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!