Loving the Mob

7/31/10

I woke up smiling this morning, very early, because all the Haitian’s cell phones were ringing. It’s so funny that they live up here on Grenier, don’t have running water or stable electricity, but all have cell phones. Our massive slumber party was broken down and put away so that we would have room for VBS later today. For the most part, despite the storm and craziness of last night, everyone slept fairly well. I still can’t completely comprehend let alone capture on paper just what happened.. I just take a deep breath, let it out, and say “Wow, God is so good to us!” We had egg sandwiches again for breakfast today, delicious! And then as we were slipping and sliding everywhere on the treacherously wet mountain side, we set up for a day of VBS. The ground was nearly impossible to walk on without slipping, even the Haitians had trouble, but I managed without killing myself. Kesnel said there weren’t going to be as many kids as originally predicted because of the slick conditions of the mountain. It turned out he was right; we only had 240ish instead of the possible 400!! But still, with that many kids, they were literally everywhere. Packed into the church, staring in at the doors, wandering around the field, all curious and wanting to see what was going to happen. It took about an hour just to get the kids sorted into age groups, but once that was done groups of about 50 kids went from station to station with only one leader. First they came to me at music. Wow, my Lord really really sent his strength to me. I’ve mentioned before my fear of not knowing the language and being thrown in to lead music to kids that I can barely communicate with, so let me tell you how it all played out. One blessing was I was not alone, my mom played with me, so I at least had another presence to be stared at along with myself. But I also had some translators. I didn’t expect this, just because I figured each group leader would take a translator before I got one at music, but with the fact that the translators had major crushes on me, they stuck around at the music station to help me out. In this case, I was incredibly thankful that they were around, because the usual banter and introduction and transition talking that I would instigate in English disappeared. I had nothing to say. I had nothing I could say. It was so weird and very scary and very hard. But because Joe was around, he spoke for me. The super cool thing was, he was amazing when it came to talking to the kids, getting them excited about singing, and choosing a song he knew I would know. Because of his intercession I could lead songs the kids would recognize in English, and even got to learn a few kids songs in Creole. God worked it out absolutely perfectly. I was astonished, grateful, and incredibly relieved. I know that all you back home praying for me and my fear of the language barrier as I stepped into this leadership role was the cause of this amazing day. I can’t be more thankful for God’s goodness and all your prayers. They have gone far and been a fabulous blessing. After music the kids moved on to lesson time where they listened to Kesnel. He gave the Gospel in a bold, simple, and clear fashion that kept their attention. This was the whole reason we had called all these kids to come from all over the mountain, to hear the Word of God taught. So remember the children of Grenier Mountain in your prayers as the seeds have been planted and now need water. Then came game time and face painting which was really fun, but with the number of kids, absolute chaos. The toys that came out led leaders to be mobbed over the excitement. However, just playing with the kids was an amazing experience to be sure. The next station was crafts where they got to decorate bags and get crayons, stickers, and coloring books to fill them. Of course the stickers ended up all over their faces as well as the bags. When all the groups made it through all the stations, we brought half of the kids into the church at a time to feed them. We gave them bread and fish (how suitable for the situation huh?) and kool-aid. Some of these kids walk over two hours to get to the church and eat only one meal a day, so it was a big blessing to be able to give them something to eat before sending them home. Before they left we prayed over them. David prayed with Joe translating and we all stood in front of the group of kids and stretched our hands out over them to bless their departure. It felt like a physical way could give these kids the love of God that they needed so much. It was heart wrenching as we watched them all leave just hoping that the seed was planted deep enough in their heart, and that we showed them true love coming straight from the Lord. After the kids were off to their own homes, the rest of the day was plan-less and wonderful. We ate some, relaxed, and laughed a lot for about an hour. Then it started to rain pretty hard so we ran to the church and just talked and eventually ate dinner. As the time goes on these down-time moments cause me to fall in love with every single member of my team. Through rain or shine (literally) we come together and smile in the midst of chaos. God could not have put more perfect people in each role to create a wonderful working body of believers that are now called my family. By the time we finished dinner the sun came back out and we could resume our blissful wandering. Some of us girls got to paint the nails of a lot of the ladies who were staying with us and cooking for us. They loved it. The smiles on their faces were priceless as we gave them the bottles to keep so they could redo them anytime later. I found a spot on the side of the mountain to read my Bible before another massive monsoon blew in and we had to bunker down again. It’s almost frustrating how religiously the rain comes around here. Because of the strong winds we have to literally hold down our tents, causing everyone to be out in the storm, getting soaked to the bone and freezing. By the time we can get to any kind of suitable cover anything that’s dry is now wet because it’s being used to keep us warm. It’s just crazy. I definitely won’t be the same when I get back. My emotions have run the gamut, and my heart has been stretched to what feels like its max. I never knew I could love or be loved so much by people I don’t even know. And on top of all that God has molded and changed me in ways that I never expected or knew possible. He has shown me a side of his love that I have never truly grasped. I thank Him over and over for allowing me to be a part of this even in the middle of the hardship. It’s more than a blessing in disguise.