My Boy Berto

Berto. Berto is a kid who has my heart. I had the privilege of hanging out with him and many of the other severe and profound children. Berto is precious. He may not be able to talk, walk, or even smile all that well. But he has my heart. I love him. I got to hold him, sing to him and pray over him. It was an incredible experience and a fantastic way to spend my morning.

Later in the morning, I headed to the birdcage with Heather had told me that we had a new sweet little girl who was entering the Outreach Program. I walked over and saw this adorable little girl. It appears that most of her disability is in her legs, as when I was introduced to this precious little girl she replied with, “Bonswa Allyson”. This melted my heart. And made me really excited for Monday.

Prayer request: originally this little girls family came to try and give this amazing little thing away to the Miriam Center. However, we had to say no because we simply do not have the resources and are stretched beyond the max already. We were able to give her sister and aunt who brought her so children’s oatmeal, diapers and things. Please, please, please pray that with this help and being enrolled in our Outreach Program for therapy once a week, that they decide to keep her and I see her on Monday!

After this eventful morning I went up for lunch and afterwards hung out with Kelsey and talked. I absolutely love this girl. We get along so well. We had a great conversation about life, support for our trips, and things from back home. We also had a great in depth conversation about our feelings towards handouts and how this draws a dependence for those receiving them. The mission aims really hard at not simply giving away things to prevent this, but Kelsey and I had a really great time discussing things that could be implemented farther. I am so blessed by this girl. I am so thankful to have her here.

Outreach this afternoon was great! We had a just two kids so Autumn and I were able to go about this one on one. Also, real cool fact: a guy from one of the group’s here has a passion for filming. He has been shooting interview and shots to try to put together into a short documentary of sorts to raise awareness for the Miriam Center. Hopefully with things like this all of our kids will be sponsored.

The Haitian market was held at the mission today as well. I was able to buy several things for friends and family back home. I am excited about many of them! This was also able to help some of the local venders support their family, which is a great idea! One of the kids that I bought from was Kaby. He is the same boy that I bought some bracelets from a couple of weeks ago. We have started to develop a small friendship. It is my prayer that this will continue to develop so that I can ask more in depth questions concerning his relationship with the Lord. Please pray for this as well.

The American groups leave tonight at midnight (the poor group that is traveling the six plus hours to Port au Prince) and then six in the morning (for the group that is flying). This means that we will hopefully be able to have generator on until midnight! Whoop! We are currently watching a movie with AIR CONDITIONING in the staff lounge while eating these delicious Nutella, chocolate chip and fudge brownies that Katelyn made us. Yes she will be attending culinary school in the fall.

This week has been absolutely incredible, but I am ready for a bit of a slower pace this weekend before the next group comes in. We have some big plans in place because it is Logan’s (one of the other interns) 22nd birthday on Saturday! It should be a fantastic couple of days and I am greatly looking forward to it!

“…Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-29

Exactly What I Needed

I am continually amazed at how encouraging God can be for us at time. Today marked just two weeks until I have to leave this incredibly place that has stolen my heart. As you can imagine, I was a little upset by this. Even though I had an awesome quiet time and a fabulous morning at Bonneau, I was still constantly reminded that I only have 14 days here and that was making me a bit sad.

Yet as a daughter of the King, He always seems to know when to bring me comfort, support and encouragement in my times of need. This started while at Bonneau, a woman came down to the playground with two ice chests filled with sloppy buns (Haitian popsicles). These were so great! They came in flavors of coke, strawberry, mango and coconut. They were also only 5 for a dollar so we were able to buy one for each of the kids. I was even able to enjoy a coconut one myself! There were so sweet, but more importantly…THEY WERE COLD! It was fantastic!

Upon getting back from our trip to Bonneau, I ate with Justin and lunch. He had gone down to talk with Autumn, Stephanie and Heather. Stephanie had apparently told them about me purchasing the popsicles for the kids, and Justin brought up money to pay me back and offered to buy me a Coke. He also thanked me for all the work and love I show the kids. It was such an uplifting thing to hear!

After this load of encouragement at lunch, it was time for Outreach were I was able to work one on one with a little girl. I had her do exercises working to strengthen her neck and stomach muscles for her to be able to try and sit up on her own or crawl one day. It was such a cool experience. Autumn was right there working with another girl if I ever needed anything and gave me a few pointers, but even when I wasn’t sure what I was doing for sure at time, Autumn said I was doing a great job! It was such a wonderful experience!

When we had finished Outreach I walked outside to find that a group was washing the feet of ALL of the Miriam Center workers, Haitian and American, so they pulled me over. I have washed the feet of others before but I have never received such a loving act before personally. I felt so cared for and appreciated. It was pretty cool.

I sat next to Stephanie, Autumn and Heather during this and they asked me if I was planning on coming back next summer. It felt so great to hear them ask this and that they were actually hoping I would say yes. Which I did. Without hesitating.

Later on this afternoon, Kelsey and I went to Autumn’s room to get a snack. Earlier in the day Autumn had invited me to her house for nuts since she can’t eat them. Kelsey had not eaten lunch since her group went to Tortuga, so I invited her along. While we were snacking and talking with this incredible woman of the Lord, not only were we offered Strawberry Poptarts (awesome) but Autumn informed me that she, Stephanie, and Heather are planning on treating me to the restaurant on Saturday. I have heard many things about this place called the Breeze, all good, so I can’t wait to spend this time with them eating incredible food in a couple of days. I feel so blessed to be treated so well and truly encouraged so much in such incredible community here. If any of you are reading this, I really appreciate it and I love you all so much!

The rest of the day continued on fairly uneventful, with the exception of the massive spider that accompanied me in my shower. I NEVER took my eyes off of it as it sat on a water pipe a few feet against the tiles on the backwall. NO JOKE. It was the size of my hand and certainly the largest spider I have ever seen that has not been behind some sort of glass at a zoo enclosure. It was freaky. Upon getting out of this dreadful shower, I informed my friend Kelsey of my gruesome discovery. Kelsey was determined to kill this thing even after I described its size. She walked into the bathroom with me and Tore a far distance behind her as she carried a mere flipflop in her hand. When she saw the spider she scream before turning and running away. We had to get another brace soul to actually kill the thing. I am just glad that it is dead now and will not be disturbing me any longer. I just pray that I don’t have any dreams of something crawling on me tonight. Ew.

My last moment of encouragement today, as I was writing this blog Autumn came over to me and handed me chocolate candy (which I had been craving) and said, “for being the best intern ever”. Thanks Autumn!

My God is so faithful and supplies me with exactly what I need to keep going, even when I am saddened to be leaving so soon, yet also homesick (conflicting feelings I know). Today I really needed some encouragement though, and that was exactly what He provided me with. Thank you Lord!

Prayer request: a lot of people are getting sick here. One of the kids here is thought to have strep, another girl was just carried from the girls bathroom by two guys on her team because she was throwing up in the there. Plus the Miriam Center kids are on the home stretch of getting over a fever, runny nose and difficulty breathing. I myself am not feeling all too great. I mean alright, but not awesome. So please be praying for that.

Thanks and good night

Prayer. Period.

Prayer. Prayer is a powerful thing. Sometimes I can easily forget this though. But prayer can do huge things.

Today was one of those days, where even in my mist of doubting God, He is faithful and loving and shows me answered prayers in the most beautiful and comforting ways.

As many of you reading this probably know, I have a friend named Caleb who was involved in a ski accident on January 5th. He hit his head on a tree and suffered a large amount of bruising Initially it was uncertain if he would make it through surgery the night of his accident to relieve pressure on his brain. Over the last five months and 3 weeks we received news of Caleb has oxygen levels that are far to low, Caleb’s eyes aren’t open, Caleb has not begun to talk, Caleb may not walk, Caleb is struggling with separating his dreams from reality.

I can still distinctly remember hearing news of Caleb’s accident while I was in Atlanta. Later that night I was with two of my friends Kat and Shelby. It was then that I realized with these two, that all I could do was pray. No matter how much I wanted to be able to fix Caleb or take back what happened or allow him to survive his surgery that night, all I could do is pray.

But I have come to realize that I hate that phrase “All I Can Do is Pray” because in reality all we should ever do is pray in situations like that and many others. Our God is the creator of the universe. Our God gives us the breath of life and allows us to wake up every morning. Our God is the God who tells the wind which was to blown and the rain where to fall. Our God is Almighty, all powerful, and our God is in control of it all.

So in reality that night and in the months to follow, I COULD pray. I could pray and ask my Father in Heaven who has Caleb’s and all of our lives in his hands for complete healing.

I could pray. And pray I did. These last 5 months and three weeks have taught be more about prayer and grown my prayer life more than anything. I will admit that there were times when I certainly began to doubt if Caleb would ever wake up, ever talk, ever walk, ever remember. There were times when my faith began to dwindle. There were moments throughout these last five months and 3 weeks that I doubted that the Lord would heal Caleb.

Thankfully though, even in our doubts and dwindling hope, our God is faithful. It was been such an incredibly blessing to read progress of Caleb over the last months. To hear of his oxygen levels rise over night. On the 13th day for him to finally open his eyes. For him to be able to talk once his breathing tube was removed. In the last few weeks hearing stories from friends and his mom about him being able to separate dreams from reality.

And today, my friend Caleb, after 5 months and 3 weeks of a tough battle and truly because of the willingness and faithfulness of the Lord, walked out of Touchstone rehabilitation facility to go home and continue out patient therapy. Praise the Lord for He is good!

This afternoon after a morning of massage and music with the kids of the Miriam Center we had a staff prayer meeting after lunch. This prayer meeting held in the courtyard of the M.C. This meeting consisted of Haitian workers, translators, Autumn, Stephanie, and myself along with visitors from one of the American groups. This time of prayer was so beautiful and so great for my soul. It was such a blessing to see all of the staff: Haitian and American to come together as one unit to pray for the children, the staff, the building and movements forward in the future.

