Describing my feelings about Haiti so far is a hard thing to do, since I think I have felt every emotion possible since stepping off the plane. But I’ll try my best!

Today we had the privilege to go back to the widow’s house to work on the pit latrine. Instead of bringing cement blocks, we gathered the ingredients to make the mortar. This included sand, rocks, lots of sifting, and some water. The work was grueling, but we all made many memories during the day.  To start the mortar, we had to get sand from a different family, about 125 yards away. The walk was usually made just a little more enjoyable, due to the occasional rider in the wheel barrel.

Once the sand came, we had to sift it to get rid of all the rocks. That was fun, but hard work, so we took many breaks.  For me, the breaks were where the real fun started.  Not only were we doing this work for a widow, but also her daughter and her four grandchildren. 

The grandchildren are zanmim’m, “my friends forever.”  I was blessed to bond with her two oldest grandchildren.  The two oldest boys are just about school age, and have the biggest hearts. The younger brother, Gordonzee, is about six years old and acts every bit of it.  The older brother, Gafme, is eleven and has the sweetest smile, when you get it out of him. We walked around and Gafme helped me learn Creole. I think I asked him how to say everything around his house. With each new word, I got to know him a little more, every time with a larger smile.  Gafme knew a little English, and I knew just enough French that we could communicate and have some really neat conversations.  To keep the boys occupied, Nicky and I were able to teach the boys some basic English words. The boys loved this, and tried many times to grab the cards out of our hands before they repeated the word in English. They kept the cards, promising to practice their English every day (Watch the video, “Learning a little English”). To end our time together, we played with one of the simplest of games, bubbles. Blowing bubbles with these two could have lasted hours. I wish it did.  Each flick of the wand created many laughs, smiles (from the so quiet Gafme) and lots of shouting I didn’t understand.

I know that forming a relationship with these boys was one reason God led me here.  They kept my bubbles, along with a piece of my heart!

After an amazing lunch back at the compound, we went to a a children’s camp at one of the local churches, Maranatha.  We were there to teach, sing, and play with about 50 children of the community.  They were very excited to be there, and ready for us.  We made salvation bracelets with each of the children, going through exactly what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

The black shows the sin that separates you from God. Romans 3:23
The red shows the blood shed by Jesus to save us.  Romans 5:8
The white shows that through Jesus, your sins are forgiven. Isaiah 1:18
The green shows growth of Jesus through prayer, reading the Bible and fellowship. 
Galatians 6:22
The yellow shows how you will rejoice with Jesus in Heaven. Thessalonians 4:17

We were able to connect with so many children during this time, it was such a huge blessing. One of the high points was to get to sing many of our songs from Waumba Land.  We sang, “My God is so Big,”  where each child got to make hand motions about our big and strong God.  We sang the rock and roll version of “Jesus Loves Me,” where the kids get to yell the song as loud as they can, and then just a whisper.   But their most favorite song of all is “Oh He Loves Me.”  They love it so much, they could sing it acappella! (Watch the video, “Oh He Loves Me”)

As a teacher, I knew that I would love all the activities with the children the most.  And as a first time mission triper, I couldn’t wait to make an impression on these kiddos.  I guess I didn’t realize how big of an impression THEY would make on ME.

“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.”  Psalm 127:3