A few weeks ago I got to attend Mission Of Hopes High School graduation! Haitian celebrations are just wonderful. It was SUCH a cool thing to witness 134 students graduate from such an amazing school like Mission of Hope and to imagine what these students will do to change Haiti in the future...
Also, starting the first week of July, we started the first EVER Vacation Bible School on Mission of Hope's campus!!! It has been amazing, overwhelming, tiring, inspiring, exhausting, and rejuvenating... There are five stations the kids travel to between 8:30am and 1:00pm... Crafts, Community Health, Bible Stories, Sports, and Meals. Crafts is difficult because we've been having 400-450 kids show up every week instead of 200-250 like we prepped for... but it is SO COOL to see kids when we go out in the villages wearing the tye dye t-shirts they make here! Sports is CRAZY and all the boys try to stay there all day. Community Health is one of my favorite stations because the kids are learning basic but oh so necessary things to learn, like how and why to wash your hands/brush your teeth/eat healthy etc. and they even get to go home with tooth brushes and tooth paste and bars of soap! Meals.... INSANE. Most of these kids don't get to eat very often.. and you can tell when they show up... some kids just sleep in the benches of the church all day til meals.. I have never seen such little kids eat such a LARGE portion of food in such a short amount of time.. it is sad and joyous at the same time. And last, but definitely not least.. is BIBLE STORIES! This is the section of VBS that My fellow intern Erica and I are running... This is where 450 kids have been hearing the about Jesus for the past few weeks!! It has been SO cool to see the North American teams come in and have stories and skits and songs and games prepared in order to keep the childrens attention and tell them about the bible! I LOVE it. Not gunna lie... it's a litttttle hard staying awake through the same 45minute long bible story every day four times in a row.... buuuut the cute and cuddley kiddos keep me awake!
“Mwen Remen schnuggle Ou!!” ---translation: “I love to snuggle You!”
ohhh my. The Hope Village kids have caught my heart lately... These are the 61 kids who live at Mission of Hopes Orphanage on campus. I get to see them everyday and they all know some English so it has been soooo fuuuun being able to talk to them in my little understanding of Creole and their understanding of English!
My two faves:
Esther- She is such a sass and such a snuggler... She can be fiesty and HILARIOUS! Basically she is always a ball of energy... I LOVE IT! I taught her (and some of the other Hope Village kids) the word schnuggle... they think it's a real/frequently used English word.. :) I hug ester and tickle her saying “Mwen remen schnuggle OU!” and she says “Mwen pa remen schnuggle OU!” she tells me she doesn't like when I snuggle her... but then she smiles and comes up and “schnuggles” me.. haha ohh my.. her voice is the best and she pronounces it “Schnogggle”.. oh how I will miss that ball of sass... (not the best picture... but the only one I have as of now because she won't stay still!)
Widler- PRECIOUS lil Boy! I just lovvve Him! He is so cuddly and sweeet.. if any kids at VBS aren't listening to me he gets mad at them and yells in creole for them to listen... and look at those eye lashes!!! He laughs like an old man in a 7 yearolds body. I taught him schnuggle... He loves it! :)
Uggh, I just lovvve them and the other little friends Iverson, Stevenson, Misslene, Symba, Pierre, Jeremiah, Ana, Matthew, Emmanuella, all of em..
All of that to say I am loving my time in Haiti..
BUT, there are “those days” where I forget the gospel completely and I try so hard to work and live out of my own accord and strength going with the flow and not going toooooo deep with people or myself so I don't have to reallllllly feeel.....
That doesn't work.
I've realized in being here, that just because I am in a new place with new people and new struggles and new joys new distractions, I am different for sure..... but I am still the same.
My heart is still a heart that needs to be reminded of God's grace and the Gospel daily. My discontentment will not vanish because I have picked up and moved for the summer... as much as this place feels like home sometimes, I never feel fully settled.. whether it be here in Haiti, at school in Orlando, or where I grew up in Ponte Vedra.. I still need to be reminded I am not HOME, my HOPE is not in me or finding contentment in this world or people... My contentment and hope is found in Jesus. He reminds me everyday of His love and even when I forget how much I need His grace He meets me in my messes. He reminds me of His love for ME!
I am thankful for the sweet glimpses of Home I experience, to remind me of my Hope, but none are the real pure thing itself. None deliver me to no more tears, no more brokenness, no more pain... we are not there yet.
One of my favorite Hymns that we sing at RUF in Orlando has been accompanying my heart the past few days and reminding me though I am NOT in the Promised Land, but I AM BOUND....
On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand,
And cast a wishful eye
To Canaan’s fair and happy land,
Where my possessions lie.
All o’er those wide extended plains,
Shines one eternal day;
There God the Son forever reigns,
And scatters night away.
Chorus: I am bound (I am bound)
I am bound (I am bound)
I am bound for promised land,
I am bound (I am bound)
I am bound (I am bound)
I am bound for promised land.
No chilling winds nor poisonous breath
Can reach that healthful shore;
Sickness, sorrow, pain and death,
Are felt and feared no more.
(repeat chorus)
When shall I reach that happy place,
And be forever blessed?
When shall I see my Father’s face,
And in His bosom rest?
Oh my, I am learning lots in this BEAUTIFUL place.....
So glad to read your thoughts!! Love on those kids for me. Big snuggles. :) (That is a real word to my kids, too).
ReplyDeleteDid I ever tell you I'm so glad you're you?