7/27/08- Journal Entry

Today we got up at about 5:30. We had breakfast and then we rode to a church. Jason did the sermon and had a translator. Adam sang a song too. This church was filled with people and it was so HOT. Jason did an awesome sermon. He talked about how emptiness can only be filled by Jesus Christ. I was looking around at the church when he was speaking and I could see so many nodding heads. I think I really was surprised to find out once I was there that so many Haitians seemed to already know Jesus and already have a personal relationship with him. I began to realize some of them have a better understanding of God than a lot of people I know in the U.S., that I see everyday. It made me think about what I should be doing back at home. Jason talked about how God is all knowing (Psalm 139). In Verse 8-12 he is an everywhere God and this could be scary, but in the end he will bring abundance. In verse 12-18 is the most amazing part of scripture. This God knows you personally. Emptiness can only be filled by him. We have the choice, but sometime we feel emptiness and turn to other things. You have to know that God is all knowing and already knows your struggles. He is your best friend and all you have to do is talk to him. David has 3 steps to prayer. This first step is for God to search me. The 2nd step is for God to test me, know my thoughts. The 3rd step is for God to lead me. The people at this church did not know what we had brought them that day. We had a truck full of bags with food in them. We were there to bless the church that day and everyone in it. Some people in that church were hungry and hadn't eaten in 3 days. They didn't know where their next meal would even come from. Some were struggling with other things in their life. The food bags we made yesterday were going to be handed out to the 500 people after the church. It was so organized. We stayed in a straight line making a tunnel shoulder to shoulder and as people came out of the church we handed each one of them a bag, looking them in their eyes, and smiling. Some of the little ones had to be carried through the tunnel because the bags were too heavy for them. This was the first time I felt tears welding up in my eyes. The feeling you get when you hand a hungry person food is amazing. When you squat down to give a little boy or girl a bag of food and you see their eyes light up, it makes you melt. We weren't throwing the food at these people, we were handing it to them and showing them love. I did a really good job of holding my tears in, because I knew I had to be strong in that moment. If I started crying they wouldn't understand why. They were so happy :) One lady walked out and just fell to her knees at the end of the tunnel. She was truly blessed she said. She had prayed in church that the Lord would bless her with food and her prayer was answered as she left those steps of the church. There was a crazy man there yelling that he hated our government. He said he loved us though. He talked or really yelled about how we were in Iraq and something about going to Cuba, he made eye contact with me and pointed at me as I got into the cage we rode in the whole time and said "I like U.S people...you are good people, you do good, but I HATE your government!!!!" He went away eventually because we ignored him. As soon as we handed the last bag out we had to jump back in the truck immediately and ride off because people in the town heard about us handing out the food so we had to get out of there. We came back and ate lunch, an awesome lunch I must say. Then we went back to the Good Samaritan Orphanage. Mike and Laura the leaders that planned our week told us we were the first group that ever wanted to go back to the Good Samaritan. They said other groups get so overwhelmed and just say they can't handle going back. That wasn't in my head at all, because all I could think of was how happy those kids were when we were there and how much fun I had with them. If I could have gone to that orphanage every day I would have. Anything to make those kids smile. I don't think I talked about the little girl that was at the Good Samaritan the first time we went. She was laying in the bed and had some kind of growth on her chest. There was puss on her bed when they rolled her over and she was really weak. There were 2 holes in the growth...like someone had tried to get the puss out themselves. She needed to get to a clinic. They got money from the mission and took her to a clinic to get what I think was a sis(no idea if I spelled that right) drained and cleaned out. When we came today she was back at the orphanage and was sooo much better. I am going to put a picture of her at the end of this journal entry. She was so happy and just running around. I was so happy we could get her the help she needed. After the orphanage we came back and bagged more. For dinner we had MRE's I had black beans and rice. I was put in a group that was put in charge of coming up with some skits for the school visits. The main idea of the skit was to come up with what the kids should do if a disaster strikes like a hurricane. Becky was really good at coming up with some stuff for the skit. She is awesome with kids. I will talk more later about exactly what we did in the skit, but we just let them know they need to meet and have a plan with their family if a disaster strikes. Also we wanted them to know that this may be a really scary time for them if a disaster should come, but they can always turn to one person. This person doesn't live with them in their home but he is their best friend. They can pray to him for strength. The awesome thing was that when I asked them if they knew who this person was??? They knew exactly who it was...It was JESUS!, they would yell. We also did bagging today. It was pretty hard but I really liked doing it....I was a runner a lot (the person that took the bag and then went to the different stations to get everything put in the bag). We also got to put our name in a box tonight to see if we would get chosen to stay up the mountain when we go up to the school on Wednesday. I didn't get chosen...I really wanted to go, but I guess there is a reason why I wasn't chosen. I know I will enjoy anything I do here....I love it and I feel so blessed to have this experience.
This is a picture of the little girl we took to the clinic. :)