I left this time feeling uplifted and went up to my room to read Caleb’s Caring Bridge entry for the day that his parents post with updates. It was then that I had my true God moment of today. In this blog entry, Caleb’s mom had posted a verse, Jeremiah 31:13. “I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and exchange their sorrow for rejoicing.” If you have been following along on my blogs, this verse may be familiar to you.

This is because Jeremiah 31:13 is the verse painted on the walls of the Miriam Center. I have seen the Lord work in amazing ways these past few months in Caleb’s life and recovery. I have seen the power of prayer in the miracle He has done through my friend, but today was as though he were saying, “Look daughter, I can do miracles in all things, even here in Haiti.”

Our Lord is faithful. His love never fails. His will is for our good. He is the blesser and the Redeemer. The Beginning and the End. He will never abandon us, never harm us, never forsake us. Our God is faithful and true. Our God is powerful and protecting. Our God has us in his hands. Our God is healer and Father.

I can say that I have seen so many of these characteristics of our Lord in Caleb’s story. And it is my prayer that I will one day see these same qualities through what He has done here in Haiti and in the lives of the kids in the Miriam Center and special needs children all throughout the world. I hope that you will join me in this prayer.

Prayer is powerful. Just ask my friend Caleb.

”Never stop praying.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17

A Quick Introduction

Today seemed like it was about to get routine for me. I woke up, went to staff meeting, moved on to devotional, ate breakfast, spent time reading my Bible, headed downstairs to get kids ready, drove on the bus to Bonneau to go to the park with the Miriam Center kids, hung out at the park, got back on the bus, drove back to the mission, ate lunch, went to Outreach with Autumn, came upstairs, walked into a cake store in town, came back, did laundry, took a shower, ate dinner, headed up to devotionals, and now I am here.

My life here in Haiti has grown to become a “one thing after another” sort of schedule and lifestyle. But it is those moments when you start to get comfortable that God I feel can really move and show you so much.

Today I was overwhelmed on the ride home from Bonneau about these kids of the Miriam Center. Each and every one of them when I was asked by a boy in Kelsey’s group about which kids I have grown closest to. I was almost taken by surprise by this question in a way. I really had no idea how to answer this at first and I think it was mainly because I have grown to love so many of them as I hear each of their stories and seen their character.

The first two names I said were Niaka and Berto. I love these two so much which I feel is rather appropriate seeing as these sit next to one another in a stroller each day. These two have CP and neither of them can walk, sit up, or even communicate with words. But they can both show facial expressions, and they can both smile and laugh, and I can hold them and love them and pray over them both.

Then I said Steven and Joseph. Steven is who I hung out with mostly today at Bonneau and have really had the opportunity to get to know over the last week or so. Steven can not walk (yet), but crawls around on his knees and has braces on his legs. I had the chance earlier this week to help him walk by holding his hands for a rather large distance. Stevens smile is always so big! He knows how to communicate with sign and has signed “I love you” to me many times this week. Today on the ride back when I was asked this question, this little guy was in my lap. It was during this same ride, that he signed, “Jesus loves me. Jesus loves you.” I had a couple of tears in my eyes during this.

Joseph is one of the most kind hearted kids I know (when he isn’t the usual kid and acts out or gets upset). He is ALWAYS willing to help you in any way from carrying mattresses or taking our coke bottle to the recycling bin. The other night we had a movie night downstairs complete with Finding Nemo and popcorn. Joseph was handing out his own popcorn to make sure that everyone else had plenty. What a sweetheart!

Then Isaac came to mind: he was one of the first kids I met at the Miriam Center and always has a smile on his face. Isaac loves to play bowl and wants to hold your hand all the time! He had a cleft foot that had surgery performed on it not too long ago, but he still favors it has if nothing were ever done. Please continue to pray for him and progress in this. I love spending time with Isaac either sitting with him in the birdcage or kicking a ball around at front. He always makes these noises to try and communicate with you and these are sounds I have come to love and adore.

Next I thought of Den-Den. I didn’t meet him until my second day here, which is such a surprise considering how well I have home to know and love him now. Den-Den can understand some simple English that I say and always responds with “Yeah”(sometimes “wee”) or “No”. Den-Den is such a helper just like Joseph. The other day, I was busy feeding Berto and had been doing so for quite a while. I had left my backpack in the birdcage, and Den-Den carried it into the kitchen said, “Hey, hey” and then dropped it at my feet. I didn’t know it until the first week or so that I was here, but Den-Den is a miracle I can see with my own to eyes. Due to Den-Den’s diagnosis, he is not suppose to be able to walk. But when I first met him, Den-Den walked up to me. He has been able to walk for quite a while now, and while he is a little clumsy and uncertain in his steps sometimes, the Lord has definitely done a work in his life! Den-Den is absolutely a testament to me to the power of Lord.

Next I thought of T-Stephenson. I thought of how he has been through more than I could ever possibly imagine in his short little life. He is five years old, and never grew or developed. Today he still looks like an infant. When his mother realized that he wasn’t growing, she gave him up to a witch doctor who performed all sorts of rituals on him, including burning him. Today, T-Steve has all sorts of scares all over his body, but by the grace of God, Northwest Haiti Christian Mission was able to get him out of this situation and he is now loved and held everyday.

My mind then went to Joshua. Josh is my friend Kelsey’s favorite kid. Joshua is a miracle as well. Josh was found in the rubble seven days after the earthquake in Port-au-Prince over two years ago. Let me reiterate that for you so that it can sink in for you. A little boy with special needs was found in the rubble seven days after the quake. Seven days. Many people can not live without water after 3 or 4 days. Seven days. 168 hours later. Joshua is such a sweet boy and is always so joyful. He is a true miracle of the Lord and has my heart.

And those are just a few of the 46 kids of the Miriam Center. Just a few. They each have their own story. And they each have their own personality. And they each need their own individual forms of love and affection.

When I was thinking of the beautiful miracles Den-Den and Joshua were, I was convicted of something. Each and every single one of the kiddos downstairs is a miracle of God. Each and every single one of them has some sort of disability weather it be physical or mental. Weather it is a cleft foot, blindness, dwarfism, deafness, CP, mental retardation, behavior issues, or learning disabilities. Each and every single one of these children has a disability, but each and every single one of them is their own individual miracle. Every single one of these beautiful children are a creation of our Father. Each and every single one of them is living throughout their disabilities with more joy than so many others who have the fortune of living lives without any sort of frailty.

Each of these kids is a miracle and each one of these kids has their own story. It is my prayer for you that you would one day get to know each of them, or even a kid like them, and you would have your heart captured as mine has already been in these last few weeks.

These kids have taught me more about love than I could ever possibly know. I thought I knew what love was after twenty years through my parents and through my ex-boyfriends and through my relationship with friends and family. But my heart has grown more in these two weeks than I ever knew it could. My heart is full of love for these kids in a way I never thought I could love and I am more grateful for this than I could ever show. I absolutely love these kids and they have my heart.

They challenge me each and every day. There are rough days, believe me, but each day, no matter how tough it is, I can walk around downstairs and see so much joy in those kids eyes and just be filled. I came into this internship thinking that I would be pouring myself out each day to these children. And in many ways I am, but far more than that, the kids of the Miriam Center are pouring into me daily and I am so incredibly blessed by this.

If you would like to know more about how you can help one of these kids from the Miriam Center please consider sponsoring one of these children. It takes a daunting about of funds to look after even one special needs child each month, let alone 46. Fortunately, partial sponsorships are offered and every little bit helps. Please check out the following website to learn more about sponsorship or any one of these beautiful and incredible children!

NWHCM Sponsorship

Toms and Time Off

I have come to find that weekends are something to greatly look forward to here in Haiti. Saturday began with waking up at 6:25 for our 6:30 staff meeting, but still managing to get there on time. I was able to get plenty of sleep that night. It was wonderful!

Saturday morning in the Miriam Center consisted of two teams coming in (Kelsey and Tore’s) to help us clean. We were able to take out all of the kids mattresses in order to bleach and whip each of them down. When then took each of the mattresses upstairs to dry them. It was great to see all of these people willing to help these kids.

It was during this time that Kelsey made quite the comical discovery. While the groups were busy at work getting all the mattresses out of the first room and bringing them into the courtyard, one of our cutest and highest functioning kids, Joseph, had be follow him into the boys room across the way. I thought he was trying to tell me to grab his mattress to which I told him, “pita, Joseph” which means later Joseph in Creole. Turns out this wasn’t what Joseph was wanting to show me. He soon after this brought Kelsey in and showed her his mattress. When he did this, Joseph took the blanket off his bed and revealed to Kelsey that he had stashed scrambled eggs under his blanket from breakfast. Kelsey made him throw these away and Joseph was NOT happy with her at all.

After we finished cleaning the mattresses, Kelsey, Tore and I went upstairs to our girl intern room and had snacks and took a mental and physical break from it all. This was a great time to get to hang out with the two of these lovely girls and just relax and rest for a bit.

After lunch, I was able to go with Kelsey’s group to do hut to huts. I had asked Autumn the night before if there was much going on downstairs in the M.C. the next afternoon. She told me there wasn’t and told me I could go. Thanks so much for letting me if you are reading this Autumn. You’re the best!

During our hut to huts with Kelsey’s group we passed out TOMS. This was such an incredible experience. TOMS donated 30,000 shoes to three different churches within Haiti. NWHCM’s church received a third of these. Many of the sizes of shoes we had left were very small. That was the hardest part: having to tell kids we didn’t have a size big enough. But for the kids we were able to fit for shoes, it was so cool. Plus we were able to pray with many of the kids and families. I was personally able to size a cute little girl named Francilla early on. She then proceeded to hold my hand and follow our group around as we went from hut to hut for the next hour and a half or so. She was so precious!

