us a tour of it and Iasked to see the beds and stuff,
just out of curiosity.
What they had never expectingit to be, just blankets on
springs and some of them if theyhad any covering left on the
bed, there was a huge hole inthe center and it was just so
incredibly sad.
(14:36):
So I knew I had to findmattresses, which is a.
It's a feat in itself to findmattresses there.
There's no, they don't havestores like they have here, and
I don't know well, most of ourstuff comes in through
Port-au-Prince, which is thecapital, which is where all the
fighting is going on right now.
When you see the horriblethings on TV from Haiti, that's
(14:57):
where it's at and literally theyare the port that all the
containers come in, and thenthey go from there and they get
spread out through the littlecountry of Haiti.
So by the time you get them,they're filthy and have been
through a lot of hauling and onthe back of motorcycles and
whatnot.
So there's one little store inthe town that we go to and it
didn't have.
(15:17):
We needed 14 mattresses and itdid not have.
Uh enough, I think I saw twothere that I would take, because
I just kept looking throughthem when, nope, not that one,
that one's too ripped, nope,nope.
So then we went to another townand my taxi driver had a car an
old car, but it worked.
And so we get in town.
I bought three mattresses and Isaid we need a lot more.
(15:39):
How many can we fit on there?
And he said as many as you want.
And I said are you serious?
We ended up getting 11mattresses between the trunk and
on top of that car and when wepulled back into the orphanage
at the end of the day they wereso thrilled, but still then
there's more needs after that.
And then I needed to findplastic to put over the
(16:02):
mattresses because the kidspotty the bed just like they do
here in America, and that rotsthe beds out.
And then to try and find sheetsand I, a friend of mine who
helped pay for the mattressesshe was there longer than me and
she did get them some sheetsand I found some sheets while I
was there.
But it's just never ending theneeds and food for them and I
(16:26):
think they have like 30 kidsthere.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Wow.
So do you get overwhelmed, doyou get saddened, do you get
discouraged by by what you justsaid?
Is that the needs never end.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
I think that's where the part where I said I'm strong
comes in.
I knew when I went there that Iwas not going to be able to
absorb their pain or I wouldn'tdo them any good.
It's kind of like I volunteerwith hospice as well.
If you go into where they'rehurt as, you're doing no good
(16:59):
for anyone yourself or them.
So God gives me the strength tojust be strong and focus on the
problem at hand and try and doas best I can to help them with
that.
And then at night, yeah,there's some sadness and lots of
prayers and stuff, but in themoment God gives me the strength
(17:19):
to just keep on going insteadof breaking down, which is what
would be really easy to do.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Do you ever feel like you know?
You said that you were lookingfor elderly and then, like
people were coming that wereyounger, saying oh, I'm elderly.
Does that bother you Kind oflike oh you're trying to get
something that I'm not willingto give, or you just kind of
have fun with it, or how do youdeal with that?
Speaker 2 (17:46):
I always switch it around to have fun with it
Always.
And that's when I go into youare younger and prettier than me
.
I know you are not a grandma.
And that's when I go into youare younger and prettier than me
.
I know you are not a grandma,and my translator goes through
all that too.
And I always take jewelry too,and that's one thing that I give
out.
So sometimes I'll give them apiece of jewelry a bracelet or
earrings or something and a lotof my friends have donated their
(18:07):
old jewelry to to me to take,so that's always fun.
When I give up food, then theyalways get a little something to
make them prettier than theyalready are oh, that's wonderful
.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
This is such a tangible way to show Jesus to to
these people that's what I hope.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
I just I don't preach , preach, um, but I try and show
Jesus through my love that theyare loved, and I think I do
that well, just in my touch, andI hug and kiss every single
person I meet, and my translatorsaid one time um, that's how
(18:50):
they say my name in Haiti, um,you don't have to kiss every
person.
And I said, oh, but I do, andthey get a kiss on each cheek, a
slow, not just an American petgoodbye.
I just want them to feel theyare loved outside of their
little circle.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
People care about them in the outside world do
they know about Jesus a lot inHaiti?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Yes, as I said, their church is three hours long.
They are, I would say, betterChristians than us.
I mean, the first time I wentin America, we're like, how much
?
How long has he been doing thesermon for these guys?
No, yes, they do know aboutChrist, christ, and there are
lots of churches there.
The one I usually go to whenI'm there my translator is
(19:37):
Baptist, so I go with him.
You know, I don't know whatthey say.
I enjoy the songs and Irecognize it somewhat because
you know I am Catholic.
So, yeah, there are a lot ofchurches and oh, this is really
(19:58):
special too.
A few years ago they built achurch.
That's up on.
I wouldn't call it a church, Iguess, but it's a place to go
pray.
They call it a church and it'sup higher on the mountain.
You have to go up quite adistance to up there and when
you go up there, there arechurch groups and just single
people laying up there praisingthe Lord, just laying on the
(20:19):
ground in these bushes and tallgrass, and then there is an
inside part with a cement floorand I think they have huge
groups in there once in a while.
But yeah, it's just a lot ofstuff you don't see in America.
That inspires me.
I learned from them when I wentup to that church.
I just thought this is amazing.
These people climb thismountain to go up here and
(20:41):
praise the Lord and you do feelso close to them there.
I can see why they do it.
It's amazing so yes um, there'sstill a lot of voodoo there and
it's not, I mean, like America.
Not everyone believes either,but there are a lot of
christians, there are a lot ofgood people and they know their
bible.
Yeah, it's amazing, wow.
(21:02):
And everyone wants you to go totheir church.
Everyone likes to take youabout, and this last time we
went to a church of when I wasdelivering food, we met this
family of seven, and the reasonwe stopped there is because I
saw a grandpa sitting out in theyard.
And that's what we'll do we seesomebody in the yard or yell,
then we'll stop.
And it turns out he was livingwith his son and daughter-in-law
(21:25):
and, I think, five kids, andthey were playing music.
