Day 2 - Embarking on a new journey
Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 9:30 pmHello,
I recently found this website and am going to try the 14-day counseling steps. I don't know where else to turn and I feel as though I am at the end of my proverbial rope.
You see, my family and I (wife & children) served as mission workers in Haiti last summer. The mission group seemed like very nice people when we met them in their Michigan office. We didn't know a lot about them, but figured since they were "Mennonites" they should be good people...
Well, when we moved down to Haiti, the American staff there treated us very poorly. It all started when they were two hours late in picking us up from the Port-au-Prince airport. They acted very annoyed to have to be burdened with picking us up. Not one person said "welcome" or anything (except for the Haitians-they were very good to us).
After a few weeks of being ignored and excluded from everything that went on at the mission, we confronted the 24-year-old missions director as to why we were being treated this way. He stated very matter-of-factly that by us being here, we were taking food off of his table and that his family had to cut out desserts and eat more rice and beans!!!
We were so shocked that we didn't quite know what to say... We looked at each other and had a look of "did he just say that"??
Very shortly after that they began to falsely accuse us of some very bad things... They became critical of us and would call the mission office in Michigan and tell them that WE were the one's being critical...
We started to feel very unsafe being there as we have small children. We had no idea what they were going to do next or what else we would get blamed for.
We had to ask for food... The rest of the American staff ate good meals, but we were only allowed beans and rice, milk, and cereal. That was so humiliating to have to ask for every meal...
We finally asked to leave and they said that they would have to have a board meeting about it first!!! We were held against our will for 4 days. My Mom was just about to call the State Department to report us being held against our will.
When we were finally permitted to leave we flew back to Detroit to be picked up by the stateside mission director. He made sure to give us a bill for the airfare both ways! Talk about getting kicked while you are down!
That experience left us with a lot of wounds that go very deep. We now have trouble trusting people and we never did before.
I cannot for the life of me understand how someone can claim to be a missionary and yet treat us so unchrist-like? It makes no sense to me whatsoever.
I forgot to mention, that while we were in Haiti, a group of Bible students came down for two weeks. While they were there the mission director went completely out of his way to show them around and treat them like royalty. We didn't even get so much as a "welcome"...
Come to find out, the bible students pay a good fee to the mission to come down. This is a good source of income for the mission...
This really hurt us as we are very caring people. We have always helped out at church and opened our doors when folks needed a place to stay. We are not bad people, and we certainly did not deserve to be treated that way. No one does...
We are hoping and praying that God will open up another door so that we can be of service to Him... But in the mean time, we need some healing..
When we got back to the states I had to get the first job I could find and it is a very stressful job. I am so very thankful that I HAVE a job, but I am confident that this is not where God wants me to be on a long-term basis. I am not normally a nervous person, but my nerves can't handle much more...
So, I don't really know what to do or where to go from here... I do know that God wants what is best for me and my family. He will lead us and guide us if we listen carefully to Him... The hard part is waiting on Him...
This world is so full of critical and judgmental people (even in the church). We need more people who are caring and compassionate. Life is hard enough without someone kicking you when you are down.
I don't know what else to share... But, I do feel better about sharing...
PS: I do realise that "people are people" no matter what their denomination is. There are good (and bad) in every denomination. Unfortunately, we got connected with the bad one...
I recently found this website and am going to try the 14-day counseling steps. I don't know where else to turn and I feel as though I am at the end of my proverbial rope.
You see, my family and I (wife & children) served as mission workers in Haiti last summer. The mission group seemed like very nice people when we met them in their Michigan office. We didn't know a lot about them, but figured since they were "Mennonites" they should be good people...
Well, when we moved down to Haiti, the American staff there treated us very poorly. It all started when they were two hours late in picking us up from the Port-au-Prince airport. They acted very annoyed to have to be burdened with picking us up. Not one person said "welcome" or anything (except for the Haitians-they were very good to us).
After a few weeks of being ignored and excluded from everything that went on at the mission, we confronted the 24-year-old missions director as to why we were being treated this way. He stated very matter-of-factly that by us being here, we were taking food off of his table and that his family had to cut out desserts and eat more rice and beans!!!
We were so shocked that we didn't quite know what to say... We looked at each other and had a look of "did he just say that"??
Very shortly after that they began to falsely accuse us of some very bad things... They became critical of us and would call the mission office in Michigan and tell them that WE were the one's being critical...
We started to feel very unsafe being there as we have small children. We had no idea what they were going to do next or what else we would get blamed for.
We had to ask for food... The rest of the American staff ate good meals, but we were only allowed beans and rice, milk, and cereal. That was so humiliating to have to ask for every meal...
We finally asked to leave and they said that they would have to have a board meeting about it first!!! We were held against our will for 4 days. My Mom was just about to call the State Department to report us being held against our will.
When we were finally permitted to leave we flew back to Detroit to be picked up by the stateside mission director. He made sure to give us a bill for the airfare both ways! Talk about getting kicked while you are down!
That experience left us with a lot of wounds that go very deep. We now have trouble trusting people and we never did before.
I cannot for the life of me understand how someone can claim to be a missionary and yet treat us so unchrist-like? It makes no sense to me whatsoever.
I forgot to mention, that while we were in Haiti, a group of Bible students came down for two weeks. While they were there the mission director went completely out of his way to show them around and treat them like royalty. We didn't even get so much as a "welcome"...
Come to find out, the bible students pay a good fee to the mission to come down. This is a good source of income for the mission...
This really hurt us as we are very caring people. We have always helped out at church and opened our doors when folks needed a place to stay. We are not bad people, and we certainly did not deserve to be treated that way. No one does...
We are hoping and praying that God will open up another door so that we can be of service to Him... But in the mean time, we need some healing..
When we got back to the states I had to get the first job I could find and it is a very stressful job. I am so very thankful that I HAVE a job, but I am confident that this is not where God wants me to be on a long-term basis. I am not normally a nervous person, but my nerves can't handle much more...
So, I don't really know what to do or where to go from here... I do know that God wants what is best for me and my family. He will lead us and guide us if we listen carefully to Him... The hard part is waiting on Him...
This world is so full of critical and judgmental people (even in the church). We need more people who are caring and compassionate. Life is hard enough without someone kicking you when you are down.
I don't know what else to share... But, I do feel better about sharing...
PS: I do realise that "people are people" no matter what their denomination is. There are good (and bad) in every denomination. Unfortunately, we got connected with the bad one...
4 U 