Grace Village & Elderly Visits

What an amazing day we had today!  Our first stop was at Grace Village in Titanyen, Haiti.  Grace Village is located at the top of a mountain with a beautiful view and great ocean breeze (which saved us from the heat today). Hearing from others who have visited last year, a lot has been accomplished in just a small amount of time.  Grace Village is home to many wonderful things. A newer development is incorporating family style living for the orphaned children. What an amazing thing for children who would otherwise know no different! The medical clinic is another newer development.  The clinic is able to provide care to the people of Titanyen at a much lower cost than other clinics in the area.  To see the doctor it costs about the same as $1 in the U.S. which is the equivalent of about a $100 co-pay in the U.S. It was incredible to see how much Healing Haiti has been able to provide since their inception and how much more of a vision they have for the future. This visit definitely pulled on a lot of our heart strings and you could feel God's presence everywhere.

Another great thing that Healing Haiti does is provide care for the elderly. We spent all afternoon visiting elderly in Titanyen.  That was personally the most joyous thing I've have done on the trip yet. We were able to provide hot meals and a cold drink from a local restaurant. This is a big step up as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were on the menu previously. It turns out the Healing Haiti workers who accompany us on our daily trips are very talented and they brought along a guitar and keyboard to sing songs for the elderly as well.

The first visit was to a woman named Merolen. She is 70 years old.  I felt drawn to her instantly. She was so serene and beautiful sitting on her front porch. I held her hand as the songs were being sang and it made me weep to think about how much loss and suffering she has seen in her lifetime.  At the same time it made me feel so joyous that God gave her the strength she needed to survive this long in the conditions she was living in.  That was the case with all of the 8 elderly we visited today - they had so much joy and love to spread despite what they were up against on a daily basis. Vertilla was a particularly spunky 73 year old who greeted us all with hugs and kept pulling us into the shade to avoid the sun.  She was dancing around with a huge smile on her face the whole time. All of them were just so grateful that we came to visit and spread the love God gave us. Edmond was another who was just so incredible. He is 69 and blind. He loves prayer, singing, touch and also when people visit him. He is a kind and gentle soul.

Seeing all of my team members today was such a blessing. Everyone did such a wonderful job with the elderly as well as the children who came over to see us at the stops.  To share a quick story, at one of the stops I was pleasantly surprised when a young girl barreled down the road at me and gave me a huge hug. It turns out she was the same girl I met at Grace Village and held while I was there.  She remembered me and was so happy to see me.  It brought a huge smile to my face!  I witnessed each of my team members having special moments themselves today also. We all touched the hearts of at least someone we encountered today.  After yesterday, I think we all needed a loving and joyous day.

God Bless,
Amber

P.S. Pictures to come when our wifi starts working.