We heard music coming from thehouse and I said where is that
coming from?
Well, the father plays theorgan at church and he had a
solar panel set up to practicethis organ at home.
It was most beautiful music.
So this last time I was there,we went to their church to hear
them.
They sing and one of the boysplays a guitar and the dad plays
(21:49):
the organ.
So I was in a new church thislast time before.
So, yeah, just moments likethat are just so fun and
rewarding.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Yeah oh, that's really inspiring.
Yeah, I, that's so.
I feel like it's so hard for usbecause we are just in general,
I know that there are there arethere is poverty in the United
States, but that you know, mydaughter, even this morning, was
like I don't know what to havefor breakfast you know kind of
(22:22):
like, ah, and I gave her like 20things that she could have, and
we even have more than that,right, I mean.
And she's like no, no, and I, Iwas like Rachel, we are so
blessed that you can have almostanything you want for breakfast
.
We have so much food in thishouse.
But to really try to understandthat is difficult.
(22:44):
Oh, you don't know what youdon't know.
Yeah, definitely, you know,like I've been to India and um
and seen some of that, but it'sit's hard for me to remember
when I'm back here and not tojust kind of get into a
comparison game or to, you know,just get into the culture of
(23:09):
America as far as like, oh, Ineed something bigger or better
or different.
Or do you have any thoughts onthat or any ideas that we might
just maybe get a glimpse and beable to hold on to that just a
little bit better, might justmaybe get a glimpse and be able
to hold on to that just a littlebit better.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Well, I'll tell you one of the things that hits me
every time I use the dishwasher,the clothes washer, when it
takes them all day long to dothose things, I think here I
push a button and I leave thehouse and we have the robot
vacuums.
We just have the cushiest lifeand then we sit around, we're so
tired, I have to put clothesaway, and so it just takes me.
I mean, I'm just grateful forrunning water.
(23:49):
When I run the water until itgets hot, I think all the water
I'm wasting just and it's nottaking water from them, of
course, but in my head I'mrunning all this water just to
get to the temperature I want,when they would just love to
have water.
So for me it's just being moregrateful for all the things that
I have, and I can't change thatand I can't give that to them,
(24:13):
but just be appreciative of whatI have, and it's taught me that
.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Definitely it's taught me that, yeah, that's a
good thing, just even thinking,okay, okay, every time I have to
do the dishes, I have to do thelaundry.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Kind of try to reframe that a bit and here's
another one, if we would have alittle electricity outage for a
few hours, people are onFacebook saying, oh my gosh,
mine's not on yet.
When is yours coming on?
And and again, you don't knowwhat you don't know, because if
I hadn't, been there, I wouldprobably be the same way, but my
gosh, those people live withoutelectricity, so for us to be
(24:52):
without it for even two daysdoesn't bother me a bit not a
bit yeah so it's good for peopleto go into places like that to
realize how fortunate we are andquit complaining and help
others more.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I like it.
I like it.
What are you grateful for?
Speaker 2 (25:15):
oh my gosh, my health number one, because if I wasn't
healthy I would be no good too.
Well, I might be good to myfamily they'd probably still
like me, but I wouldn't be goodto me because I like going out
and spreading sunshine and ifI'm not able to do that, that
would be really hard on me.
So some days if I'm thinkingwhat should I do today, then I
(25:35):
go to the nursing home and visitsome people that don't get
visitors, or the people dementia.
They're always happy to havevisitors.
I mean, they don't remember youwere there, but it doesn't make
any difference.
It's like a baby.
I always tell people that don'tthink, um, their family members
remember them, so theyshouldn't go.
I say, well, our babies didn'tremember us either when they
(25:57):
were a week old, two weeks old,but we sure wanted to make them
happy.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
You know, it's just like that yeah, yeah, that's
good, that's really good.
I, I just see, and I I know whymy mom said you need to talk to
her, as, as I love, what youjust said is like I don't know
what I'm gonna do today, andthen you pray about it or you're
like, hey, how can I helpsomeone else?
(26:20):
Instead of well, yeah, I justneed some time to myself, I
guess I'll just watch anothershow, or you know, I feel like
sometimes we get into this likeself-care thing a little bit too
much and we don't go out and welove on others.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Yeah, yeah.
And I think, just even when yousee people in the grocery store
that are older because olderpeople are often feel like
they're invisible.
And recently I saw a man infairway and I said, hi, how are
you doing today?
He looked to be in his eighties, I would guess, and he said,
good, do I know you?
And just because I spoke to himand I said, no, I don't know
(26:59):
you, but I thought you lookedlike a really nice guy and I
just wanted to say hi to you.
So, just simple things, even inthe grocery store, it's just so
easy to find fun people and soI chat with him.
We chatted for like 15 minutes.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
he told me about his life and where he lives and,
yeah, you just run across reallygreat interactions with people
oh, I love that because I feelagain that we're kind of in this
stage of America where it'sjust easy to say everyone's so
terrible and just get down onthe world and get down on
(27:34):
everything.
But you just lifted it up withjust what you said.
So what a good way to look atthings.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
You know, one of my favorite things have always been
to find a grumpy person andmake them smile or laugh.
You cannot be grumpy forever,so I guess I like a challenge.
This guy did not look like achallenge, but I know people in
my life that have and yeah,that's always fun to do.
I can get you, I'll bring youhome.
(28:04):
I guess that's part of theoutgoing to do I can get you, I
hope, when you won't.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Yes, that's part of the outgoing part, right?
Yeah, I can see that.
Well, what will you say tosomeone who who's kind of
inspired by what you're talkingabout, but not sure that they
could go to Haiti or but?
What would you say to them whatwould you, how would you
encourage them to do something?
Speaker 2 (28:24):
I would say in the United States alone there are
lots of opportunities I took mygirls to when Katrina hit.
It was in 2005, down in NewOrleans.
It was the first huge hurricanewiped out I don't know if you
remember, but a lot of NewOrleans.
