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To say that my mission trips to Haiti were life-changing is an understatement.  Nothing could have prepared me to see what poverty looks like when most people are living off the equivalent of $1 USD a day, children play with empty water bottles because they have no toys, every single person is quite thin, and people have flu-like symptoms several times a week due to unclean water.  Some of the children and older individuals do not survive the water-borne illnesses.  We partnered with the locals to provide sanitation trainings, as most of the people have no more than a 7th grade education.  They first had to learn the basics of hand washing, and then learn how to clean and maintain the water filters we were providing.  We walked through the villages and visited homes that were seldom enclosed, many lacking roofs.  Some of the people did not seem to yet understand what we were up to.  But for those whose neighbors had already received the filters, they had seen drastic health improvements and were desperate to receive this gift.  They followed us around, and some even tried to take our filters, but the locals had structured it so that the distribution would be orderly.  I simply cannot picture without emotion the look of deep gratitude in the eyes of those women who knew their lives were forever changed by the gift of clean water.  Clean water-something most of us take for granted, and something we use for absolutely everything-I challenge you to go through just one day aware of every time you use water, and imagine what it would be like to not have this precious life necessity that absolutely every person deserves.  As we left the beautiful country, the grateful Haitians carried our luggage on their heads all the way up the steep mountain.  It is an unforgettable image forever ingrained in my mind, and one that leaves me speechless.