Passing out TOMS was a super cool blessing for me to be apart of. Having a few pairs of TOMS myself, I always thought it was a really cool company and great thing to support. But I never heard about anyone actually giving out shoes before. So it was incredible to be apart of it. Plus, I had heard rumors that the shoes that they give the kids are of higher quality. This is true. Their TOMS actually have these thick rubber soles. I would highly recommend supporting TOMS. I think they are doing great things. I had always thought the only bad thing about TOMS is that they didn’t spread Christ as well. But they donated their shoes to a church to give away and gave us the chance to enter homes with shoes and then have the chance to pray and preach the Gospel.

Another organization that I support much more than TOMS though is one that is dear to my heart because a few of my friends from A&M actually created it, called Soles for the Savior. They go into countries with shoes, wash the children’s feet and then pray over each one of them. You can check them out here:Soles for the Savior

My Sunday consisted of church and resting. I love the Sabbath day here in Haiti because everyone takes it very seriously here at the mission. We don’t go out except to church and we all have the chance to rest. Today I took a nap and listened to a podcast from the Village Church out of Dallas, Texas on fear and love. The podcast was about how sometimes we do things for the Lord out of fear and reverence rather than out of love for Him and love for His people. It was really great and super convicting because I have found myself doing just that thing at times in my life.

Today as I was laying in my hammock and listening to this podcast I was reminded of a sermon at my church in College Station, New Life. This sermon was out of Exodus and on the importance of the Sabbath. It was super convicting when I first heard it. However I feel like it can be applied even more in Haiti. Here I am waking up at 6:15 every morning (except for Sunday when we get to sleep in for about an hour. TGIS: Thank God it’s Sunday) no matter when I go to bed. And the days are exhausting. I can truly only rely on the Lord for my strength and rest. Sundays are my day of rest, but no matter how restful my Sabbath day can be here or make in the states before I go to class the next day. No matter how rejuvenating and peaceful my Sundays on earth are, the will always end. But they serve as a great reminder of the eternal Sabbath we will one day receive.

Goodnight from Haiti!

”…Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”

Matthew 11:28-29

You Could Call Me Judge Judy

“For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” Matthew 7:2

This was the verse that corresponded to my devotional this morning from My Utmost For His Highest. When I read this I thought to myself: “This is a really great verse, but I don’t know how I would ever apply it to my experiences I’ll have today.” This proved to be one of those moments in life where God clearly says, “Well let me just show you.” And show me he did.

This began at devotionals this morning when Jenielle spoke about how as Christians we always talk about how we desire to be servants of the Lord up until we are actually treated like a servant. Up until things get uncomfortable and hard, that’s when we wish to blend in. This is the point when I began to examine and judge myself. This stood true for me in so many instances throughout my life. There have been countless times that I have wanted to quit or not obey what the Lord was calling me to because things were hard. And there have been times when I haven’t done what I knew was right because I knew it would be uncomfortable. This is the point in the day when I started to judge myself.

Today we took the severe and profound kids to the park in Bonneau. Originally I was anticipating staying behind for an orthopedic team from Port au Praix to fit and size some of our kids for braces and prosthetics. However, they were already more than an hour late as the kids were nearly ready to leave for Bonneau and Autumn informed me that she wasn’t even sure how much she would be involved with the team coming in this morning. She said she would advice going with Heather and the kids to the park. This was the point in my day when I began to judge if this team was really going to even come at all and help our kids or if I would even learn anything from my time at Bonneau since it would be my third time there.

Wrong again my friend.

During my time at Bonneau I learned a lot. For one thing, I realized how much I have come to criticize the Americans who come in on different groups. For instance today at the playground, one of the girls had Niaka, was being held by a girl who was in Tore’s group. It was during a time when Heather had passed out cups of Pedia Light combined with thickened water to each of the severe and profound kids (Niaka being one of these). The girl who was trying to get her to drink commented to me on how she was having trouble drinking from the cup. I told her that she typically eats from a syringe, so it would probably be a little difficult for her to drink it, but she could if given carefully. After about ten minutes I looked back over and noticed that this poor girl had given up on trying to get Niaka to drink. She commented to be again, that she seemed to have a hard time drinking. It was then in my head that I thought to myself, “NO DUH! I already told you she had to be fed from a syringe! What on earth did you expect!” But just as soon as I thought this, I realized there may have been a chance she didn’t hear my the first time, and even if she did, then maybe she hasn’t ever worked with kids with special needs before. I had immediately judged her to be incompetent without even knowing this girls name. That was foolish and selfish and judgmental of me.

It was also during our time at Bonneau today that I completely misjudged the people of Bonneau. Every time we have gone so far to the playground, the people of Bonneau with kids have never really used the playground when our special kids have been on it. In fact, today, they just stood in a line and starred at us. All the white people with the severe and profound special needs children. During this time, a woman started to shout in Creole and had a very angry look on her face. I thought that she was made that our kids were playing on the playground. I automatically judged and accused this woman of judging our kids without even knowing what she was saying. As she continued to yell some of our Haitian staff began to shout back at her. Heather, then pulled all of them aside and talked it out. Turns out, one of our kids threw water on her son and then our Haitian staff was getting defensive about it when she said something to one of them. So even though she was amongst the group who was standing their watching our special kids play from a safe distance, I had judged her so badly to the point that when other Americans in the group I was with had asked me if I knew what was going on, “I told them I assumed she was upset that our kids where there.” I had possibly even caused others to criticize her as well. This was not the case at all, but it is what I just believed she was thinking due to type of person I automatically assumed her to be.

After Bonneau we came back to the mission. I was able to eat lunch and do Outreach. Today I was actually able to lead the first part of Outreach all by myself (with a translator of course) because Autumn needed to finish feeding a few of the kids. This was so great! Once Outreach was done, I went upstairs to market day. Today I ran into one of the bracelet bandits(boys who stand outside the mission gate and ask every single white person that walks by if they would like to buy a bracelet from them) I had bought a few from yesterday. His name is Karby. The day before yesterday I had seen him in the Miriam Center and I thought he was just down there to pester Americans into buying is bracelets (wrong again). Turns out, his mom works in the Miriam Center. I was able to talk to him for a bit yesterday after getting my bracelets from him. I thought that he had not enjoyed the conversation and wasn’t sure if I would see him again now that I had bought bracelets from Him. Wrong again (you would think I would learn). Turns out I saw him today at market day where he was selling some things. I fact, he cut the price for me on something I wanted to buy for a friend back home and said, “Ally, I sell this to you for cheap since we are friends.” What?!? Please be praying for Karby, his family, his relationship with the Lord, and the time I hope I get to spend investing in his life in the future weeks to come.

This evening as been so great! We actually had a really fantastic dinner! And I had a candy bar and loads of water. It was tonight while writing this blog that Autumn came up to be and informed me that one of the water bottles I had lost was in fact in Heather’s room. I had assumed that one of the kids had taken it. Wrong again!

I have come to realize that these will not be the only times that I will be wrong. In fact, I will be wrong a ton because I have a sinful and dark heart. But there is hope. I have the hope of the Lord and the Holy Spirit in me. And while I may still be human and will be wrong and will judge people. Today I learned a lot about this and was convicted greatly by this. I am a sinner. I am a judger. I am a critic. I am an ill-hearted individual. But I am also wiped clean. I am redeemed. I am transformed. I am forgiven. I am a daughter of the King of kings.

AND SO IS EACH AND EVERY PERSON THAT I JUDGED TODAY.

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?

Romans 2:1-3

I Swallowed a Fly

”There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.

I don’t know why she swallowed a fly.

Perhaps she will die."

These are the beginning lines of one of my favorite songs from my childhood. Mainly I think because of how ridiculous it is. I mean who would possibly swallow all of those other things just because of a fly. Thinking back on this now though, I realize that this childhood song is a great example of cause and effect. I mean, the only reason this old lady swallowed the cow was because of the goat. And the reason for eating the goat was the dog. And before the dog was the cat which followed the bird. And the only reason for swallowing the bird was the fly. The fly was what started if all off (and perhaps the woman being completely insane). But, for the purpose of my overall thoughts of today, the whole thing began with the fly: cause and effect.

Ultimately it all began with my morning. My coffee this morning had peppermint mocha powdered creamer in it. Back in the states I would have HATED powdered creamer. But here it isn’t so bad. And the peppermint was an added bonus. Even though it was oatmeal for breakfast this morning, it was still alright and I managed to eat it all anyway. After breakfast I had a really fantastic quiet time. I mean, one of the absolute best I have had since I have been here.

My great morning in preparation for my day resulted in me going downstairs to begin my time in the Miriam Center in an awesome way. This morning we had Kelly’s group from California come down to help us out in the M.C. We were able to finish feeding breakfast to all of the kids and then split them up into two groups. One group of the higher functioning kids went into the preschool classroom while the other group hung out in the sensory room. During this time we played music, danced, did massaging and prayed over the kids. I loved this time, and even though it was a bit unorganized, since it was the first time we have done this, it was great because each kid was able to receive special one on one time with someone. This resulted in people later playing with more of the severe and profound kids, which has been our goal for a long time!

This fantastic morning resulted in me being all the more motivated going into lunch. Today I fed one of the hardest girls with CP who has to use a syringe. It was messy, but the two of use managed to finish her whole bowl of blended beans and rice. Way to go Niaka! I am so proud of you and I love you so much!

My awesome time spent feeding Niaka was impacted even more, when my spirits where lifted half way through our meal when Autumn came by to talk to me. She mentioned that they were serving beans and rice again upstairs for breakfast and asked me if I would like an EasyMac instead. We had talked before about how you seem to crave things you would never truly desire back home. So yes. Yes I definitely did really really want an EasyMac this afternoon. And let me tell you, this fresh out of the microwave meal was absolutely delicious next to my coke today.