So at that time I went oh no, Ijust started with Red Cross and
I called Des Moines Red Crosswhen that hit and said I don't
(28:46):
know what I can do to help, butplease let me know if there's
anything I can.
I got deployed for three weeksto go down there, just that fast
.
I had to do a background checkand went down there.
That was the start of myworking with Red Cross.
I was down there twice forthree weeks helping them and
then the next summer I took mygirls and one of my best friends
(29:07):
and her daughter went down fora week and we went with the
church group and then the summerafter that we took them again
and just went down on our own,found a place to stay and found
people to help.
So there's little things likethat that just arise.
That that's how you can getstarted here in America doing
simple things.
I know church groups that go toChicago and do mission work.
(29:29):
There's all sorts of placesaround here that you could start
and then, if you felt likespreading your wings, you could
try out of the country.
And the thing about I like aboutHaiti too I mean it just fell
in my lap and but one of thethings I really like about it is
that it's so close.
Haiti is just in our backyard.
I mean, it's not that far fromMiami, so it's easy to get there
(29:51):
and easy to get back quick, asopposed to some of the other
countries that people go to andneeds are everywhere.
So I'm not saying theyshouldn't go there, but for me I
like the place I ended up goingis nice and close.
Yeah, oh, place I ended upgoing is nice and close.
Yeah, oh, that's good.
I um brought my children upgoing to the nursing home with
me.
You probably did too, like, didyou guys play bingo at the
(30:11):
nursing home?
Speaker 1 (30:11):
your children yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
So we just started out doing all those volunteer
things together and then, as thechildren got older, instead of
gifts for Christmas or birthdayum, we haven't done gifts for so
many years, but they would do agood deed for someone else and
that was my gift, and then atChristmas they would all either
have it written out or a videoor something showing me what
they had given me, and that wasway better than opening any gift
(30:37):
, and it had to be anonymous.
That was one of the things theycouldn't.
What I wanted them to learn thegift of not getting thanks,
just helping someone because itfeels good, and so they still do
that and that's really fun.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Oh, that is so.
What a great idea, yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Because what do we need for gifts as parents?
Really, we go buy what we want.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
We do by Christmas time.
You're just trying to figureout something you don't need, so
somebody can give you something.
So, yeah, it's probably been 20years since we've done gifts
wow, wow.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
That kind of just takes the pressure off of the
Christmas, doesn't it?
And get back to what it'ssupposed to be about.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Yes, yes, yes.
And finding out what they didfor someone else is so much more
exciting than opening a boxwith a sweater, a VCR, whatever
is going on that day that youget the gift.
So much more exciting for me.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Oh, that's so great.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
And that's what anybody could do here in America
easily just to start out withthe charity and giving you know.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Yeah, yeah, no, thank you for that.
Well, unfortunately we don'thave a lot of time and I've
loved our conversation.
Um, well, we already talkedabout what you're grateful for.
What's your favorite Bibleverse or story?
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Well, um, what's?
There's first of all, a coupleof songs, and you'll know these
songs.
Here I am.
Lord really speaks to me.
I love that when we play thatin church and I have it on my
iPod.
But Matthew 2540, the King willreply whatever you do to the
least of my brothers and sisters, you do unto me, and that
really speaks to me, that wejust need to help each other,
(32:17):
and that's what God put us allhere for, and nobody's in it
alone, right, or?
Speaker 1 (32:22):
shouldn't be, shouldn't be Right.
Yeah, I was just trying to findthe verse really quick.
I don't know if I'll be able tofind it.
Is it when?
When it's?
Is it Samuel?
I shouldn't even say it, butwhere God's speaking to him and
he goes to to the prophet andsays you called me, you called
(32:45):
me.
He's like no, I didn't call you, go back to bed, you called me,
you called me no.
And then finally he says oh,god's trying to speak to you.
Go say here I am.
So yeah, I thought of that.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Is it I Lord?
Yeah, I've heard you calling inthe night, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Another song that I love isthey Will Know we Are Christians
Through Our Love, through OurLove.
You know that song, of course.
Yeah, and when I'm in Haiti, Ireally feel like that.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
I hope they know I'm Christian through in America and
just even getting a littleangsty about like oh, we're
going to go through anotherpresidential campaign, and can
(33:32):
we?
How can we hurt each other evenmore?
And you?
know, and how can, how can weshow love?
How can we show we'reChristians, you know, can we?
And by your love, I love that.
That point right there.
Yeah Well, I don't even know ifI need to ask this what
kindness have you shown, whatkindness have you um seen in the
(33:53):
last few weeks?
Because it um, this is what allthis has been about, but is
there anything specific?
Speaker 2 (33:59):
well, what's really making my heart happy this week
is when I was in Haitidelivering food, you know, I
said I'll come along.
Someone needs.
This family had a mud stickhouse.
That was totally, and a lot ofthe houses there are, but even
the mud was no longer in thesticks, so it was just open.
When it rains, it got wet, themud floor and I was able to find
(34:21):
an organization called MercyMissions to build them a house
and it's so cheap compared toour houses in America.
I mean, I could build 50 if Isold this house and this is just
a little ranch.
But so that's being built thisweek and I keep getting pictures
from the people that arebuilding it and the guy sending
me the pictures.
That's my kindness.
(34:41):
I'm just so happy that I get tobe along for the ride and see
the house as it goes up, and Ithink they should be ready to
move in next week maybe oh,that's so great yeah that's so
that well, thank you for sharinga little bit of your story and
I'm praying that this will umjust impact someone to show a
little bit more love andkindness, yeah it's so easy.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Well, you make it sound easy, but no, thank you
for for sharing and being opento share that with us.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Yeah, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
I hope that this episode has been impactful for
you and a reminder at ordinarypeople, extraordinary things.
Your story is his glory, and somake your story known in order
for his glory to shine.
We do that with faith and hopewith every story that we hear.
We will be back in two weekswith a brand new episode.
