Discovering complete comfort in the clearly uncomfortable

I am currently experiencing a weary season filled with vast circumstances.

To start, there are about 6 months left until graduation day (188 days… but who’s counting). These 6 months involve “checking off” every last box of my undergraduate career—talk about stress inducing. I could bore you by explaining every one of these “boxes” in detail, but instead I believe it would be more valuable to share what I have experienced over the past couple weeks studying abroad in Europe.

Some of you may believe the statement, “Katrina Matthews just loves traveling.” When, in reality, traveling is really difficult for me. I do not do well with frequent change and transitions. Ironically, though, it appears the anxiety I experience with traveling produces an increased awareness of how much I need the Lord. I suppose this awareness increases once my life circumstances aren’t necessarily “going as planned” or “fitting into my box of comfort,” etc.

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Some background information:

I have been studying abroad since the beginning of June. This specific abroad experience consists of me (and 11 other women) visiting Germany, Czech Republic, and Poland; I am now entering my second and final week in Prague. The most educationally demanding part of the trip involves teaching at an English immersion school in the Czech Republic called “Hanspaulka.”

To get straight to the point, this trip has been exceptionally more draining than I had predicted it would be. I truly cannot recall another time being so pushed and pulled out of my comfort zone until this last week. More specifically, the biggest battle I face is the fact that I know 0% of the Czech language. Let’s face it; if you know me well, you know how much I thrive in communication with others. And once this innate skill was taken away from me I experienced overwhelming feelings of isolation and confusion. Seriously, how can Katrina Matthews be Katrina Matthews without being able to communicate? (“Oh dear” is right.)

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And now, on this sunny and 72 degree Sunday morning, I have a change of heart.

A couple of days ago I had informed my host family I needed time this weekend to work on homework. To my surprise, this morning my host “dad” told me I have the house to myself today (as their family is visiting the country house for the day). I couldn’t help but to smile and take a deep and appreciative breath as I was being reminded of how faithful our Heavenly Father is to his children.

I am overwhelmed by the pure truth that God knows just WHAT I need and WHEN I need it (and of all things— of course it is on Sabbath day). I have been blessed with a day of rest in Him as I leisurely complete my homework, nap in the sun, and have uninterrupted FaceTime as I see my sweet earthly father’s face on Father’s Day. This day of rest will give me just enough time to have my cup filled, as well as the energy and patience to finish the second half of this trip well.

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Today I am thankful for God’s faithfulness.

August 6, 2017 — the day that marks only 10 days left in this beautiful country. That seems absolutely unbelievable to me. I mentioned in the beginning of the summer that I would write about people I was surrounded by this summer. Although it was difficult to narrow it down to only a couple people, I couldn't think of anyone better to write about than my friends Vena and George.

~ Vena ~
I will never forget the first day I met my dear friend Vena. The interns were introduced to her during our first training week here and obviously everyone was dying to become her friend. At a loss for words, the first thing I had said to Vena were, "Hi, my name is Katrina and I don't know how else to say this, but I think we should be best friends this summer. I really need someone like you in my life as I am far away from my friends and family for a long time and this isn't going to be easy." She responded, "Hey, my best friend's name already is 'Katrina' so it looks like we were already meant to be best friends." Perfect.



Vena has been working at Mission of Hope since May and her main position on campus is the Assistant Hospitality Coordinator. This essentially means that she assists with the function of all things hospitality on campus and always makes sure our guests' needs are met. This also includes playing a huge role in the kitchen staff, as she is constantly making sure that there is enough food being made for all the team members, or different food being made if there are vegetarians or gluten allergies, etc. Also, did I mention she is on our phenomenal Haitian worship team? Yeah, she does it all! And with a thankful heart that is always giving God the glory with all the gifts He has given her.

No matter how smooth or terrible my day was going, I always knew Vena was there to just simply give me a big hug and kiss on my cheek without any other words. As the summer continued on and the days were getting longer, she was full of empathy and was able to understand exactly how I was feeling just by looking at me. Vena has played multiple roles for me during this season of life including: a dear friend, a loving mother, and a protective and understanding older sister. I would have never imagined anyone could wear all of these hats this summer for a short 10 weeks, but Vena did instinctively. My friendship with Vena is an example of how God goes before us. My Wisconsin neighbors, the Leffins, had helped her through school, which allowed her to be in this role and help me and other interns through the summer. It is amazing how God is working when we have no idea.

Yesterday I had the honor of attending Vena's wedding. It was absolutely lovely. And needless to say, she was the most breathtaking bride I've ever seen. Lord, thank you for blessing me with this sweet, sweet woman.


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~ George ~
This summer I was blessed with 10 incredible VBS translators. While they are all wonderful in their own distinctive ways, I would like to introduce you to my friend George. This is George's fourth summer working as a VBS translator at MOH. I grew really close with George during our first week of VBS July 3-6, as VBS was hosted for the first time at a location called "Cina" in one of our partnering villages Source Matelas. Cina was practically a giant field with three trees to provide shade and a basketball court. This was the first time VBS has ever been hosted at Cina. Normally, main campus VBS is hosted in the church and surrounding classrooms. However, during the week of July 3-6, there were students scheduled to participate in national test-taking, and therefore the classrooms were unable to be used for VBS activities.

