Gift-giving

Tuesday, June 28
We have neglected our blog as we have acclamated to our surroundings and the mission before us.  I will try to catch everybody up...
Sunday proved to be an uneventful travel day.  We all met and flew to Port au Prince.  The travel has been about the only thing uneventful.  The airport in Haiti is quite the experience.  I'm sure it would seem less so if any of us spoke Creole, but we were at the mercy of our written instructions from the VO office.  The staff of Heartline Guest house escorted us through the chaos and delivered us safely to our lodging, affectionately referred to the Haiti Hilton.  We spent the evening meeting other mission team members who were staying at the guest house.  After supper we used the 15-foot kitchen table to organize all of our supplies and donations.  We were overwhelmed by the amount of supplies the 7 of us were able to collect.

Monday morning came pretty early, after a night of adjusting to the heat.  We are all thankful for our fans and wait patiently for our host to re-set the generator when the batteries die!  The Lord is good and faithful and His ways are not like ours.  Monday was difficult for me, Melanie.  I had to send my team out to our first orphanage without me.  I woke up sick and unable to eat or stand.  I feel certain it was a "USA bug" not a "Haitian bug," but it was still quite a disappointment not to join my team.  Again, my agenda is not always in line with the Lord's agenda.  The team courageously headed out, got lost in the tap-tap and had a spectacular day with the orphans at Well-Being.  They spent the day reading Bible stories, doing crafts, and playing games.  They were even able to help serve them lunch.  It was a real blessing for me to hear their stories when they got home.  The Lord has put together a precious team of ladies who have huge hearts for the Lord and for the orphan!!

Today was another good day.  We all got to go to Well-Being today!  Yeah!  The kids were very affectionate and it seems that each child found their special connection with one of us.  Their faces are full of joy in the midst of such impoverished conditions.  Their home is a UNICEF tent.  Their one meal a day is cooked on a propane stove or over a fire pit.  We were able to give each child new clothes today.  The girls got pillowcase dresses that Karli made.  The boys got shorts in their favorite colors.  They all received salvation bracelets as Alisha shared what the beads represent.  Our translator, Jonas, is fabulous and helped tell the salvation story and the Bible stories with Angela.  We had lots of fun trying to teach them songs in English while they tried to teach us songs in Creole.  All of the songs were praising the Lord and I am sure He felt our worship today. 

We came bearing gifts for them, which they were excited and so thankful to receive.  We came to be the hands and feet of Christ to them.  However, the gifts we received from them were joy, peace, contentment, and an innocent love that cannot be measured.  Today, I believe we were all the hands and feet of Christ to each other. 

I know the Lord has ordained our time here in Haiti.  He has called each one of us for such a time as this.  Please pray with us that we will be moldable and submitted to His Holy Spirit.  Pray that we will walk in His anointing and power in the days ahead.