(35:37):
In the meantime, check out allfive seasons of Ordinary People
Extraordinary Things and makesure to share it with your
friends and family that will beimpacted by this podcast.
Thank you for making Ordinary People Extraordinary
Things what it is today.
Thank you for sharing.
You are the best way for peopleto hear about Ordinary People,
extraordinary Things, and aboutfaith and hope and how it
impacts us.
We are in 42 countries.
I cannot believe it.
(00:21):
Continue to share.
Continue to share with peopleall over the world, in your own
city and the country where weremember that, at Ordinary
People, extraordinary Things,your story is His glory.
Welcome to Ordinary PeopleExtraordinary Things.
I'm Nancy and I'm here withAnne.
Anne, thanks for being on theshow, thank you for having me
(00:43):
and I'm excited.
My mom, luann, said you have totalk to Ann, and so I was
excited to get her comments andher thoughts on that, and I'm
looking forward to our chattoday.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Thank you.
Your mom is very sweet and verysupportive.
I can't imagine what kind of asupportive mom she is, because
she's a very supportive friend.
How long have you known eachother?
Well, she was quite a few yearsahead of me in school, so I
can't say that we've known eachother for a long time.
But, as you know they, you grewup down the road from where I
grew up.
(01:15):
So for a long time in our adultlife and go to the same church,
yeah, yeah, your mom was ournext door neighbor, right?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
yes, I mean next door as far as when you live on the
farm between you.
But yeah, yeah, well, if peopledon't know who you are, could
you do three words or phrases todescribe yourself?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I would say strong, outgoing and nurturing.
Do you want me to elaborate onthose?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think strongbecause I just am able to go
into difficult situations and Idon't get riled up by them and
(02:02):
nurturing, because I was astay-at-home mom and I started
out that way and then my kidsgot older and flew the nest.
Then I found other people tonurture, from patients with
dementia to Red Cross, to justanybody that needed help.
But just God puts them in mylife and and outgoing is just
(02:24):
part of my family.
You know my dad, it comes withthe territory just can talk to a
wall.
That helps me a lot and thethings I love to do, because
sometimes you have to be thetalker when someone else isn't
able to talk and sometimes youhave to be the listener, and
that's easy for me too.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
So oh, that's great.
Well, that goes right into whatwe're talking about.
So one of the things that youdo is you go to Haiti.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, yeah, my first trip to Haiti was in 2011.
And it's kind of funny how itstarted, because I was having
lunch with one of my bestfriends and her son was joining
us and he was in his probably30s at the time and he knew
someone that was lining up thistrip to go to Haiti.
(03:14):
And he said, just out of theblue orange, hey, do you want to
go to Haiti?
And I said, yeah, what will wedo?
And from then, my daughterwanted to go as well and she was
, I think, 20 at the time, andhe hooked us up with the guy
that was doing the trip.
And I've been going every yearsince, sometimes twice a year,
and the first trip I went, Iknew I was going to be a lifer.
(03:36):
I loved the people, I lovedbeing able to help with the
smallest of things.
You can't change the world, anduh, but you can do things to
make it a little brighter andthen so I've formed lots of
relationships over the years, ofcourse, with this many years to
go to the same village everysingle time.
So I know, okay, I've seenlittle kids grow up and it's
(04:00):
yeah, so it's like seeing family.
When I go back there, the firstthing I do is you gotta see
this person time in town andthis person, and so I have a day
or two of greeting everyonethat I know and then get down to
the business of finding peoplewith needs that haven't been met
by other organizations, becausethere are so many great
organizations there but theycan't fill every little need.
(04:22):
So, being just a single, I usedto go with groups to start with
, and then I decided I wanted togo on my own, because I wanted
to do my own thing where.
I saw the needs instead of whatthe group the needs they saw.
So I just go out into thecommunity and into what they
call the countryside which wouldbe like where my folks live and
your folks live, where thehouses are a little further
(04:43):
apart and check on those peopleand see what their needs are as
far as maybe some health needs,or there's always food needs,
housing needs, so you just wow,you just go on your own, you go
to the same village.
I have a translator always withme and I have a place to stay
(05:04):
before I go.
I there's.
I stay with a mission groupthere's three different ones I
think that I've stayed with andso I do have a nice bed and a
cold shower.
There's no warm water there,you know, but you don't care.
When you're in Haiti, for menothing matters.
All the roughing it meansnothing, like I'm going to be
(05:26):
hopping all over the place here.
But the last time I was thereand I was in church, and that
church is three hours long and Ihad to go to the bathroom, like
for the last, there was an hourleft and so I asked my
translator, I asked someone andthey took me out to the bathroom
.
The bathroom was a roomprobably the size of, maybe
(05:50):
bigger than, a porta potty, butall it had was a hole in the
floor and you just squat downand you go to the bathroom.
And in america I was like I amnot finding me a decent bathroom
, but over there you're like oh,yeah, and you go.
You know, so in haiti, nothingbothers me, nothing at all, not
the poor accommodations, or andthe accommodations are not all
that poor, they're just notAmerica.
But um, yeah, so I always havea nice place to stay and no air
(06:16):
conditioning no, a lot of timesno electricity just depends on
what's going on but it's so muchbetter than all the people that
I visit.
There's nothing to complainabout, nothing, nothing.
These, yeah, these people livewith rats coming in and out of
their house, and I've stayed inplaces where we've had rats.
I mean, it's just that's theway it is.
(06:37):
The homes are not built likethey are here, so you have rats
and mice and some people sleepwith a net over their tent or
over their bed.
I never did that because I'mnot that afraid is that
mosquitoes or?
and oh wow, all the above justto keep critters off you.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
And there's a lot of cockroaches so how long are you
there mostly?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
when I first started going with the team, I was there
for a week and I maybe did thatfor five or six years and then
one time I decided I wanted tostay a week longer, because
after a week my heart was notfull and I, when I came home.