My fantastic lunch caused me to agree to go back downstairs with Autumn to hang out in Heater’s room while she fed Sandley. Both Heather and Stephanie were hanging out in there as well (this is mostly because Heather has a really comfy bed to sit on and her room is air conditioned. Great place to relax in! During this time, the four of us talked about Miriam Center stuff and ate carrots and chocolate covered pretzels which were completely perfect considering the only thing I was worried about in terms of the EasyMac was that I would not be completely full, so this worked out perfect! This was also a great time to hang out with these three amazing women and get to hear their hearts for these children, this ministry and the Lord. Plus, it was great to get to spend time in the air conditioning and it was a great mental and physical break!

This reboost caused me to be completely reenergized and ready to pour out for the rest of my day! After this mini relaxation Autumn and I went over to Outreach. It was so great because Prezido, the Haitian employee Autumn has been training, agreed to take over and teach the first part of today’s session, which allowed Autumn and I to have this time to rest! This afternoon the two of us both took kids out to Outreach to model the last half. I took Niaka! She did great and I loved being able to spend even more time with her. I have really enjoyed this time each day and I love the fact that I am starting to really get to know these kids and their parents. This is also one of my favorite parts of this ministry because it is so sustainable and encourages families to raise their kids, even with special needs in their own homes and within their loving familes!

My great time in Outreach carried over to the rest of my afternoon. Once we had finished cleaning up after therapy, Autumn asked me if I would like to help her love and serve the Haitian workers by giving them each a back massage. Our staff works so incredibly hard and I absolutely loved this idea, so I eagerly agreed without hesitation. The two of us managed to massage each of these amazing women. I think that they really enjoyed this and I hope that we were able to serve them well and thank them well for all their hard work!

As we were waiting for some of the employees to finish a few of their daily duties at the Miriam Center, I was able to spend some time with Carlos. This was great. Carlos is one of the highest functioning kids in our program and can be quite the handful. I think of all our 46 kids, Carlos is the one who gets in trouble the most. I will admit, there have been a few days so far that this kid has slightly annoyed me. However, today I just got to tickle and laugh with him in the bird cage. It was really fun and I even was able to take a video, even though I seriously doubt I will be able to upload it until I get home. But just wait, its hilarious!

I believe that this time throughout the afternoon of thanking our staff is what caused one of the most uplifting parts of my day. It was after we had finished massaging each of the women that I was soon signaled through hang motions (there is definitely a language barrier between myself and the workers since I am still working on learning Creole) into the kitchen. The kitchen staff was working on preparing dinner. It was when I arrived in the kitchen, that since they realized that Autumn was busy talking with one of the Americans from the groups, they had asked ME to help them blend the food properly. This blew me away. It was at this moment that I realized that the women here have come to recognize that I will be sticking around for a while and more importantly, that they trust me in knowing what I am doing to help these kids (including not just therapy, but in food prep). It was one of the most encouraging things that has happened since I have been here.

As I thought back to the events that unfolded throughout my day today, I realized that each one of them had effected the other. If it weren’t for my great morning, I would not have felt as good about my day going into lunch. And if it hadn’t been for the group (even though I haven’t decided how I feel about groups yet) that brought in the EasyMac for Autumn I would not have felt as good about going downstairs to hang out with the M.C ladies more in Heather’s room, and Presido taking over the first half of therapy for Autumn possibly lead to her feeling energized enough to choose to minister to the Haitian staff, and the amount of time I have spent in the Miriam Center loving on these kids and ministering to the staff today more than likely lead to them trusting me enough to help prepare dinner tonight.

Today I swallowed my own fly, and I know exactly why. Everything leads to another. It’s kind of crazy to think about. Our entire lives are a series of cause and effects. Don’t think about it too much or it might be overwhelming. The one thing I have come to realize while reflecting on these thoughts today has been how thankful I am that I’m not the one ultimately in control of all of these results and impacts. I so thankful for the effects the Lord has allowed me to have in my life today. And because of this, I can’t wait to see the results of tomorrow! Good night from Haiti!

Prayer Requests:

Continued Energy

A few of our kids down in the Miriam Center our sick

The Barnes family adjusting to their new home

Autumn’s staph infection

Thank you all so much for your continuous prayers and support! I love you all so much!

This is a verse on the wall inside the Miriam Center and I absolutely love it:

“I’ll convert their weeping into laughter, lavishing comfort and invading their grief with joy.”

Jeremiah 31:13

Super Encouraged

Two weeks. That’s how long it has been since I said goodbye to my day at lunch and hugged my mom at the airport. Two weeks. 14 days. A fortnight. Back home, and especially in college two weeks can go by sooo slowly. By time here as absolutely flown by. And I hate it. I hate that two of the five weeks have already past. I hate that I only have three weeks left before I head back to the states. I hate that I have already started to cry and grow upset even thinking about having to part with these kids. Two weeks. Wow.

Last night I slept like a rock. I was out so fast and didn’t wake up until my alarm went off. Due to a lack of beds with such a large group coming in, I slept in Autumn’s house. On a real mattress. With clean sheets. And a super large fan. It was amazing. Not to mention, Autumn has this master plan of waking up at 6:27, rolling out of bed and heading across the common area for our 6:30 am staff meeting. Genius!

Even with 140 plus people this morning we actually had two pancakes and peaches each! It was lovely. What wasn’t so lovely about this time: Having to say goodbye to Mary. She headed to Mission of Hope with her dad and their group right after breakfast. I have determined that I absolutely hate saying goodbye to people here. Fortunately, we have several weeks until I have to say goodbye to the next person, but I know it will be just as difficult. What made saying bye to Mary a little easier was knowing that her time in Haiti is not over yet, and she was going to have an incredible time and opportunity to serve the deaf there. Not to mention, it looks like fingers crossed, we will be flying back to Austin together, which will give us loads of time to catch up and share about all of our experiences!

I was able to enjoy a relaxing quiet time soon after this. And it was great. Even with the crowdedness of the mission now with 140 additional people than normal, it was great still getting to spend time away from it all. Even though I could over hear people talking about growing their hair out for about half the time. It’s alright. I am just thankful for my time with the Lord here! I has become incredibly clear to me, that I am not doing any of this on my own, and I have begun to rely solely on Him, which is one the most comforting and scariest things ever. I mean it.

I then went down to the M.C. (my new acronym for the Miriam Center). By this time, I walked in on music in both classrooms. I was in the severe and profound kids. I hung out with Ti-Stevenson for a bit, ‘playing’ an instrument with him. I then began picking up several of the other kids to hold and would dance with them in my arms. This was one of the coolest experiences I have had since I have been here. Preparing for this trip I had always heard the phrase, dancing with the kids of the Miriam Center, but in many regards I just took it as a metaphor rather than literally. I have danced with Roselore since I have been here and that’s been fun. But there is something completely different about dancing while holding a kid in your arms. Dancing with a kid who can’t walk or sit up on their own. Dancing with a kid who can’t move their own legs, but creating the rhythm for them. Holding them tight and seeing the joy of their face and feeling the joy in my own heart. It was beautiful.

After this dance session I have come to cherish so much, we had quite the treat. Up until now, the severe and profound kids have not been able to eat fruit when the higher functioning kids have. Not only does this not seem fair in the eyes of many, but nutritionally, it also leaves them at a disadvantage. With this last group that just came in though, Autumn received fruit mesh bag things. This nifty things are designed for kids with special needs to be able to bite the fruit and receive all the juice from what’s inside the bags while not risking choking on the actual pieces of fruit. It was really cool to see some of the kids really seem to enjoy the taste of this fruit juice and I look forward to seeing the benefits of this in the future!

With 140 people it as clear that I would be standing in a rather long line at lunch, so rather than going up right at noon to eat, I stuck around and actually did some therapy with Barto using one of the severe and profound boxes and binders we created yesterday. It was so great and I enjoyed my time with him. Barto is gradually beginning to steal my heart, especially since he is and will always be the first kid I ever did any sort of treatment on.

Lunch today was not my favorite. I can’t even describe what it was. So instead, I ate some peanut butter crackers and the last bit of oreos I had in a package (thanks parts!). It definitely was able to hold me over.

After lunch, as usual was therapy. Outreach today was sooo much fun! We had three kids today. One of the girls that came today had missed therapy last week, so it was a bit challenging for Autumn trying to catch her up on things. I was able to also help model the different exercises using my favorite model: who other than Barto! During Outreach today Autumn had to go run up and get some things from her room and take her pill for Staph (please continue to pray for her). So, she actually had me lead a section of therapy on the back! Let’s reiterate that one more time: TODAY I LEAD THERAPY! Granted I am sure I didn’t do that great of a job, and the instructions were right there for the parents to read on their sheets, but I did it! It was really cool and I am thankful for Autumn having the trust in me to allow me to do this. It was sooo cool!

Today was really cool because we have a physical therapist here along with a team that is concentrating considerably on the Miriam Center. It is really great to have all the help. This group this afternoon brought down tye dyed shirt they had for all the kids. It was great to see their smiles as they put their new shirts on and I am so glad they have them as many of the clothes the kids have been wearing the past couple of weeks have been looking a little ragged. It was also so heart warming to see these kids passing them out to one another and those who didn’t have shirts yet. I feel like children in America would often not be this willing to share what they have. But I feel like almost every time, (with the exception of maybe Carlos and McKinley) I see kids graciously giving whatever they have been giving to others or sharing. It is the coolest thing! And definitely a punch in the face to how I myself can be so selfish at times. At twenty years old and with more material things than many of the 7 billion people in the world.

I took a shower and then had dinner. We had both brownies and tapioca along with the actual food of chicken and this thing called bread fruit. Not to mention sweet tea! It was good, minus the bread fruit. I have determined that after getting back to the states I will not want to have starches (especially potatoes) for a VERY VERY long time!

