Glwa Pou Bondye

Glwa Pou Bondye.  Glory to God! Take my life and let it be all for you and for your glory.  Take my life and let it be yours.  These were the sweet words we sang today while washing the hands and feet of several elders in the eldercare program sponsored by Healing Haiti.  Not only did we wash their feet, but we fed them a hot meal, which is hard to come by.  I especially was impacted by one very special 103 year old woman named Marie.   I was astounded when we arrived  and she was sitting on the concrete floor of her home and was able to still get up.  Amazing! Her concrete home was approximately 8ftX8ft and included a bed, table, and one chair.  The light of Jesus truly shown in this woman's eyes.  She hugged each one of us with a gentle touch revealing her loving spirit.  Marie explained to us that she had prayed all day long yesterday that we would visit her today.  Because, as you see the elders depend on others for assistance and food. With the average life expectancy of 52, Marie has most certainly out lived her children.  The cool thing, however, is she wasn't originally on our list of elders to visit and because one of them was gone, our leaders chose to visit Marie.  God is Good!  The similarities in humanity were revealed as we encountered these elders.  The women were worried about thier homes and began tidying up and the gentleman we visited was ashamed he did not have chairs for us to sit on.  Bless them! 

Carnival!!  We hosted a mini carnival for the children at Isaiah's orphanage, where this gentle giant of a man  took in 17 orphans after the earthquake in 2010.  Healing Haiti supports this orphanage and after seeing what Isaiah does for these children I can see why.  He teaches them, loves them, and is Jesus to them.  We enjoyed painting faces and nails, cup ping pong, making balloon animals, arts and crafts, and mostly just spending time with these kids.  Ruby did an excellent job of sharing the gospel with the children using the evangecubes and the children seemed to already understand this message yet were intrigued by the picture of Jesus on the cross.  We ended our time there with joyous singing and left with our "buckets" full.

Cadet, our guide today, was incredible.  This man has a heart for the Lord and for people.  He took us to the mass burial site of approximately 500,000 Haitians that died in the earthquake.  This was very special to him and to us as he shared how these people were buried and that a memorial site is being constructed in their memory.  A place where family can be remembered.

Several of the women's word of the day was HOPE.  After feeling completely heartbroken, helpless, and totally impoverished from the last couple of days the Lord showed us a new HOPE in Him today.  He taught us that he is not impoverished, but is the Almighty.  We experienced hope at Grace Village.  It was an oasis in the desert!  Healing Haiti's Grace Village is home to 52 children.  It is beautiful with a cafeteria, school, chapel,  hydroponic garden, and medical and dental facility.  Seven full time missionaries live there including Shane and Jenn Imsland and their family of three children.  Shane gave us a fantastic tour of the Village and his eyes shone with passion for this project.  It was great to see that there are great things happening here in Haiti and not all is lost.  

My word of the day was LOVE.  This morning when I awoke I prayed that God would show me a verse to help me understand what it is that we can possibly do to help these people.  The task and amount of poverty seemed so overwhelming after the first 2 days of serving.  This is what I turned my Bible to this morning:  Galations 5:13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.  But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.  For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command:  "Love your neighbor as yourself."  Our team did exactly that today...we loved on our neighbors.

Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely, and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.  Mother Teresa

  

Love, Shannon