Somehow my translators and I were able make it through a week of VBS with over 500 children and no kitchen. The absence of a kitchen made the week especially difficult as we didn't have our lovely kitchen ladies to cook the children their rice meals like they usually can. So, every day three giant pots of rice were miraculously driven over to Cina every morning and God would do the impossible and show us His miracle of feeding the 500. You could say all of this left me incredibly stressed as a first-time VBS intern, but George always knew how to step in and calm my nerves and completely handle whatever new difficulty was thrown our way that day. George's strong yet peaceful disposition made the week millions of times smoother than it would have been without him there.



A couple days ago, George told me he wasn't going to be around for our last week of VBS because he will be WALKING for FOUR hours with his church to a surrounding island in Haiti that is in desperate need of Jesus. George is the perfect example of having faith in desperate circumstances and constantly putting his own needs aside as the Lord will always provide. Sometimes Americans think we have all the answers and resources, but here's a Haitian becoming a missionary to his own people. Thankful to MOH and their commitment to training up Haitian leaders to make a difference in their own country.

Last Thursday George asked me on his last day of VBS how I was doing. I "cheerfully" responded, "I'm doing great George, thanks for asking!" To which he responded back, "No you're not, you're not you." I was originally convicted that I wasn't being as honest with where my heart was really at, but also loved the fact that Haitians care so deeply to really know my heart. I explained to George that my mind, body and soul are really aching to be return to my family and my own culture but that I cannot imagine life without them by my side. He reminded me how God puts us through specific seasons for a reason and to be joyful that God is calling me back home after this internship. He also reassured me that this wasn't going to be the last time we see one another.


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Although I am excited to be back in Wisconsin, I can't even begin to process what life is going to look like without these gracious brothers and sisters by my side.

Hello sweet friends,

I apologize for the two-month delay in writing this second blog post. It would be impossible for me to put into words and explain how much God has grown me through seasons of joyfulness to seasons of absolute hardship and confusion. So, instead of writing a novel of every experience that has happened thus far, I figured you would be most interested in what an average day of Haitian VBS looks like.

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Now, before I explain what VBS looks like once the children arrive, you should know how much organization and planning is going on behind the scenes. After eating breakfast, the plan is for my team of Haitian translators and I to load a school bus at 7:25. Sometimes this goal is accomplished, but more times than not it ends up being around 7:45 (my VBS translators are very intentional and relational with one another–which I LOVE–but it isn’t very common to be on the bus on time). During that in between time, I will gather up fellow MOH interns as they eat their breakfast and ask them to help load our school bus with 18 water bags from the freezer (each big bag is filled with 60 individual smaller water bags that is safe water for the children to drink during VBS). As soon as the waters are loaded in the bus, so do the suitcases. Each VBS suitcase holds 500 soaps, 500 toothpastes, 500 toothbrushes, and prizes for VBS.

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The school bus will drive my Haitian translators and I down to the church and stop at two different locations to drop off water bags–9 bags will be dropped off in the kitchen area where the children get fed and the other 9 will be taken to the basketball court for our sports station. Once everything is set and taken off the bus, the bus driver and a translator will take one lap to the village we are hosting for the morning and pick up as many children that can fit in the bus. Once the first round of kids arrive to Mission of Hope, we wait for our other campus buses from Bercy to come so we can use them to get more kids (as our first bus who picked up children has to go straight back to the guesthouse by 8am to take our other mobilization interns and their North American team members to the villages for the day).

Now, here is a typical day for VBS:
As the children continue coming in by the hundreds, North American team members will typically form a tunnel or a high five line to greet the timoun (Haitian creole for “children”). From about 8:15-9:15 our translators will engage the timoun in a hype up VBS session with interactive games, dance parties and dance offs, singing worship songs, etc. Then around 9:15 is when the kids are separated into four different groups in regard to how old they are: 3-5, 6-8, 7-9 and 10-12 year olds. The 3-5 year olds leave the church and go to the kitchen to eat their rice and bean meal, 6-8 are lead to our agriculture/hygiene classroom, 7-9 are brought to the basketball court to kick a soccer ball around, play with jumprope, etc. and the 10-12 year olds stay in church to hear the Bible message given by the Village Champion.The goal is for each rotation to be around 20-30 minutes so the kids can be back in the buses by 11. My job during VBS is essentially to walk from station to station reminding each station what time to rotate the kids to each section with transition walking time, etc.

Tuesday’s and Thursday’s are especially exciting days for VBS. On Tuesday’s, one of my translators Samedy teaches about the importance of hygiene and passes out soap to around 500 children each week. Then, on Thursday’s he distributes toothbrushes and toothpaste after explaining how to thoroughly clean ones teeth. Although every day of VBS is equally as important than the other, VBS Wednesday’s are the most celebrated in the Kingdom. Every 3-12 year old child is given the opportunity to follow Jesus during our Bible rotation–we call this “Salvation Day.” It is a truly powerful thing to be given the opportunity to witness these Haitians lives being changed on a weekly basis.

The summer is already becoming a blur. It’ll take me some time to process it. So please forgive me not communicating as well as I’d like to. I’ve been blessed to touch the lives of thousands of Haitian children. I’ve witnessed the courage of malnourished Haitians pursuing their faith and protecting their families. I’ve had to be patient with stranded vehicles in the mountains and chaos in the villages. And most days I’m just overwhelmed that I’ve even been given this opportunity. I am honored to be able to spend my summer with these amazing Haitians and the people ministering to them. And I’ve known every day that my friends and family have been supporting me with their prayers. I’m so grateful for that encouragement as I’ve done my best to help the children of Haiti.

Thank you for your love and your prayers.