Devotional tonight was good. And Kels and I are currently sharing our cold water we bought yesterday at market along with Swedish fish that Kelly’s church who came in yesterday brought in for her! We also just tried basically the equivalency of an American Kit-Kat Haiti style tonight. Not as good as you would think. Not as good. I was a little sad.

Overall today was a great day and I am excited for the rest of this week with these teams that are so devoted to the Miriam Center. The best two parts of my day: Heather (one of the Miriam Center coordinators who specifies with the severe and profound kids) told me today before lunch how thankful she and Stephanie were for all I had down and how much they knew they could rely on me. It was super encouraging to hear and I can only pray that the Lord would continue to give me the strength to do this because serving special needs children in Haiti is something that I alone can not do, it is not of me, but of the Lord. My other favorite part of the day: reading a one minute devotional from a book one of my dear friends gave me the night before I left home. It was great and I will type it below.

Please feel free to send an e-mail, Facebook message, or even comment on this blog. Even though two weeks as flown by, I still miss all of you, and while I have done great so far, I feel like home sickness is just around the corner. I love you all so much! Goodnight from Haiti!

From My Upmost to His Highest: June 15th (yes I was a little behind)

“In the matter of drudgery. No one is born either naturally or superficially with character; it must be developed. Nor are we born with habits-we have to form godly habits on the basis of the new life God has placed within us. We are not meant to be seen as God’s perfect, bright-shining examples, but to be seen as the everyday essence of ordinary life exhibiting the miracle of His grace.”

Gah. I love it. I feel like within the last year I have really begun to understand the true meaning of His grace in my life. And on that, I am going to stop, before I completely keep blabbing on for forever. And believe me, I could. Good night!

A New Group, A New Day

Today was a fantastic day in Haiti. It started out by not starting out as early as normal. Whoop! Because there was not a group yet, there was no need for a staff meeting, which meant not having to me up and ready to go by 6:30. In fact, I actually was able to sleep in until 7. It was great. At first, I was afraid that Kelsey and I had slept through breakfast due to the fact that their were only two pieces of bread left on the counter when we walked by the galley. Good news though, there was more biscuits and gravy left, and the kitchen ladies were more than willing to it us some!

My time this morning was very relaxing and refreshing! I was able to sit at the end of one of the tables in the common area with Kelsey and Kelly for quite a while and enjoy some really great conversation about music and movies. It was great to be able to chat with them. We then all went over to the prayer balcony to do our quite times. It was awesome!

After my time with the Lord this morning, I headed down to the Miriam Center in time to help get some of the kids over to the preschool classroom to hang out for the morning. Today, instead of watching multiple movies, the kids were able to color for the first part of the time. This was fun to get to do with them. At first, I traced Owens hand with a crayon, similar to what children in the U.S. do around thanksgiving to make the paper turkeys. This soon turned into tracing every kids hand in my general vicinity over and over and over again. But it was fun, plus, eventually one of the girls stuck out her foot for me to trace and then that cycle began for a bit as well!

Once the kids had finished coloring, it was time for them to watch a movie. Today, I believe it was Ice Age 2. However, I am really not sure since I was not in the classroom with them for the whole time. Instead, I ended up going over to the sensory room in order to help Autumn out. She was showing the moms who work in the Miriam Center how to properly brush and massage the kids. It was a really amazing learning experience! Autumn has taught me so much in the last few weeks, and I am excited to learn even more from her. Today I learned how to properly massage a kid based off of high or low tones.

As soon as we were done with this teaching session, I went to blow up to therapy balls with the help of some of the deaf who hang around the mission. It was a long process for just two balls considering that our pump was broken, but we managed.

Lunch today was quite good. Haitian spaghetti. I am learning to accept that I will have hotdogs in my spaghetti and ketchup instead of spaghetti sauce. It was still pretty good. I wasn’t able to finish all of my lunch though.

As soon as lunch was done, I went with a group down to the market. I haven’t been to the market yet and it was definitely a trip worth taking as to getting a true insight into Haiti. We walked around the market for quite a bit looking for supplies that Melonee had asked we pick up for her, all fruits and veggies, and cookies and drinks for ourselves. The market is pretty much just dirt walkways surrounded by several straw huts that are basically the ‘shops’. During this trip, Kelsey and I split a case of waters. When we arrived back at the mission, we were able to put a few of them into the refrigerator so WE HAVE COLD WATER!!! I can’t wait to have my first bottle! It will be excellent. I am debating getting one now, but I don’t want to have to wake up in the middle of the night to have to go to the bathroom.

As I walked back up to the common area from the market, I ran into Autumn (we are beginning to have perfect timing). I got back just in time to help her finish putting together some of the binders for the visibility boxes. These boxes will be used to open the eyes of the Americans coming into the mission for the remainder of the summer. They come with toys and instructions on ideas on activities and exercises to do with them. I am very excited to see them be put to use.

When we finished up the work on the binders we went downstairs to train Presido, who is the Haiti Outreach Coordinator. Even though it looks like Autumn is going to be here full time in January (please be praying for this transition and direction for her) the idea is that Presido will be able to continue with therapy when Autumn has to leave in July so that the kids can continue to progress until Autumn gets back and when she does, they can both do therapy together come January and see even more kids!

After our session with Presido, we headed back to Autumn’s to finish laminating pictures of the kids to make a check out system. This will help us to know exactly where the kids are at all times, who is upstairs, who is on a walk or getting therapy and who goes to church on Sunday. It will be very helpful. Laminating was fun as well because I was able to do it with Andrew and Victoria. They are the two people from the last group who stayed behind for the next group that is coming in, who also contains people they know. So basically they are honorary interns. It was cool to get to hear their hearts for Haiti and the Lord. They both just graduated from high school, so it was cool to kind of recollect where I was two years ago with where they are now, and where I have come. It was great and I am glad that I was able to take this time with them!

Finishing lamination didn’t take more than an hour or so. After this, I headed up for dinner. It was sooo good! Chicken, veggies, mash potatoes and brownies with sweet tea! Definitely a great dinner, especially considering that the next group’s members started trickling in this afternoon and night…all 140 of them! After dinner we had devotional, I had begun to miss these since they only take place when groups are here. Tonight, members of a group from California lead worship and Sinclair gave a message that was very motivating!

After devotional, we headed downstairs and just as we were settling into our evening routines, the buses arrived with a mass amount of people. As Kelsey put it, “Things got crazy REAL fast!” Plus it was annoying because those coming in were complaining about showers and lights and times to get up in the morning. I wanted to say, “people we have been doing this for weeks, some of us months and you don’t see us complaining” But I know that’s not fair to think because they just got here. They will need their time and they only have 10 days before they will be back in America, so they don’t have to completely adjust their lives to time in Haiti. With the mass amount of people coming in we had counted mattresses yesterday, but apparently we still don’t have enough. So it turns out that I have given my mattress up, and will be having a slumber party with Autumn in her house. I am okay with this though because Autumns house has a real bed, and fans and will be cool. Plus, I am looking forward to my sleepover with Autumn. Some of the groups will be leaving tomorrow to head out for the rest of the week, so I should be able to head back to my normal sleeping arrangement tomorrow night, but who knows if I will actually want to.

Goodnight from Haiti!

A Weekend in Mole St. Nicolas

Three day weekends. They are the greatest. And as interns, we are pretty much had one this weekend and it was wonderful! Absolutely wonderful. Especially since we traveled to another NWHCM campus at Mole St. Nicolas, more commonly known as the Mole. All the interns went, Mary, Lisa, Kelsey, Kelly, Melissa, Morgan, Tore, Caitlin, Logan, Spencer, Sinclair and myself along with some of the staff, Ashley, Katelyn, Sam, and Jack. The main point of our trip was that Morgan and Caitlin will be serving at the Mole campus for a large part of the remainder of their time here, so we drove out with them and stayed for the weekend. We left on Saturday morning. Originally the plan was to leave at 6 in the morning. But this is Haiti, which means we run on Haitian time, so we actually didn’t leave until around 7:30. But luckily, what was claimed to have been a seven hour ride on a military truck (basically just a glorified tap-tap, just bigger), actually turned out to only be 5 and a half with many stops. Thankfully, this also meant that I didn’t have to go to the bathroom behind a bush. And upon getting there, the five and a half hours was completely worth it!

Our weekend at the Mole was basically like a mini vacation. Upon getting arriving there, we were able to unpack and settle in. We then had lunch, which was fantastic! We each had two chicken drumsticks, sweat potatoes and this fried bread with meat inside. Not to mention, cold juice. It was sooo delicious!

After lunch the girls went downstairs to change into our bathing suits and then we all loaded up into the military truck to head over to the NWHCM orphanage where the guys were actually staying. We hung out there and played with the kids at the orphanage, some who had just recently been moved from the baby orphanage in St. Louis to the Mole, so many of the interns recognized a few of the kids.

After the guys dropped all of their things and we played with the kids, we loaded back up for the short ride to the beach. The beach at the Mole was so incredibly pretty! We went swimming and laid out on the sand for several hours. Many of us even swam out to a coral reef to go snorkeling. The water was so clear. It felt very nice to be able to get out of the heat and relax by the beach, especially after the long journey to the Mole earlier that day. One thing that we have noticed is that it appears that Haitians typically don’t like to swim all that much. The beach was almost completely empty, and many of the Haitians who were there on a Saturday, we not in the water.

When we arrived back at the house after our adventures at the beach we hung out for a bit and took showers. After my experience at the Mole, I can officially say that I showered outside, in the cover of a tarp. Quite the adventure. Soon we went up for dinner, which was rice, beans and instead of the typical chicken or unidentifiable meat in a Caribbean sauce on top, there was LOBSTER!!! It was delicious. And we also received cold cokes to drink. The dinner was excellent.

