Date Entered Into Journal: March 29, 2011
Days One and Two of Ministry
Monday-
Today was the first full day of our children's ministry! We went to two schools and an orphanage in the afternoon.
Our first school was a Christian private school, class of about 24 darling little ones. We shared the story of Zacheus, showed our wordless book and did our salvation bracelet craft, after our interpreters engaged the kids in song and prayer.
After the craft, we were able to spend time sitting among the darlings in their blue and white uniforms. I sure got inspected! My ears were turned back to see the backings of my earrings, my sunglasses were removed from the top of my head and put on each one's face, and the hugs! Those hugs were the best!
They appeared to like the fact that I could understand and talk back to them in French. I tried and they were visibly impressed when I could point to my body parts that they listed in french and creole. It was a surreal experience.
Our second school was listed on the sign as a Montessori Preschool, but down here that means that it was founded by them, not necessairly of that program. It was a school/orphange and a quite poor one. It smelled of stale urine and burning trash. The kids were thirsty, and it showed when they attempted to drink from our water bottles. It was located in a back alley. Instantaneously when we arrived the little ones- 2 and 3 year olds wanted to be held in our arms. Their were so small- one little boy came to me and held his arms up and went "eh- eh" to me until I picked him up and put him on my hip. ( it was mere nano seconds!! and for me not being a kid person, it was a big move!) He was so adorable, curly dark hair, big brown eyes, runny nose.
We did our program and craft. The craft was so hard as they were so young and small. They were grabbing beads jsut to have beads!
We debriefed at lunch, back at the team house. It was a fabulous homemade lunch of peanut butter and grape jelly. We also changed up the program in order to enagage the children more, coming up with a skit to illustrate our stories instead of just talking. This was a good idea as then more team members were involved, and the engagement of the kids would be priceless!
Our orphanage school, after lunch, had children aged four up to ten years. We had to walk up the side of a hill, winding path that took my breath away! We had a lot more time here and preformed our skit as well as played with the kids. We came up with a skit about the Good Samartian. I was assigned to play the Proud Man.... I over emphasized, over acted it and all I heard was laughter! My soul's nectar!! We were able to play soccer and skipping rope with the children. It was good... so good that when we attempted to leave, the kids wanted to follow us! Sam, our full time Children Ministry Leader, had to stop the truck and instruct the kids to stop!
While we were doing this, the men were building bunk beds for an orphanage.
For supper, we experienced a daily meal of the locals- beans and rice. However, we were spoiled as ours came with a salami sauce on top and a coconut coleslaw. It was absolutley DELISH!! Totally what I was expecting and more!
We were able to have share and care, a time of worship and group devotions. My shower never felt so good for only cold water and three minutes in length! It was all good once I figured out how to work the shower!
Tuesday came so fast... hardly felt like I was asleep! Up at 0630, devotions at 0700 and Breakfast soon followed that. Before you knew it, our chores were over and off we were to our ministries. The men continued to work at the woodshop and we went off to two schools and an orphanage.
Our first school of the days was older kids, I would easily call them tweens.We had fun watching Brisso, our male interpreter bring the children alive with music that we knew in english and they sung in Haitian Creole and or french, his use of word games to engage was so perfect! He has such a talent at what he does... his love shines through all that he does! We threw in another skit that we came up with- we illustrated the Zacheus story that Jenn was already teaching as an example of joy that comes from the Lord. I play Zacheus... and not because I was short! The wordless book was shared, we prayed with the kids and did our bracelet craft. The kids were totally behaved and full of good manners. They said, "Thank You" in english when assisted.
Our second school was a high school, where we participated in the second year class's chapel. It was at the church that we attended on Sunday Am. As it was an older crowd, I was able to have more fun. We added a skit, the parable of the seeds. It is so fun to just let go and be wild. The chapel leader was Pastor Zamor, who is a loving Christian man. We were thanked for coming by one of the student leaders. During our time at Hosanna, we also shared a testimony that was relevant to their age group. Pastor Zamore shook each one of our hands and thanked us personally for coming to Haiti. He said something that has really stood out to me and I find repeating... "the future of Haiti is our children. They need two things: Jesus and education." I pray that the Lord continues to bless him and his work as he attempts to do both.
