Report from Tyler Salvey
It’s hard to explain the amount of joy you can receive from making a child laugh. Whether it’s making funny faces, tickling, or just picking them up and holding them upside down, you can make a child laugh. I found out today that I get at least as much joy from that as the child does. I am working with the VBS but because of some special issues I found myself outside most of the day trying to entertain the children who weren’t doing the VBS. The first group of children doing VBS was the youngest, and there were 65 of them. The older kids were all outside. I noticed the boys were playing soccer with a tennis ball. I just couldn’t stand for that. We had packed a soccer ball, so I quickly brought that out to them. They loved it. I then spent the rest of the morning keeping the soccer ball from hitting people in the medical clinic and out of the 15-foot well that was nearby. It fell in once, and what a commotion it caused! Children came running from everywhere just to see the ball in the well–it was quite entertaining. Part of my job was to keep the children outside from going inside. I did that by picking them up and spinning them around. They thought it was a game. I enjoyed it tremendously. We finished up there in the morning after running 115 kids through the VBS. All of us VBS workers came back to the house to help paint and organize materials. It was amazing to see the joy we can receive from being with these kids.
Report from LeaAnn Schroeter
Who knew that half of this year’s allotment of births was given to the hill tracts of Haiti? Though children are my business, I commented to another worker on our medical team that I had never seen so many LITTLE babies at one time and at one place! This was yesterday, after what seemed an impossible climb up, what seemed an uninhabited place. None of us could imagine where all these people came from, but on this day we had 5 teams and saw 400 people. God made it possible, because we were overwhelmed by the row after row of moms and babies. The VBS team met in a house next-door, and the construction crew came along to help with crowd control. This was an “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength” kind of day. Wow. Just Wow. Today, we repeated the event; every day we’re more organized, and Britta, Jo, Breanna and Ashley are the best pharmacy techs EVER! They are so great, but equally amazing are our group of translators…. our heroes!!!
So, meanwhile, back at the ranch, the mission house looks different every day. John and Ken have made shelves, a kitchen counter, added a sink–perhaps the first in this village! The room is painted, the church has new fans and lights, and well, they are busy and happy, and making a visible difference in the environment around here. Of course, John has even more episodes to his stories.
The VBS team is the most expressive, they sing ‘Jesus Loves Me’ in Creole. So, who’s teaching whom? The kids enjoy the crafts, are very attentive, and really love their Creole Bibles.
Each night, we’ve been able to worship with the believers here. It has been revival week here. Neal has preached twice, Clint and Tyler, too. The worship is active, loud, and, well, different than home. Naomi is determined to turn the “frozen chosen” into enthusiastic worshippers, like our Haitian friends.
Sydney has two little children she calls the “alpha female and male.” These are aggressive children who find her any place she is. She’s been able to give them tracts to read, and she plays with them and is praying for God to do great things in their lives.
Keep praying. The breakdowns have been few, the blessings great, and aside from constipation (What? Not diarrhea?), we are all well.
We love you and are so excited to share all this with you at home. We cannot thank you enough for standing behind us in prayer. We just wish you all could be here to share the joy………. But, you’re in our hearts!
Love to all you guys (yes, we’re from the north!), but know that this includes “y’all!”
