- Our mornings were filled with children - laughing, loving, and yes - even being stinkers :) Through VBS and Sports Camp, the Mission is able to reach hundreds of children from surrounding villages. They are given tools and training to ensure their health and wellness such as bar soap, toothbrushes, and a hot meal each day of VBS. They dance and sing, and hear the story of Jesus Christ and have the opportunity to accept him as their Lord and Savior. Our team carried kids on their shoulders - sometimes 2 or 3 at one time, served them food and water, washed their dishes and prayed with the future leaders of Haiti. The Mission walls are housing a generation of Haiti changers!
- Afternoon village visits are sometimes an emotional roller coaster. Talking to strangers, telling them your story, teaching them about Jesus can be scary, exhilarating, and self reflecting all at the same time. I love to hear the stories and dreams of the villagers. We talked to young students who are working hard to become engineers and doctors and teachers. We talked to moms and dads who wanted to take care of their families and offer them a bright future. And we talked to Christians who wanted to remain strong and grow deeper in their knowledge and love of God. We often asked if they had any questions for us. The most common question was if we had a relationship with Jesus because they were ready to tell us about him. Probably the most provoking question was, "Why don't you do this where you live?" That's a very good question. The relationships among the villagers is deep, loyal, accepting, and welcoming. The village walls may look menacing from the outside but behind them, we found a love that knows no boundaries.
- Our projects this year were to deliver solar lights to 5 families, 2 pair of goats to 2 families, and paint a house. That's right. A solar lantern and radio is the only source of light that these families have to allow students to study or do homework after dark. The source of light to travel the rocky roads on a dark night. The source of music to bring joy and a smile to a home. Delivering goats is always one of our favorites. I mean who doesn't love goats? Families use these goats for milk, cheese, breeding, and such. The beauty of this project is the ability to pass on the blessing to another family after they have baby goats. The gift keeps on giving:) Painting a 2 room house in a couple of hours can be such a blessing to a family. I love climbing on sketchy ladders, standing on paint buckets and listening to spontaneous worship while we work. To color someones world both physically and spiritually is something you have to experience while in Haiti! They were never hesitant to lower their human walls to accept our service. The reality is that WE were the ones who were truly blessed by the experience of meeting them.
We all have walls. Walls that hide. Walls that protect. Walls that divide. Our team has seen what can happen when you allow others behind the wall. I feel like we as a team allowed each other behind some of our walls and I pray we will be able to continue to welcome people behind our walls to see our passions, our dreams, our abilities. You just never know what you will find if you just ask to be let in!
I hope you enjoyed a little highlight of our trip. You can view some of our pictures on my Facebook page. Thank you all so much for your support and your prayers. We could feel them in our strength and health.
Tori