Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Haiti Journal Entry #3 (Monday, June 9)

We had the amazing privilege of seeing Mew Missions' work in action today as we loaded up our backpacks with supplies and went to the NM school in Mare Chol (finally figured out the spelling!). It was one of the coolest experiences we have had so far. We came into the school (the same area where we went to worship service on Sunday) and the children were outside. Immediately it felt as if every team member was holding the hand of a student. Some of the little girls were playing double-dutch with a frayed old rope. Shortly after we talked with them for a while, it was time to begin passion out supplies. We went into a room, put our suitcases (filled with supplies) on tables around the perimeter of the room. As the students came in, their first stop was a height check so the students could receive material for their school uniforms, followed by a stop to receive multiple toiletry items (i.e. soap, shampoo, dental, lotion, etc.) and then to receive a toy of some sort.




My job was to pray over the students (using an interpreter part of the time) after they received their bags. Well, those of you who know me well know that this was the best job I could have had!! One little girl kissed each of us on the cheek to thank us on the way out. Another little one, when asked by a fellow team member if she could pray over him, got down on his knees to pray! (SO SWEET--don't you want to come to Haiti right now? I know you want to go back with me next year....)


I enjoyed that so very much. It was beautiful to know that God will be continuing to answer those prayers their whole lives through. I prayed for them to be strong and wise warriors for God's Kingdom who will be selfless, and that God would provide them with peace and meet their needs. I also asked God to let them grow up to change their country for JESUS.

After we finished the distribution process, the children were so excited that they had an imporptu dance party in the schoolyard. They jumped up and down (about fifty or sixty of them), singing songs and shouting "Hooray!" It took so little for them to be thankful. We could learn a lot from them...By the way, I joined right in as I never miss an opportunity to dance...




Then in the afternoon, we went door-to-door (or hut-to-hut) distributing toiltetries to the villagers. The language barrier was difficult as I have never before been overseas in an area where I couldn't at least communicate a little in the native tongue. Praise God for our translators, Nika, Yagul, Allan, and John Mark. The Haitian people are very open and receptive to at least hearing the Gospel, so we shared openly with them about salvation as we tried to meet some of their physical needs. (It was also the first time for me to share the Gospel with a topless woman, not once BUT TWICE...I gave them CR t-shirts...)
It was also a beautiful opportunity to pray for people, especially brothers and sisters. One man in particular, who was blind, really touched my heart. He requested prayer for his sixth-grader (A little girl who kept pinching me--hard!!) who needed to pass her exams. The exams are required by the country of Haiti to progress--also required by the gov't officials to oppress the Haitian people-the French on the exam is SO difficult for kids who speak Creole, the peasant's version of French. It's really sad that many work to oppress the people. So we subsequently were bombarded with requests to pray over other students in the village who need to pass their exams too. The afternoon was filled with sharing the Gospel-the Haitians, as I mentioned, are a really open people so we just got right down to business in talking to them about Jesus. A lot of them told us that they weren't ready yet. Sounds like some of the Americans I know.




Tonight we hung out back on the beach at the Mission. Met a kid whose name sounds like "John Gotti"*** which given my love for all things mobster, I was very pleased to have him as my friend. He was precious. There were also two adorable little girls who loved learning Ring Around the Rosie. It was such a good day.



***Found out later his name was actually Johndotti. Dang it!

1 comments:

Unknown said...

love it!

and the LORD surely annointed that camera of yours!