Haiti May 31, 2012

Report By Michelle Earls

Our day started with a daily devotion. After breakfast we had group devotions, where Miss Eaves and three other people shared what they read. Then we got to do VBS. For VBS we sang songs with the kids, and then Miss Eaves shared the Gospel through the wordless bracelet, except it was a ball. We did it in groups of about 20 or 30 kids with about five or six groups. With every group that came through, I would sit and pray for Miss Eaves. I prayed that God would open up the hearts of the people. In our second to last group an amazing and very rare thing happened. Seven little girls came up right after Miss Eaves was done and we were about to pray. We had not given an altar call at all. They said that they wanted prayer. Miss Eaves asked: “Prayer for what?” The interpreter then explained that they wanted to pray and ask Christ into their lives. So Miss Eaves, through the interpreter, led them in a salvation prayer. God taught me a lesson from that, because for many months I doubted whether prayer really worked or not. He showed me that it does work and just how much power it has.

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Report By Wendy Kent

One of the many things that stood out to me today as we played with the children was how they cared so little about appearance. Yes, they took pride in the way they looked or the cool shirt they had on, but if it was torn on the side or completely covered in dust, it was all right. They had a shirt to wear, and they were going to get all of the use they could out of it. Some, if not all, of them were wearing some of the clothes they had worn the day before, which makes me think that they might have worn them all week as well.

Their shoes were also in a spectacular state of disarray, and they looked worn out completely. In fact, on the walk to a nearby voodoo temple, I encountered several soles of shoes that seemed to have become part of the path. The owner had simply worn them out until they fell apart as he was walking! Others were trying to make the shoes last as long as they could: wearing two completely different ones, cutting out the backs and tying them on when they became too small, or simply putting up with them.

This is something I have never encountered before. I have been to both Belize and Jamaica, but nothing could have prepared me for this. So many times I have walked to my closet only to discover that my favorite pair of jeans is “dirty,” or a pair of shoes has become “too small.” I have cringed at the thought of repeating an outfit I wore maybe a week ago, or complained at having to put on a uniform for school. The children here are nothing like that. Maybe they have only one uniform. So what! They at least get to go to school. And if that means that they will wear the same shirt over and over again, they will be utterly content. That type of gratefulness is not something I am familiar with. I admire these children for being content with what they have. That is something I wish to take home with me.