It was such a hard adjustmentbecause I did not feel fulfilled
on what I did there.
(07:28):
And walking from a third worldcountry into America is crazy
because you all of a sudden arein a grocery store, you can buy
anything you want and you sit inyour home, you push your
dishwasher and you push yourclothes washer.
And still my mind is in Haiti,with these people that it takes
them an entire day long to washtheir clothes at the river or at
(07:51):
their house, if they carrywater there, and then to dry
them on cactus bushes and toshower outside with a big tub.
And so I found, if I went fortwo weeks, I really felt
fulfilled, I got a lot more doneand my heart was happy when I
left, instead of having a sadheart when I left, because that
just didn't do me any good toleave with such a sad heart.
(08:13):
I wanted to leave on a happynote and know that I felt
fulfilled and I would be readyto go back the next time instead
of dreading that week just goesway too fast.
So since then I stayed a weekafter with the group trip and
since then I just started goingon my own and I go for two weeks
now you say, you kind of go outand you see a need and you try
(08:34):
to fill the need.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Can you give us a couple examples of how you, how
you can do that?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
well, one way of meeting a lot of people is
giving up food.
So I do that every time I gothere, and their main staples
are rice beans.
These are the things I put inthe giveaways Rice beans, oil,
sugar, bouillon, matches, soapthat they use to wash by hand.
(09:06):
And when I started, in the verybeginning, we just went in the
countryside and looked for theshabbiest houses we could find,
and they're all pretty shabby.
But now I am down to in thelast few years.
We just look for the elderly,because they seem to have more
needs than the younger people.
They have some health needs,they have house needs, they just
have most people that have nopossibility.
But these people really have nopossibility.
(09:27):
So in doing that just rollingup on homes and we always my
translator will yell out gramun,which means grandpa or grandma,
it's the same word, and that'swhat we're looking for people I
say if they look over 70 or youcan just tell by looking at them
how, what kind of need they are, and then we'll often attract a
(09:49):
crowd around us and some of the40 and 50 year olds will be
saying I'm a grandma and I'llsay you don't count, and even if
you, uh, aren't a grandma, youhave to be older than me.
I always say to people in orderto be get food, you have to
look a lot older than me and youlook younger than me, and then
you laugh and it's a lot of funwith.
Oh, it just it's a lot of funwith everybody that comes around
(10:11):
us.
So then, once we get to them,then we'll find out just in
conversations I don't do aquestionnaire or anything, but
just in talking with them we'llfind out.
Maybe their back has beenhurting or their vitamin, they,
they need vitamins for a certainthing, and so I feel like the
Lord just places these people infront of me and then we find
(10:33):
their needs.
A lot of the people simply justget food and they are so, so
happy.
My favorite thing is when we aredriving down the road and we're
always on a motorcycle becausethat's the.
The roads are horrible, sothat's really the main means of
transportation, and we'll see alady in the age group that I
want to hit and she's carrying abasket on her head, which is
(10:56):
very common there, and we'llstop and ask her, talk for a
couple minutes and then say wehave some food to give you and
ask her where she's heading to,and several times this person
will be heading to market, whichis, you know, like a open
market where they just sellthings.
They'll put things down infront of them and hope someone
buys them.
And this lady, one of theladies, on her last trip she had
(11:18):
already walked three miles andshe had three more to go to get
to this market to sell.
She had some small sticks andsomething else, but then I
always buy everything that theyhave so they have the money for
that and don't have to keepwalking, and then we fill their
basket up on top of their headwith the food that we're giving
(11:40):
them.
And it's just, it's a doubleblessing and it is so much fun.
Wow, I love it because thefirst thing we always ask
someone when we catch someonewalking is how far they have to
get to their home, because ifit's a long distance it's kind
of heavy stuff, but they're usedto carrying heavy stuff.
But anyway, that's how we findout where they're going and
she'll say I'm going to market.
(12:01):
So I'll say ask her, because myeverything's through my
interpreter I don't know anycreole is the language that they
speak and so I'll say ask herwhat she's selling and we'll
look at it.
I'll say, tell her we're gonnabuy it.
I'll ask her what she wants andthere's no differing what, and
we usually give her more thanshe wants, and it's usually a
gal sometimes it's a guy, butyeah, that's fun.
And another fun thing thathappened this last time was kind
(12:23):
of along that same lines.
We were heading back and we hadno food left and a lady on the
road.
They'll often sit in front oftheir homes with their oranges
or whatever they have spread outin front of them to sell and
she flagged us down and shewanted some food and I felt so
bad because we had nothing left.
We'd given out everything forthe day.
So we bought everything thatshe was selling on the roadside,
(12:44):
which was a huge bag of beans,and then we took the beans to an
orphanage where you saw themattresses from.
And so it's just like it's adomino effect that you get to
give something, get something,pass out something on.
And those are the days thatreally feel my heart.
And then the days that break myheart's heart is the orphanage
(13:07):
yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
I saw a video that you posted of the orphanage and
the beds and yeah, that was.
That was sad.
Could you kind of explain topeople if they have that?
Speaker 2 (13:34):
children are orphaned .
It's just that maybe their momdied and their dad dads there
aren't the best at taking careof the children if the mom
passes and so they get, they goto an orphanage.
And this was the first time I'dbeen to this orphanage.
The place that I was stayingthis time was called
Philadelphia Mission Church ofPeon and he said there's this
orphanage over here that doesn'tget really any support, because
(13:55):
he knew I was giving out foodand he asked me if I'd give some
to them and I didn't even knowit existed where it was at in
this little town.
So we went over there and metthe people and, yeah, they have
no support from anyone.
I don't know how they do it.
Usually every place has someAmerican support and this place,
they said I was the first whiteperson they had ever seen.
(14:16):
She gave us a tour of it and Iasked to see the beds and stuff,
just out of curiosity.
What they had never expectingit to be, just blankets on
springs and some of them if theyhad any covering left on the
bed, there was a huge hole inthe center and it was just so
incredibly sad.