After our homemade lunch of , you guessed it. peanut butter and grape jelly, we went to an orphanage where the children were aged 2 to 14. We were greeted by the house matron who was very welcoming and warm to us. She invited us to come into the living room/sitting room area and as we sitting down, the kids came barreling in. They were so cute as they joined us on the couches, snuggling beside us, in our laps, all around us. The kids crawelled all over us and engaged us all. Nerlande, our fabulous female translator, led the kids into song and engaged the girls who were obviously looking up at her. You can see how some imitate her. Both Nerlande and Brisso LOVE these kids and love being with them. As we were singing, the men came in. They had finished their wood working and had delivered it to the orphange. (side note: it was Hands and Feet, an orphange supported by the Christian Rock Band Audio Adreline) It was the first time that they got to see what we do and play with the kids. We added something else in: after we did the Good Samaratin skit, we had the kids act it out. They needed no proding and actually just went and did the story without the narration! It was so adorable watching our previous actions being done by the kids. Craft time was quite cute- one of the guys had two little boys in his lap and I worked on each one of their bracelets with them. We were able to play outside with the kids and interact with them: skipping, soccer, toy cars, twirling them around and just hanging out. The little girls sometimes jumped rope with no shoes on, in the loose gravel... something I have never had to do! We all interacted differently: one guy sat beside a little boy playing with tiny hot wheels and without a moments notice- that little budding engineer had a two/ three level ramp going and was playing with his cars on it. Another male member of the team, picked up the kids and twirled them around in a circle, getting them dizzy! The photographer was playing with her camera and having the kids take pictures with her. Digital cameras are a blessing for this... as then they can see what they just snapped! It was just good to be outside with these darlings. We were able to leave the skipping ropes and soccer balls with the house matron. She is so loving and the kids appear to really listen.
We had chicken chili on baked potatoes with garlic bread and carrot-raisin salad for supper. Very filling and fiberous!
Our evening was already planned to be a movie outreach night. We packed up the needed technology, the movie screen, projecter, sound system and went off to find the predestined spot. Pastor Zamore joined us for this, and was the one that found the spot that we were going to claim for the night. It was dusk when we got to where we were going, which is about 1830hrs their time. We used flashlights and torches to get everything set up and running. Once the p.a. system was running, Sam played Christian Creole Music to draw the people to us. It worked! It was pitch black dark when Pastor Zamore started his introduction into the evening. The movie was just under an hour. It was "God Man" which was dubbed into Haitian Creole and had subtitles as well. It was part live action and part animated, and it was a really good explaination on the salvation story. After it was done, the College and Careers put on a play titled "Everything". It involved Jesus and a girl who was tempted by different sins such as seduction, alchohol, money, fashion, self harm. It's set to the song Everything by Lifehouse and is very powerful. Following that, Pastor Les and Pastor Zamore presented the gospel message and we had at least two people come to know the Lord, one being a little boy. We had a few women come forward for prayer and to pray with us. It was so good to see the Holy Spirit at work there. Seeds of salvation were planted as at least 30-50 people were there for the movie.
During the start of the movie, it started to spit rain. I started to pray that it would hold off and it did..... until we were on the way home! Sitting the pick up truck bed, we got soaked as it poured rain on us, a warm rain. It was more refreshing than anything. Everyone in my truck started to laugh and we just enjoyed the experience with each other.
When we returned to the team house, Dave stated that no two movie ngiht were the same. We had group devos and off to bed.
These days may have been uncomfortable for me, as I am not a kid person, however, it has blessed me to get out of my comfort zone. I fell in love with acting and perfoming once again, realizing that my use of animation is a true blessing on trips like these!
God is working in my heart... I love this culture and the people of Haiti. They are so welcoming and loving. I love sitting in the back of the truck and waving as I greet those we pass on the road. The warm sun feels so good!
Canada? Where's that?
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