Once we had finished indulging ourselves at dinner, Jody, the wife of the couple who runs the Mole talked to us about her own experiences with voodoo having grown up a missionary kid in Haiti. It was really cool to here a personal perspective and I definitely gained a lot of insight on it. Once Jody had shared her experiences with us, we gathered around the tables in the common eating area and played board games and cards. I was in the group that played Apples to Apples. It was a ton of fun getting to have fun and hang out with the interns in a different setting than our normal ministry in St. Louis du Nord. Not to mention, Apples to Apples is always very entertaining. I ended up coming in a close second place, behind Kelsey, and we all had a blast.

The next morning we were able to sleep in a bit before church. For breakfast we had the fortune of eating homemade donuts. They definitely hit the spot considering I have been craving Round Rock donuts from pretty much the moment I left the U.S. Something different that I have never tried before in the states, is that we had hot chocolate with our donuts. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who does not like to drink coffee in the morning, or even those who do. And speaking of coffee, there was what certainly tasted and smelled like American coffee. Even though we all really love Haitian coffee, it was a nice treat and a great taste of home.

The church service we attended at the Mole was very similar to the one in St. Louis except a little shorter and instead of having an actual building as their church home, they meet in a tent. It was really cool to see, how the people of God don’t have to have cement walls, or real roofs or even fancy million dollar sanctuaries in order to worship the Lord together. During the service, there was a time for anyone new (when Americans aren’t there, the church is less than 100 people) to stand up and introduce themselves. We did this and had to say our name, state we were from, church we attended, and why we were in Haiti.

At first, I was contemplating if I should say that I was actually in Haiti to minister and love on special needs kids at the mission’s Miriam Center or not. Due mainly to the fact that many in Haiti feel that special needs kids are cursed or animals. I knew that being Christians, it was likely that many of the Haitians in the congregation would not feel this way, but I still didn’t know if special needs kids were socially acceptable to the Haitian Christian community either. But as I was thinking this in my head, I realized that the Lord has sent me here not just to love on and minister to these kids, but to advocate for them. To show others, that these kids, while they may be different, are still loved and desired and worthy of God’s love. That I was sent here to not only minister to the kids of the Miriam Center, but to minister to the people of Haiti and show them that special needs kids are still people, who have feelings and emotions and who want to play and laugh and be held and loved and cared for. That’s why I am here. So I introduced myself as Allyson from Texas who is here in Haiti to serve and minister to the special needs kids of the Miriam Center. Who knows if it had any effect on anyone in the congregation by seeing that an American girl would travel 15,000 miles from home to love on kids with disabilities. I may never know. But it certainly did have an effect on the American girl who traveled 15,000 miles to love on kids with disabilities.

We headed back to the house for lunch after church. Right before we sat down for lunch I was able to call my dad to wish him a happy Father’s day. I am very thankful that we were able to call from the Mole, and if you are reading this day, once again, I am sorry I couldn’t be there, but your father’s day hug is coming on July 11th, so get ready. Once we had finished eating, Jody announced the that we would be heading back to the beach in 15 minutes for the next survivor challenge. Mary and I took our time getting ready knowing that we wouldn’t be participating since I am the mascot of Dife, and she was the most recent (and first) survivor voted off the Dife tribe since we is leaving soon.

When we arrived at the beach it was announced that each of the teams would be given three buckets and an hour to build a sand castle that would be judged by a panel. Turns out, Logan from the Dife team goes to the beach every year with his family and builds super legit sand castles every year. Basically he is a sand castle prodigy, and while the Green Goblins constructed a pretty cool drip castle with two separate moats, Dife built a castle that looked like it could compete in a contest off the beaches in the U.S. It was pretty intense. Being the honorary mascot of Dife, I am thrilled to announce that they one the challenge and will not have to vote anyone off.

Once the challenge was over we all went for a swim. It was actually really cloudy that day and eventually began to rain. And not just rain a little bit, it completely poured. But it felt really good to swim in the water during the storm. We stayed in talking until we heard thunder off in the distance. We got out pretty quick after that. All of our stuff was completely soaked, and the ride back in the military truck was pretty entertaining. Once we got back to the house, the Costello’s supplied us with dry towels and we all changed.

We hung out in our room for a bit listening to music and talking. It was great to get to know Mary, Kelsey, Kelly and Tore even better. I am so thankful to have these girls as a part of my community here. They are all so great and it is such a blessing to get to know each of their hearts.

Dinner our last night at the Mole was American hotdogs with homemade buns and brownies. They were quite delicious. After dinner we hung out for a bit, but went to bed fairly early in order to get up at 4 am to head back to the main campus.

4 am was VERY earlier, but we managed. It was sad to say goodbye to Morgan and Caitlin but I should be seeing them in a few weeks before I leave which will be nice. It was kind of scary to drive in the military truck in the dark. Especially when we yell “heads” when we need to duck from tree limbs, but in the dark you can’t see them as quickly. We got hit a couple of times, but we managed. I wish I could have captured the beauty of the Haitian countryside as we drove along. It was absolutely breath taking. We made it back to the mission around 9:30. After we unpacked, I took a nap until lunch at 12:00. It felt really nice and surprising the generator was on during the day, so I had a very refreshing and cool nap.

It felt so great to be back at St. Louis and it really is starting to feel like home. After lunch I had another Outreach session with Autumn Today we had two girls and went over full body massages. Today during therapy I was also able to use the small amount of Creole I have learned to save one of the girls from peeing her pants. I felt very accomplished. If you could please be praying for Autumn, she contracted a Staph infection while I was gone in a couple of her mosquito bites and scrapes. She is on medication, but seeing how they are on her leg and hip, it is difficult for her to walk. Please pray for quick healing so we can get on to our therapy, especially with a group of people with a huge interest in the Miriam Center coming in tomorrow!

After outreach, we had staff meeting to go over everything that will happen with the groups coming in. It was pretty boring considering 99.9% of it didn’t have to deal with me since I don’t have a group, but I did learn when the Miriam Center would have groups to help us downstairs. So that heads up was nice. After the meeting I went down to play with the kids for a bit. Isaac was excited to see me after my absence this weekend, and it was very heartwarming to see the smile on his face when he saw me. Gilbert also told me he had missed me. It made my day. I pushed a kid named Steven around in one of the toy cars for quite a while. It was a joy and I was very thankful for our time since I had not been able to spend much one on one time with him. The kids are really starting to steal my heart.

We had our dinner in the staff lounge tonight while going over the Bible study we are doing as a group, we our intern leader Melonee. It was nice to eat inside in the air conditioning and we had a really great time discussing the devil, temptation and the deceitfulness of his ways.

After our Bible study, we came back into the staff lounge to watch the Lion King, eat sweets and drink some cokes to celebrate one of our last nights without groups with Mary. Mary is leaving on Wednesday with her dad and people from her home church back in Austin to go to another mission called Mission of Hope Haiti. Mary has a heart for the deaf, and Mission of Hope has a rather large ministry for the deaf. I am very excited for her, but will miss her greatly. Fortunately, we are both from the Austin area and go to college in Texas, so I am praying we will be able to keep in touch. Plus we are going home on the same day, so we are going to check flight schedules before we part, praying that Jody put us on the same ones.

This weekend and tonight have been great ways to unwind from the last 10 days and I feel ready for the next group to come in. Haiti is really starting to capture my heart, not just the place, but the people. Please pray for an energized week and that I would be able to pour everything out to these incredible kids that the Lord has created in His imagine.

”The birds nest beside the streams and sing among the branches of the trees. You send rain on the mountains from your heavenly home and you fill the earth with the fruit of your labor. You cause grass to grow from the livestock and plants from the people to use. You allow them to produce food from the earth-wine to make them glad, olive oil to soothe their skin, and bread to give them strength. The trees of the Lord are well cared for-the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. The birds make their nests, and the storks make their homes in the cypresses.”

Psalm 104:12-17

A Day I Never Would Have Guessed

30 minutes of lost sleep doesn’t seem like it would affect you all that much. But when its 30 minutes of lost sleep in Haiti it definitely throws you off. Not to mention that this morning was really sad. Around 6:30 or so, our first summer group left today. Nastassja, a Barnabas intern here, left with them. It was really sad to see her go. Another weird and depressing thing to realize was that this will be me with the third summer group that leaves. My time in Haiti is going by so fast and I want it to slow down!

With the group leaving, breakfast was prepared for them, but since we woke up to see them off, we also ate with them. This earlier breakfast consisted of cinnamon rolls and bread with jelly and peanut butter. After the summer group left we also received a second breakfast that was on our normal time which was eggs, bread, peanut butter, jelly and peaches. Having two breakfasts was so filling. Funny story about breakfast: While going through the line for the second breakfast, I was with Mary. Who added WAY too much salt to her eggs because it was kind of dark outside and she couldn’t see it coming out.

Once I was doing with breakfast, I went to the room to get ready because Autumn had informed me of how she, Stephanie and Heather were going to take Kimmy’s House down to the Catholic church because they wanted to see it. We all walked down together, taking a short walking path down a steep hill. This ‘path’ is heavily traveled, quite steep and full of trash. Next time I take it I will try to get a picture for you guys to see. When we arrived at the church we stood in the entry way for a bit. It was then, that I learned the true purpose of the reason why we came, one of the four girls who came from Kimmy’s House is catholic. She asked if she could stay to participate in the mass that was about to start. Autumn looked at me and asked if I minded staying with her since everyone else that was there, besides the two members from a summer group that are staying through the next group, had to go to a meeting, so I was the only staff member that could stay. I said yes I didn’t mind at all, even though I didn’t know my way around the town all that well and was being put in charge of three other people (the girl from Kimmy’s House and the two members of LCA who decided to attend the mass with us).