(14:36):
So I knew I had to findmattresses, which is a.
It's a feat in itself to findmattresses there.
There's no, they don't havestores like they have here, and
I don't know well, most of ourstuff comes in through
Port-au-Prince, which is thecapital, which is where all the
fighting is going on right now.
When you see the horriblethings on TV from Haiti, that's
(14:57):
where it's at and literally theyare the port that all the
containers come in, and thenthey go from there and they get
spread out through the littlecountry of Haiti.
So by the time you get them,they're filthy and have been
through a lot of hauling and onthe back of motorcycles and
whatnot.
So there's one little store inthe town that we go to and it
didn't have.
(15:17):
We needed 14 mattresses and itdid not have.
Uh enough, I think I saw twothere that I would take, because
I just kept looking throughthem when, nope, not that one,
that one's too ripped, nope,nope.
So then we went to another townand my taxi driver had a car an
old car, but it worked.
And so we get in town.
I bought three mattresses and Isaid we need a lot more.
(15:39):
How many can we fit on there?
And he said as many as you want.
And I said are you serious?
We ended up getting 11mattresses between the trunk and
on top of that car and when wepulled back into the orphanage
at the end of the day they wereso thrilled, but still then
there's more needs after that.
And then I needed to findplastic to put over the
(16:02):
mattresses because the kidspotty the bed just like they do
here in America, and that rotsthe beds out.
And then to try and find sheetsand I, a friend of mine who
helped pay for the mattressesshe was there longer than me and
she did get them some sheetsand I found some sheets while I
was there.
But it's just never ending theneeds and food for them and I
(16:26):
think they have like 30 kidsthere.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Wow.
So do you get overwhelmed, doyou get saddened, do you get
discouraged by by what you justsaid?
Is that the needs never end.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
I think that's where the part where I said I'm strong
comes in.
I knew when I went there that Iwas not going to be able to
absorb their pain or I wouldn'tdo them any good.
It's kind of like I volunteerwith hospice as well.
If you go into where they'rehurt as, you're doing no good
(16:59):
for anyone yourself or them.
So God gives me the strength tojust be strong and focus on the
problem at hand and try and doas best I can to help them with
that.
And then at night, yeah,there's some sadness and lots of
prayers and stuff, but in themoment God gives me the strength
(17:19):
to just keep on going insteadof breaking down, which is what
would be really easy to do.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Do you ever feel like you know?
You said that you were lookingfor elderly and then, like
people were coming that wereyounger, saying oh, I'm elderly.
Does that bother you Kind oflike oh you're trying to get
something that I'm not willingto give, or you just kind of
have fun with it, or how do youdeal with that?
Speaker 2 (17:46):
I always switch it around to have fun with it
Always.
And that's when I go into youare younger and prettier than me
.
I know you are not a grandma.
And that's when I go into youare younger and prettier than me
.
I know you are not a grandma,and my translator goes through
all that too.
And I always take jewelry too,and that's one thing that I give
out.
So sometimes I'll give them apiece of jewelry a bracelet or
earrings or something and a lotof my friends have donated their
(18:07):
old jewelry to to me to take,so that's always fun.
When I give up food, then theyalways get a little something to
make them prettier than theyalready are oh, that's wonderful
.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
This is such a tangible way to show Jesus to to
these people that's what I hope.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
I just I don't preach , preach, um, but I try and show
Jesus through my love that theyare loved, and I think I do
that well, just in my touch, andI hug and kiss every single
person I meet, and my translatorsaid one time um, that's how
(18:50):
they say my name in Haiti, um,you don't have to kiss every
person.
And I said, oh, but I do, andthey get a kiss on each cheek, a
slow, not just an American petgoodbye.
I just want them to feel theyare loved outside of their
little circle.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
People care about them in the outside world do
they know about Jesus a lot inHaiti?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Yes, as I said, their church is three hours long.
They are, I would say, betterChristians than us.
I mean, the first time I wentin America, we're like, how much
?
How long has he been doing thesermon for these guys?
No, yes, they do know aboutChrist, christ, and there are
lots of churches there.
The one I usually go to whenI'm there my translator is
(19:37):
Baptist, so I go with him.
You know, I don't know whatthey say.
I enjoy the songs and Irecognize it somewhat because
you know I am Catholic.
So, yeah, there are a lot ofchurches and oh, this is really
(19:58):
special too.
A few years ago they built achurch.
That's up on.
I wouldn't call it a church, Iguess, but it's a place to go
pray.
They call it a church and it'sup higher on the mountain.
You have to go up quite adistance to up there and when
you go up there, there arechurch groups and just single
people laying up there praisingthe Lord, just laying on the
(20:19):
ground in these bushes and tallgrass, and then there is an
inside part with a cement floorand I think they have huge
groups in there once in a while.
But yeah, it's just a lot ofstuff you don't see in America.
That inspires me.
I learned from them when I wentup to that church.
I just thought this is amazing.
These people climb thismountain to go up here and
(20:41):
praise the Lord and you do feelso close to them there.
I can see why they do it.
It's amazing so yes um, there'sstill a lot of voodoo there and
it's not, I mean, like America.
Not everyone believes either,but there are a lot of
christians, there are a lot ofgood people and they know their
bible.
Yeah, it's amazing, wow.
(21:02):
And everyone wants you to go totheir church.
Everyone likes to take youabout, and this last time we
went to a church of when I wasdelivering food, we met this
family of seven, and the reasonwe stopped there is because I
saw a grandpa sitting out in theyard.
And that's what we'll do we seesomebody in the yard or yell,
then we'll stop.
And it turns out he was livingwith his son and daughter-in-law
(21:25):
and, I think, five kids, andthey were playing music.
We heard music coming from thehouse and I said where is that
coming from?
Well, the father plays theorgan at church and he had a
solar panel set up to practicethis organ at home.
It was most beautiful music.
