A Busy Couple of Days

Hey it’s Cameron, I don’t have a ton of things to say, but I did want to check in so everyone knew I was alive! (:
It has been an amazing week for me overall and I’ve got to do a lot of therapy with the special needs kids in the Miriam Center.  I can’t wait to see you all sometime in the next few days…much love from Haiti!

What’s up fellas it is Zeb. I am blogging for the group to tell you a little about our seventh day. So far the trip has been great and it has been so good to see God’s love and care show through the lives of Haitian’s, interns, other group members, and in myself. So for this day as a group we started the day by doing a VBS for the Miriam Center. The Miriam Center is the special needs area, where the special needs kids live. The group as a whole and especially myself are very uncomfortable with dealing with them. Not only do we have to deal with the fact of a language barrier, but also that they are all different when it came to their certain problems. We did a VBS with them and I am not sure if they all understood it, although they were so glad that we were spending time with them. You could tell that from their smiles alone. Later in the day we did a Bible study for the “Bracelet Bandits.” Chandler delivered a great message to them, explain how God loves them no matter what, and if they keep the faith one day they will be in heaven. In heaven there will be no pain, hunger, suffering, and no struggle. After Chandlers on point message, each one of us got to pray for the boys individually (in English). They might have not been able to understand us, but they felt the power of prayer. As a group this was great for us to see. Later in the night, our whole group complemented each other for the week, and we were able to talk about God and his greatness for about thirty minutes. The trip so far has been real. I can’t wait to share our experiences once we are back in the states. Peace.

Hey it’s Hannah.   As the week and this trip is coming to a close I have to say its been a pretty amazing experience.   Overall, seeing the poverty and the Haitian people struggle on a daily basis to survive is heart wrenching.   This morning, we made the trip to Tortuga which was about an hour on a boat and it’s probably not the type of boat you’re thinking of because it definitely caught me off guard.   Despite a few of us getting sick I know we all had a great time.   God definitely touches your heart when you are in the most uncomfortable situations and seeing the children’s smiles and laughs is so encouraging especially when you’re tired.  On our way to Tortuga, you would look at the water and at first, it was murky and slowly as you got out deeper the water went to a dark blue then teal and you could see the bottom. Never in my life have I seen something so beautiful and I was in such awe at God’s creation.  In Tortuga, we did a VBS with the kids and then we swam in the water. Afterward we headed back for lunch.  After lunch we went to the jail and prayed for the two people who were kept there.  It amazed me what they were kept for and it broke my heart hearing the way they were treated.  After traveling back to the compound we went on our way to the GranMoun (the old people) to wash feet, paint fingernails and to have a dance party.  If any of you know me, I have a feet phobia and cannot handle touching peoples feet and if I do I love you so much so keep that in mind.   As you can imagine this was extremely out of my comfort zone and to be quite honest I didn’t want to do it at all.  Everyone’s feet had been washed except this one lady’s and I looked at the bucket and looked at the lady and decided I guess I’m doing it.  They’ve been telling us to step out of our comfort zone all week and let me tell you its one of the most rewarding feelings.  Seeing the smile on that lady’s face after I washed her feet and painted her fingernails was SO worth it.  Seeing all of the other group members wash feet and paint fingernails and toenails, and dance with them was just amazing because it made these old people SO happy.  (Side note: Zeb painted fingernails and toenails too and even though he was bad at it I would like to give him a shoutout for doing that because I know that takes a lot for a guy.)  After the GranMoun we headed to the Miriam Center to watch the special needs kids.  After a tiring day this was really hard not only for me, but for everyone in our group, but sitting here typing right now it was really worth every minute we spent with those kids. Even though its been an extremely tiring day and somewhat discouraging at times, it has been so productive and an amazing day experiencing God through so many different ways.