You are the God of this City

How do I begin! I have so many memories and stories from our journey to Haiti and I am still processing all that I experienced in that country full of strong, perseverant, beautiful people. Beginning at 11:23 am on the day that we expected to depart California, I learned to give up my expectations and instead learn to rely completely and joyfully on the plan God had for us. In succession we were told to check out of our hotel rooms 5 hours earlier than expected, leave the hotel an hour earlier than expected with bags that quickly became 10 lbs lighter that expected, leave LAX 3 hours later than expected, leave from Miami instead of Ft. Lauderdale to arrive in Haiti over 24 hours later than expected, figure out activities for 3x as many kids as expected, and I could go on but I think y’all get the idea! God blessed me with an absolutely WONDERFUL team of girls who prayed with and for each other, looked out for one another, learned from and with one another, served our Savior together, sang His praises together, and loved His children together. There is a quote by Henry Ward Beecher which says “Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven” so I want to tell you about several Haitian children that took hold of my hand and taught me to do the will of God on earth as is done in heaven.

Kevin: I met this sweet little boy on the first day when he was searching for a place to sit on the front row bench. His big dark eyes were filled with tears. I held out my hand to him and he hurried over and grabbed it and soon wanted me to hold him. After that if I ever had set him down, he followed me around and grabbed my hand as soon as it was free. I loved having a little shadow but I wanted him to get involved with the various games and crafts and I really wanted to see him smile. The next day we were up at the front leading some songs and I saw my little friend wandering down the center aisle scanning over all our faces. When his eyes reached mine he hurried over to me again and held out both of his hands, wanting to be picked up. Of course, my heart melted right away and I quickly scooped him up and sang the rest of the songs, encouraging him to do the hand motions and sing along. After the songs and Bible story, our team had decided to try running the activities in stations which ended up being rather chaotic. Since I was in charge of one of the craft stations, he kept getting pushed around in his attempt to follow me. I was a little worried about him till I saw that Rachel had picked him up and was looking after him. After the stations were finished, I looked around for my little friend and I saw him sitting on Victoria’s lap. I went over to say hi and he reached out his arms towards me again, completely forgiving the fact that and hour or so earlier his attachment to me had caused him to be smack dab in the middle of an energetic and rather chaotic mass of kids. So I picked my goal back of to try to make him smile. On Monday my little friend found me again and I finally figured out that his name was Kevin. He was much more talkative and was very interested in the prizes that some kids were winning through some games so I got him to participate a little bit. After a while I saw him looking around so I went over and scooped him up and gave him a hug (just like I had many times before) and for some reason this time he broke out into a big bright adorable smile. I was so surprised I burst out laughing and his smile got even bigger. I don’t know what clicked but after that he would often flash his bright adorable little smile when I came over to him. One of my teammates said that she had learned that it must bring God pleasure when we cling to Him as she thought about how she loved when these precious children clung to her. I love thinking about that and little Kevin taught me about the joy that comes from seeing someone take delight in our presence. It our privilege to smile in the presence of God and it is amazing to think that when we delight in Him, we bring Him joy!

Sophanie: I fell in love with this precious little girl at the Delmas 31 orphanage where my half of the team was blessed to spend our last day in Haiti. She has a heart-warming smile and contagious laugh and it was my joy to make her laugh and smile all day long.  I never heard her speak a word but thank God that laughter is universal! She does not let her body or her physical abilities, which others may deem limited, hinder the way that she spreads joy and invites others to smile with her. God has given Sophanie an unquenchable spirit of joy. She is a sweet reminder to me that we are called to set out mind on things of the Spirit for they bring life and peace. When we keep in step with the Spirit we are free to receive and spread the love and joy that Christ lavished upon us!

Carlo: Carlo is energetic, curious, persistent, and playful. He came into the church on the first day looking to have a good time. His mother came with him but sat on the side resting and watching us interact with Carlo. Although there is not much capacity to diagnosis the disabilities of many of the children in Haiti, Carlo displayed many qualities that are characteristic of Autism.  At the end of the first day I was playing catch with Carlo with a brightly colored ball.  Carlo was laughing and just consumed by the thrill of throwing and bouncing the ball. Carlo's mother came up to me and, by pointing to the ball and then to her son, she asked if it were for him. Before I really understood, I responded positively and she got the ball from Carlo, wrapped it in a scarf that she was holding, and denied Carlo’s efforts to get the ball back. At first I was confused but I worked to interest Carlo in a different activity and began to process what had just happened. To the best of my knowledge, the mother had seen that her son took joy from this simple toy and was concerned that he might lose it as he threw it around in a church full of 100+ children. She was willing to let her son be unhappy for a moment so that he might later re-receive the gift that had brought him joy in a more protected environment. This made me think that my perspective, so often limited and narrow-minded, hinders me from understanding why God may take something away or tell me to wait. But this interaction with Carlo’s mother was a good reminder of how God has the best in mind for us. Later on in the week I was able to describe to Carlo's mother some of the strategies that I used to help Carlo focus and interact with us. Becca and I were also able to provide her with some simple training on sign language that might help ease communicate between her and her son. More importantly, we were able to encourage her and tell her that she and her son were loved, by us and by The Lord and that His love gives us strength and honor!

I learned so much from such a short time. I firmly believe that God has a plan for the country of Haiti. As we drove through one of the tent cities one day, Becca started singing “God of this City” by Chris Tomlin and I could not think of any better summary.

You're the Light in this darkness 
You're the Hope to the hopeless 
You're the Peace to the restless 

There is no one like our God 
There is no one like our God 

For greater things have yet to come 
And greater things are still to be done in this City!