So this last time I was there,we went to their church to hear
them.
They sing and one of the boysplays a guitar and the dad plays
(21:49):
the organ.
So I was in a new church thislast time before.
So, yeah, just moments likethat are just so fun and
rewarding.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Yeah oh, that's really inspiring.
Yeah, I, that's so.
I feel like it's so hard for usbecause we are just in general,
I know that there are there arethere is poverty in the United
States, but that you know, mydaughter, even this morning, was
like I don't know what to havefor breakfast you know kind of
(22:22):
like, ah, and I gave her like 20things that she could have, and
we even have more than that,right, I mean.
And she's like no, no, and I, Iwas like Rachel, we are so
blessed that you can have almostanything you want for breakfast
.
We have so much food in thishouse.
But to really try to understandthat is difficult.
(22:44):
Oh, you don't know what youdon't know.
Yeah, definitely, you know,like I've been to India and um
and seen some of that, but it'sit's hard for me to remember
when I'm back here and not tojust kind of get into a
comparison game or to, you know,just get into the culture of
(23:09):
America as far as like, oh, Ineed something bigger or better
or different.
Or do you have any thoughts onthat or any ideas that we might
just maybe get a glimpse and beable to hold on to that just a
little bit better, might justmaybe get a glimpse and be able
to hold on to that just a littlebit better.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Well, I'll tell you one of the things that hits me
every time I use the dishwasher,the clothes washer, when it
takes them all day long to dothose things, I think here I
push a button and I leave thehouse and we have the robot
vacuums.
We just have the cushiest lifeand then we sit around, we're so
tired, I have to put clothesaway, and so it just takes me.
I mean, I'm just grateful forrunning water.
(23:49):
When I run the water until itgets hot, I think all the water
I'm wasting just and it's nottaking water from them, of
course, but in my head I'mrunning all this water just to
get to the temperature I want,when they would just love to
have water.
So for me it's just being moregrateful for all the things that
I have, and I can't change thatand I can't give that to them,
(24:13):
but just be appreciative of whatI have, and it's taught me that
.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Definitely it's taught me that, yeah, that's a
good thing, just even thinking,okay, okay, every time I have to
do the dishes, I have to do thelaundry.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Kind of try to reframe that a bit and here's
another one, if we would have alittle electricity outage for a
few hours, people are onFacebook saying, oh my gosh,
mine's not on yet.
When is yours coming on?
And and again, you don't knowwhat you don't know, because if
I hadn't, been there, I wouldprobably be the same way, but my
gosh, those people live withoutelectricity, so for us to be
(24:52):
without it for even two daysdoesn't bother me a bit not a
bit yeah so it's good for peopleto go into places like that to
realize how fortunate we are andquit complaining and help
others more.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I like it.
I like it.
What are you grateful for?
Speaker 2 (25:15):
oh my gosh, my health number one, because if I wasn't
healthy I would be no good too.
Well, I might be good to myfamily they'd probably still
like me, but I wouldn't be goodto me because I like going out
and spreading sunshine and ifI'm not able to do that, that
would be really hard on me.
So some days if I'm thinkingwhat should I do today, then I
(25:35):
go to the nursing home and visitsome people that don't get
visitors, or the people dementia.
They're always happy to havevisitors.
I mean, they don't remember youwere there, but it doesn't make
any difference.
It's like a baby.
I always tell people that don'tthink, um, their family members
remember them, so theyshouldn't go.
I say, well, our babies didn'tremember us either when they
(25:57):
were a week old, two weeks old,but we sure wanted to make them
happy.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
You know, it's just like that yeah, yeah, that's
good, that's really good.
I, I just see, and I I know whymy mom said you need to talk to
her, as, as I love, what youjust said is like I don't know
what I'm gonna do today, andthen you pray about it or you're
like, hey, how can I helpsomeone else?
(26:20):
Instead of well, yeah, I justneed some time to myself, I
guess I'll just watch anothershow, or you know, I feel like
sometimes we get into this likeself-care thing a little bit too
much and we don't go out and welove on others.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Yeah, yeah.
And I think, just even when yousee people in the grocery store
that are older because olderpeople are often feel like
they're invisible.
And recently I saw a man infairway and I said, hi, how are
you doing today?
He looked to be in his eighties, I would guess, and he said,
good, do I know you?
And just because I spoke to himand I said, no, I don't know
(26:59):
you, but I thought you lookedlike a really nice guy and I
just wanted to say hi to you.
So, just simple things, even inthe grocery store, it's just so
easy to find fun people and soI chat with him.
We chatted for like 15 minutes.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
he told me about his life and where he lives and,
yeah, you just run across reallygreat interactions with people
oh, I love that because I feelagain that we're kind of in this
stage of America where it'sjust easy to say everyone's so
terrible and just get down onthe world and get down on
(27:34):
everything.
But you just lifted it up withjust what you said.
So what a good way to look atthings.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
You know, one of my favorite things have always been
to find a grumpy person andmake them smile or laugh.
You cannot be grumpy forever,so I guess I like a challenge.
This guy did not look like achallenge, but I know people in
my life that have and yeah,that's always fun to do.
I can get you, I'll bring youhome.
(28:04):
I guess that's part of theoutgoing to do I can get you, I
hope, when you won't.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Yes, that's part of the outgoing part, right?
Yeah, I can see that.
Well, what will you say tosomeone who who's kind of
inspired by what you're talkingabout, but not sure that they
could go to Haiti or but?
What would you say to them whatwould you, how would you
encourage them to do something?
Speaker 2 (28:24):
I would say in the United States alone there are
lots of opportunities I took mygirls to when Katrina hit.
It was in 2005, down in NewOrleans.
It was the first huge hurricanewiped out I don't know if you
remember, but a lot of NewOrleans.
So at that time I went oh no, Ijust started with Red Cross and
I called Des Moines Red Crosswhen that hit and said I don't
(28:46):
know what I can do to help, butplease let me know if there's
anything I can.