Today when I woke up, I had no idea what I would be doing, but attending a catholic mass was one thing I never would have guessed. Ever. But it was pretty interesting to say the least. A Catholic mass is kind of difficult to follow for those who aren’t Catholic, and it is especially so when such a mass is in a different language. Turns out the mass was also a special mass and was being held for the local schools in the area. So, we were the only four white people in the building, and the only people who weren’t associated with the school. Plus, the mass was EXTRA long. It ran about an hour and a half while the girl from Kimmy’s House informed us that typical masses during the week last only about thirty minutes. I was totally lost the whole time, not knowing creole, but it was really cool to see all of these young Haitian children sing.

Thankfully, I was able to get the three people I was in charge of back to the mission safely after the mass. When we arrived back, I did some laundry. It was gross to see the dirty water come off of my clothes. The bucket I poured out was seriously black. I don’t mean kind of dirty, I mean black as black can be. It was gross, but on the bright side, such dirt is no longer on my clothes.

Lunch soon followed. The bread shop that is just down the road near the Catholic church has finally repaired their oven. So at lunch, Mary and John Black each gave us a piece of bread. Bread here is sooo good. Both of the pieces that I received where still hot from the oven and delicious!

After lunch Autumn and I had our last outreach session of the week. Today we only had one girl, but it was one of the same girls we had seen last Friday, at the first outreach session I was here for. Her name is Sydney and she is really cute, but afraid of white people and cries every time Autumn or I try to hold her. She has trouble using her right foot and also has hypersensitivity in her mouth, so it is difficult for her to eat. The first part of the session I watched Autumn work with her to try and loosen the muscles in her food so that she could stand on it flat and use it better. Later in the session we worked on oral massage. We have done oral massage every day so far this week and today, Autumn allowed me to do all the exercises as a model. This was cool because while I know that these exercises help to increase muscle activity, it was cool to actually receive such massage and exercises on myself in order to actually feel such a muscle response personally. So outreach today was really informative and rewarding.

After Outreach I took a quick nap and then went on a walk with one of the girls from the Miriam Center. Her name is Belle. She is one of the oldest girls at the center. We walked around the mission for about 15 minutes. It was really cool to spend some one on one time with her because I had not been able to just yet.

I ran into Mary and Logan after my walk with miss Belle, and they informed me that they were headed over to help out with an English class across the street at the church and asked if I would want to come. I tagged along and I am really glad I did. At first I was not needed because every Haitian had an American partner, but then one of the girls had to leave to head back to the mission so I filled in. My partner was Jeff. It turns out he actually works for the Mission. It was really cool to get to know Jeff, and his English was actually quite good. He just wants to work on his grammar and sentence formation. I look forward to being able to go back and help out again.

Once we finished at the English class we headed back to the mission just in time for dinner. Since then, with no group we have just been relaxing and hanging out. And because we are not having to conserve water all that much because we don’t have over 40 people in a summer group, I was able to take an actual shower tonight, with real running water. And I even was able to put conditioner in my hair tonight. It was a very lovely experience!

Matthew 10:42

I slept outside on the balcony with many of the girls for the first time in a few days. I wish that everyone could experience a night under the stars in Haiti. It is absolutely beautiful. As Kelsey commented last night, “Look, I think the stars are actually twinkling. I mean look!” And sure enough, it looked as though they really were. It was so breath taking. I hope you can all experience this for yourself one day.

This mornings devotional was just what I needed to hear. Each morning someone else leads devo, either from a group or one of the NWHCM staff. This morning it was Spencer. In the mornings, a staff member shares a proverb out of a book of Haitian proverbs. This morning, Spencer shared on a proverb that went something along the lines of “Even a mosquitos pee raises the height of water in a riverbed.” It sounds silly I know, but basically it is saying that even the smallest of things can have an impact. Spencer then read Matthew 10:42. In this verse, it mentions giving a cup of water to a child. This hit me hard because in the last few days I feel as though I have overlooked the mundane moments of walking to the sink to get Isaac or Sabrina or Ti-Carlos or whomever water. But it shouldn’t be mundane, it should be an act of love.

I never thought I would be sooo excited to eat a cinnamon roll, but this morning I was so happy! Cinnamon rolls at the mission are huge and one was rather filling with a side of peaches. It was AMAZING!

After breakfast I went down to the M.C. to help with feeding. Once breakfast was over I hung out in what we refer to as the bird cage which is just this patio area that is barred off to keep the kids safe but still allow air to come through. It stays rather cool through out the day and this morning Autumn was out there will Ti-Willy trying to help him increase the strength in his stomach and legs to possibly one day sit up or walk. I helped her out and when she needed to go get some work done before her meeting with Kimmy’s House this afternoon, I put him in the swing and worked with him some more by myself.

After hanging out with Ti-Willy I walked him over to the classroom with the rest of the higher functioning kids to watch movies again. Today we watched the Original Cars, but didn’t actually finish it. During this time I hung out with a lot of the kids, including Ti-Willy, Owens, and Roselore. Roselore decided it would be fun to “fix my hair. She did some sort of braiding thing and then just kind of threw my hair in a huge mess. Let me know if you are looking for anyone to do your hair for a wedding or prom. I know just the three year old to help you out!

After lunch today was Outreach again! Yay! Originally I thought that Out Reach was just Monday, Wednesday, Friday but turns out we have it Thursday as well. Today we had three different kids come, all with their moms. We concentrated on eating and drinking today. It was cool because I learned new skills on how to help kids drink with a straw and a way you can rub their neck in order to initiate swallowing.

Autumn had another meeting with Kimmy’s House tonight right after Outreach so I was in charge of clean up, which was a breeze. Autumn is so great and I am really thankful for all the incite she has given me in such a short amount of time! I then hung out downstairs for a bit with some of the kids before going back up for Market day.

Market day is just what it sounds like. A bunch of local Haitians come in to sell their goods at the mission. The Haitians love Market Day because they are able to sell the things they make, and the Americans love it because they can safely purchase gifts for back home in one spot, and known of the staff has to worry about losing anyone. I believe this typically happens on Thursday. Today I just looked around a lot to see some of the crafts and carvings that people were selling and what type of items were offered at market. I didn’t make any huge purchases yet because I still have roughly four weeks left, and I don’t want to have to worry about keeping up with anything just yet. I did buy a few bracelets today for some friends and family (and one for myself). These bracelets are made by some of the deaf Haitian staff at the mission and all the proceeds go to the Miriam Center, so obviously, how could I not buy some! Yeah Miriam Center support!

Once market day was down I went to take a bucket bath and then went to dinner. Dinner was lasagna (with ham) and chicken along with a brownie for dessert. I miss beef so much! Sooo sooo much! After dinner we went up for devotional. Tonight consisted of a testimony night for all the groups that are leaving tomorrow so it went a little longer, but it was really cool to hear all of their stories and reflections of their time here. It is just crazy to me that they will be back in the states with air conditioning and ice cream and Starbucks and their families in roughly 36 hours. Crazy. I must say, part of me is slightly jealous, but the other, much larger part is in no way ready to leave this place, these people or this ministry yet.

As I sit here and type my blog is it hardcore raining outside, so I don’t know if you will be reading this tonight or sometime tomorrow. Either way, I was kind of sad tonight because one of the girl interns, Nastassja, who even in my short time here I have actually grown close to is leaving with the groups tomorrow. I will miss her a lot and it made me realize that are group with soon be breaking up pretty considerably after this weekened. Nastassja is leaving tomorrow morning at six. John Black leaves Saturday morning with Kimmy’s house. Caitlin and Morgan are not coming back with us when we go to visit the Mole (another NWHCM campus about 6 hours from here) this weekend (but thankfully they will be back on July 1st for the last group session I am here for. And then Mary is leaving on Tuesday. I will miss her a lot because she is from the Austin area so I actually met up with her before we came to Haiti. But good news is, we are flying back to Austin together in July. It will just be weird not having everyone all together, but I know the Lord has a beautiful and marvelous plan for all of us, no matter where we may be.

Good night from St. Louis du Nord, Haiti

”And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” Matthew 10:42

Gifts of Encouragement

Today started off like many others have began. I tried a new sleeping arrangement, which I actually really enjoyed inside (it was cloudy with a risk of rain last night again). It didn’t rain, but good news is if it ever does again and I sleep inside, I know how to be comfy!

Breakfast this morning was hash browns, peaches and this weird thing people were referring to as cat food. And believe me, it looked EXACTLY like it! Needless to say, I didn’t try it. But the hash browns were good. After breakfast I went out to our balcony where we have a bench set up and read a couple of chapters from my Bible and did a devotional. This morning routine has been really great and I am glad I have found a good time to fit my quiet time in each day.

After this I went down to the Miriam Center to help feed breakfast to the kids. Today’s meal for the lower functioning children (the ones who actually need help with eating) was a sort of banana smoothie. I think they all really enjoyed it and it was actually pretty nutritious for them after we added in powdered vitamins and such. I fed Jessica again today. She is such an easy feed and we get along well. Unfortunately, during the time I was feeding her, they had to give her the regular medicine she receives which caused her to get really upset and choked up, which ultimately resulted in her spitting up EVERYWHERE. She then didn’t want to eat anything else for the rest of the morning, but thankfully she only had about a quarter of her smoothie left. I felt defeated by this and the fact that I woke up this morning with a mild headache. But for those of you who know me well, I hardly ever get headaches, so it was a bit alarming. I knew I would need some sort of pick me up because my day had been good thus far, but my time in the Miriam Center had been difficult. Just when I was thinking that, in one of those moments when you can think that God was up in Heaven saying “Oh, here you go! This is what you need!” One of the Haitian Miriam Center workers came by as I was playing with one of the girls as she sat in her wheelchair. I am not even sure of her name, but I am making it my goal to find it out. She lend down behind me, put her face close to the back of my head and her hands on my shoulders. She began saying things in Creole that I couldn’t understand, but I could just tell that her demeanor was completely loving and I picked up on her whispers of “Merci, Merci, Merci.” Even though I have no idea what this woman said, it was exactly what I needed to help redirect my day and lifted me up so high. It was encouraging to know that not only had I been trying to serve the children of the M.C., but that I had also apparently impacted one of the workers so far as well. Even though, in many ways she has already done the same for me.

