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
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!
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!