I got deployed for three weeksto go down there, just that fast
.
I had to do a background checkand went down there.
That was the start of myworking with Red Cross.
I was down there twice forthree weeks helping them and
then the next summer I took mygirls and one of my best friends
(29:07):
and her daughter went down fora week and we went with the
church group and then the summerafter that we took them again
and just went down on our own,found a place to stay and found
people to help.
So there's little things likethat that just arise.
That that's how you can getstarted here in America doing
simple things.
I know church groups that go toChicago and do mission work.
(29:29):
There's all sorts of placesaround here that you could start
and then, if you felt likespreading your wings, you could
try out of the country.
And the thing about I like aboutHaiti too I mean it just fell
in my lap and but one of thethings I really like about it is
that it's so close.
Haiti is just in our backyard.
I mean, it's not that far fromMiami, so it's easy to get there
(29:51):
and easy to get back quick, asopposed to some of the other
countries that people go to andneeds are everywhere.
So I'm not saying theyshouldn't go there, but for me I
like the place I ended up goingis nice and close.
Yeah, oh, place I ended upgoing is nice and close.
Yeah, oh, that's good.
I um brought my children upgoing to the nursing home with
me.
You probably did too, like, didyou guys play bingo at the
(30:11):
nursing home?
Speaker 1 (30:11):
your children yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
So we just started out doing all those volunteer
things together and then, as thechildren got older, instead of
gifts for Christmas or birthdayum, we haven't done gifts for so
many years, but they would do agood deed for someone else and
that was my gift, and then atChristmas they would all either
have it written out or a videoor something showing me what
they had given me, and that wasway better than opening any gift
(30:37):
, and it had to be anonymous.
That was one of the things theycouldn't.
What I wanted them to learn thegift of not getting thanks,
just helping someone because itfeels good, and so they still do
that and that's really fun.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Oh, that is so.
What a great idea, yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Because what do we need for gifts as parents?
Really, we go buy what we want.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
We do by Christmas time.
You're just trying to figureout something you don't need, so
somebody can give you something.
So, yeah, it's probably been 20years since we've done gifts
wow, wow.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
That kind of just takes the pressure off of the
Christmas, doesn't it?
And get back to what it'ssupposed to be about.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Yes, yes, yes.
And finding out what they didfor someone else is so much more
exciting than opening a boxwith a sweater, a VCR, whatever
is going on that day that youget the gift.
So much more exciting for me.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Oh, that's so great.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
And that's what anybody could do here in America
easily just to start out withthe charity and giving you know.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Yeah, yeah, no, thank you for that.
Well, unfortunately we don'thave a lot of time and I've
loved our conversation.
Um, well, we already talkedabout what you're grateful for.
What's your favorite Bibleverse or story?
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Well, um, what's?
There's first of all, a coupleof songs, and you'll know these
songs.
Here I am.
Lord really speaks to me.
I love that when we play thatin church and I have it on my
iPod.
But Matthew 2540, the King willreply whatever you do to the
least of my brothers and sisters, you do unto me, and that
really speaks to me, that wejust need to help each other,
(32:17):
and that's what God put us allhere for, and nobody's in it
alone, right, or?
Speaker 1 (32:22):
shouldn't be, shouldn't be Right.
Yeah, I was just trying to findthe verse really quick.
I don't know if I'll be able tofind it.
Is it when?
When it's?
Is it Samuel?
I shouldn't even say it, butwhere God's speaking to him and
he goes to to the prophet andsays you called me, you called
(32:45):
me.
He's like no, I didn't call you, go back to bed, you called me,
you called me no.
And then finally he says oh,god's trying to speak to you.
Go say here I am.
So yeah, I thought of that.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Is it I Lord?
Yeah, I've heard you calling inthe night, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Another song that I love isthey Will Know we Are Christians
Through Our Love, through OurLove.
You know that song, of course.
Yeah, and when I'm in Haiti, Ireally feel like that.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
I hope they know I'm Christian through in America and
just even getting a littleangsty about like oh, we're
going to go through anotherpresidential campaign, and can
(33:32):
we?
How can we hurt each other evenmore?
And you?
know, and how can, how can weshow love?
How can we show we'reChristians, you know, can we?
And by your love, I love that.
That point right there.
Yeah Well, I don't even know ifI need to ask this what
kindness have you shown, whatkindness have you um seen in the
(33:53):
last few weeks?
Because it um, this is what allthis has been about, but is
there anything specific?
Speaker 2 (33:59):
well, what's really making my heart happy this week
is when I was in Haitidelivering food, you know, I
said I'll come along.
Someone needs.
This family had a mud stickhouse.
That was totally, and a lot ofthe houses there are, but even
the mud was no longer in thesticks, so it was just open.
When it rains, it got wet, themud floor and I was able to find
(34:21):
an organization called MercyMissions to build them a house
and it's so cheap compared toour houses in America.
I mean, I could build 50 if Isold this house and this is just
a little ranch.
But so that's being built thisweek and I keep getting pictures
from the people that arebuilding it and the guy sending
me the pictures.
That's my kindness.
(34:41):
I'm just so happy that I get tobe along for the ride and see
the house as it goes up, and Ithink they should be ready to
move in next week maybe oh,that's so great yeah that's so
that well, thank you for sharinga little bit of your story and
I'm praying that this will umjust impact someone to show a
little bit more love andkindness, yeah it's so easy.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Well, you make it sound easy, but no, thank you
for for sharing and being opento share that with us.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Yeah, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
I hope that this episode has been impactful for
you and a reminder at ordinarypeople, extraordinary things.
Your story is his glory, and somake your story known in order
for his glory to shine.
We do that with faith and hopewith every story that we hear.
We will be back in two weekswith a brand new episode.
(35:37):
In the meantime, check out allfive seasons of Ordinary People
Extraordinary Things and makesure to share it with your
friends and family that will beimpacted by this podcast.
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