Once breakfast was done we got the higher functioning kids ready for our trip to Bonneau. Today we didn’t have nearly as many kids with us, but we had a lot more adults because the four women from Kimmy’s House where with us. Turns out they are the ones who helped fund the playground in Bonneau for us. Thanks Kimmy’s House! Today’s trip to Bonneau I hung out with my buddy Isaac mostly. The poor guy had a bad blister on his foot so we were able to find some girls from the group that was with us who had a band-aid and peroxide. We also went down the big slide and there was even a large number of kids and their families from the community today which was not the case on Monday when we went. This was really cool because special needs kids are looked down as cursed or animals in Haiti, simply due to lack of education and interaction. So it was neat to allow a small group of Haitians to be introduced to these awesome kids and to have their kids play together with our Miriam Center kids. It was a really cool thing to witness.

Also while at Bonneau, I had the pleasure of enjoying my first Haitian coconut. I mean likely fell of the tree while we were at the park and Stephanie brought it over to me. It was really good. One of the girls from the group, granted she is still just in high school, asked if the juice Stephanie was referring to inside the coconut was in fact coconut juice. REALLY?!? It took a lot in me to hold back from saying, “No, you find orange juice in coconuts.” But I didn’t. I just had a bit because I shared the rest with all of the M.C. kids who were around me, but hopefully I can enjoy one again soon!

When we arrived back from the park at the mission, we went straight up to lunch since we arrived 15 minutes late, but thankfully they held it back for us. Once I was done eating I went down to feed the kids lunch. I fed T-Willy today. He was fun, and can eat with his own spoon when assisted. But I learned that you know when he doesn’t want to eat anymore because he throws his food at you. Great.

Once lunch was done. Autumn and I had an Outreach session to do. We had two kids from the community come today. Surprisingly, one of the kids was brought by a dad. Typically here in Haiti, the woman is the chief of the household and does many of the things for the family. There are also many kids who don’t have father figures in their life period. So this was a neat thing to see.

Outreach itself was also really cool today because I was able to work with one of the girls that came. Autumn showed me an exercise to help kids strengthen their stomach muscles and arms so that they can sit up and crawl. It was really cool and I love learning so much, not just from watching but from also working hands on with the kids. I feel really blessed to be able to do so!

Once Outreach was complete I hung out downstairs and played with some of the kids for a bit before I went upstairs to write down some prayers in my journal. Over the years I have found that prayer journaling is the most effective way for me to pray because I don’t get so side tracked with my thoughts. So I spend a solid 30 minutes or so doing this and it was a great time. Thanks Renèe for your awesome gift and amazing friendship!

For some reason though, even with my day was filled with an awesome quiet time and a really great time of prayer journaling I was still really down at the end of the day. I just felt really drained being down in the M.C. I think a lot of it was that one of the girls that came to outreach today had C.P. Both of her arms were bent to a 90 degree angle and you could tell where it seemed like her skin at pretty much grown in that way. Autumn said that it would be incredibly unlikely that she ever would be able to fully bend either of her arms without surgery. What made me so frustrated was knowing that if this child had been born in America, she would have likely received treatment from a very early age to have prevented her skin from growing in such a way or she could easily have received surgery to correct something like this. So, I guess in a way I was kind of wrestling with God a lot this afternoon. So, in my defeat and downer mood, I went into my room and read many of the notecards that my girls from my Impact camp had written me in jars we made for all of us. It was super uplifting to read what they all had written, many of them not evening being the first time I had read them, and to look up the scriptures they had written down for me. It definitely made my day and reminded me, not just of how blessed I am here but back at home as well and also why I am here. Thanks ladies for taking the time to write those beautiful words of encouragement and love! I love you all and miss you soo much!

After this time I went to go take a bucket bath right after dinner and then went straight up to devotional. This day has been crazy but I wouldn’t change it for the world!.

This is one of the scriptures I read today from my encouragement jar from my girls:

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;[a] but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

The Adventures of Milo and Otis

This is my post from yesterday, June 12th, but our internet was shady last night. Don't worry though: the wait is over!

I actually woke up on time this morning. We stayed inside last night because it began to rain as we were getting ready for bed. Even though it stopped soon after, the ground outside was still wet. This morning we had oatmeal for breakfast. Haitian oatmeal is my least favorite food thus far. It is much like American oatmeal except Haitian oatmeal is considerably more salty and just gross. So I ate as much of it as I could and then went back to our room for a cliff bar.

After breakfast I went down the fed the M.C. kids. Today’s meal was spaghetti. That’s right, spaghetti for breakfast. Nutritious I know. We are working on increasing the funding for food for the kids. More on that later in this blog.

Feeding this morning was good. I fed a boy named Job who has CP. It took us a while but we got it down. I am getting better at feeding but I am still a little messy.

Once breakfast was over I took many of the kids into the classroom of the M.C. to watch a movie. What was suppose to be one movie turned into one and a half. At first, we watched Cars 2. Good thing I have never seen the first movie. But I definitely never expected to watch Cars 2 in Haiti, that’s for sure. The kids really enjoyed the movie and it was a good time for all of us to relax. During this time, Autumn and Stephanie were able to work on getting some stuff together for the afternoon and prepare more of the summer activities instead of having to worry about the kids.

When we were finished watching Cars, we still had quite a bit of time until the kids needed to eat lunch, so we watched the Adventures of Milo and Otis. I completely forgot about this movie! And have decided that it had to be one of the cheapest movies to ever film. All they needed was some animals and a guy to do the voice overs. The movie over all is pretty comical to watch as an adult, so I would highly recommend watching it again if you haven’t seen it in a couple of years or a decade or two.

About halfway through The Adventures of Milo and Otis, it was time to get lunch prepared. Lunch consisted of black beans and rice for the kids. After helping to get all the meals together, I went up to have my own lunch where I indulged and bought a Coke from the canteen. I went up early for lunch because Autumn and Stephanie had informed me that I would be in charge of a group that was coming in to help out in the Miriam Center that afternoon because they were leaving for a lunch meeting, so I needed to be ready and done with lunch when they were.

The tasks that I had Morgan and Sinclair’s group do this afternoon was a BUNCH of cleaning. We took out all the form mats in the classroom, bathroom and hallway to scrub with bleach. They also swept and mopped all the floors and cleaned the toys that were outside in the courtyard. Overall their group did a great job, and even with a bit of rain, the mats were able to dry nicely and the classroom looks great! Not to mention the whole center is so much cleaner that in was before. I also felt really great knowing that Autumn and Stephanie trusted me enough, even though I have been here less than a week to lead a group down there.

I took Gilbert upstairs to color some. We had a lot of fun, but he was surprisingly quiet from his normal self. I also hung out with Den-Den downstairs and sat by him as he ate his Mango. I love lazy times like this when I can just hang out with the kids with no real task needing to get accomplished. It was rather nice!

After this I sat outside in the courtyard area downstairs in the M.C. at a picnic table with Kelsey. She is another intern and we are getting along quite well. We had a great conversation about time in Haiti, what we were going to get when we landed back in Miami in weeks (we both agreed upon iced coffee at Starbucks) and what we had been through in the last few months. The conversation could be summed up with Kelsey’s words of “We are going to be good friends. I can tell.” To which I replied, “I believe we already are.” Kelsey then said, “This is true.” It was a great was to spend a good while unwinding from the earlier cleaning.

While we were finishing up our conversation, Kelsey asked me if I wanted to attend Creole lessons at the church across the street at five. Autumn and Stephanie still weren’t back yet, so no one would be ready to eat for quite awhile. So, I said yes and I am glad I did. I feel like I really learned a lot in our 30-45 minute lesson. A sat in the back of the classroom next to a guy named Alince. He thought it was cool that our names sounded similar. He is Haitian and knows English very well too! So he helped me out a lot, got me paper to write words and phrases down and even made sure I was pronouncing everything correctly! I hope that I can make it back again!

Due to today’s lessons I now know how to count, say the Creole alphabet and several common phrases.

1: en

2: de

3: twa

4: kat

5: senk

6: sis

7: set

8: ywit

9: nef

10: dis

After lessons I went back to the Miriam Center in time to help feed the kids dinner. Tonight: Spaghetti AGAIN. Yes, that’s twice in one day. Tonight I fed Jessica. She has CP as well but was a really easy feed. I would definitely volunteer to feed her again. It was during this time that I met Heather, the other co-director of the Miriam Center with Stephanie. She made it back from the Dominican where she was due to medical issues. So I am glad she was back and that I get to work with her as well. During dinner I also learned just where Autumn and Stephanie went this afternoon when Autumn told me all about it. Turns out they went to go have lunch with Kim’s House which is another organization here in Haiti. They are some of the Miriam Center’s biggest supporters and were meeting with the two of them to discuss moving the Miriam Center to a different campus due to the amount of kids we currently have. We have 46 kids and have outgrown downstairs about twenty kids ago. So I am differently very glad about the day’s events and look forward to seeing where the Lord takes the Miriam Center next.

Please pray for guidance for all involved with this decision. That it would be clear where the center needs to be, weather its here at this campus with major renovations or somewhere else. I know that the Lord has something special in store.

This evening has also been very relaxing and I was able to get a bag of M.M.’s from the canteen to enjoy while typing this blog. Chocolate was so nice to have and quite a treat!

He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.

Psalm 91:4