Haiti December 19, 2017

Report by Madeline Hill (from December 18)

My second full day in Z’Orange and my love for this village is increasing. It is so fulfilling walking out of the doors of the mission house and a child instantly grabbing your hand or arm. All they want is for you to hold their hand and love on them. The phrase “Love has no translation” has fully taken effect on my life. I have seen the phrase on shirts and never thought much about it. But, after two full days in a village where very little English is spoken, I have fully embraced the phrase “Love has no translation”. Before coming to Haiti, I felt the Lord preparing my heart to be ready to love on these people. But I did not expect their love to mean so much to me.

Today we went to the market. While I was not sure what to expect, it was an experience! It was really fun to be able to embrace the Haitian culture and way of life. We also went to an orphanage. At the orphanage we performed the birth of Jesus. It was crazy to see the excitement on the children’s faces when their pastor was dressed up as Gabriel, or their older friends were dressed up as the shepherds. Being able to present to them the birth of Jesus was an honor, because that was most likely the first time they have heard about how Jesus came to this earth for us.

We have been giving out bracelets that say ‘Merry Christmas’ and ‘Jesus loves you’ in the Creole language. When we first began handing them out to the children, I thought this would be an easy task. But then, the children would hide their bracelets in their pockets or in their skirts and ask for a bracelet as if they had not already gotten one. We quickly learned to pay attention to who had already gotten a bracelet because we want to have enough to give to everyone. While many of the children have managed to get multiples, I related this to something that I believe is prevalent in the lives of many Christians, including my own. Are we wanting more from God, the same way these children are wanting more bracelets? Are we not satisfied with what he has in front of us because we think there is something more or better for us out there? Maybe we are missing a miracle that is happening right in front of our eyes because we are focused on ‘more’ or ‘me’ too much. Today, I am thankful for these children that I have been able to love on so far and for what the Lord has placed in front of me right now.