It was awesome. And amazing.
Thank you, Albion College and International Child Care for responding to my inquiry last fall and including my husband and me on this amazing journey. It became a joke among the ten of us that surely we could post daily blogs with words besides “amazing” and “awesome.” Surely such educated folks as us could use more expanded descriptive language. We laughed together as we came up with additional alliterative language, like “agonizing” or “astonishing.” But time after time, we emerged from a home or community gathering uttering a wide-eyed “Amazing! Awesome!”
It was truly amazing to see a skilled healthcare worker enter homes in the poverty-stricken areas of Santiago to teach home practices to parents of severely ill children. It was truly awesome to join a community gathering of children, teens, and adults as they learned ways to ward off the number one killer, diarrhea. It was amazing to meet the Haitian nurse who walked five hours to pick up immunization supplies before hiking the hills and trails of the surrounding villages.
It was also awesome to see the effect of each new relationship on the Albion students: Hallie, Brittany, Tony, Mary, and Nicole. They struggled. They blossomed. They met the challenge and they carried the love and transforming cross of Christ.
Thank you, Albion College and International Child Care for this trip. Thank you Tom Hunsdorfer and Keith Mumma for inspiring leadership. Thank you for inspiring a middle-aged heart. Sometimes only a few words suffice. It was awesome. And amazing. When do we go again?
Rev. Lynne Austin