Today has been my favorite day so far. Even though our activities were basically the
same as yesterday-VBS, painting, and teen night, it seemed incredibly
different. We were more comfortable in
our roles and were able to interact more rather than try to organize
everything. The school today had smaller
children, which means more hugs and giggles.
And of course my repeating the phrase, “I want to bring them all home
with me,” about 20 times. Yes Mom, you
almost had an adopted Haitian grandchild today, which really shouldn’t surprise
you at all. One little girl gave me a
hug and kissed both of my cheeks as we left and then raced after the cattle
truck as we drove away. It’s little
things like hugs or handshakes that make my heart feel happy. These kids love
the attention and affection that we are all happy to give, and one high five
leads to fifty. Even though I know about
ten Creole words (all greetings or colors), the language barrier doesn't seem
to be as bad as it could be. The love of
Jesus isn’t exclusive to one language and relationships can be built without a
full conversation. (But it’s still nice
to have our translators around). God is
doing some amazing things on this trip and I can’t wait to see what’s next in
our adventure.
-Emilee
Today was an amazing day. We started our day with riding in
the cattle truck up a mountain on the
way to Chardene. Today was more organized and all the kids were adorable. I had
a great time playing games with all the young kids. I learned some new hand
games that they loved. Right before we left the school us Americans played a
short game of soccer against some 12-year-old Haitians. Surprisingly Americans
won, 5-0, and every time we scored a goal, the Haitian kids went wild screaming
and cheering for us. If they had been any older, then we wouldn’t stand a
chance. The evening with the older kids went better than yesterday. People got
in the rhythm and were more comfortable with each other. Then after, most of us
watched the sunset from the pier. We saw a couple crabs and one of them ran
across Kayla’s foot. Some of us jumped into the warm Caribbean Sea and had a
blast floating around trying not to get any of the extremely salty water in our
mouth. I had an amazing day and am looking forward to the rest of the week.
-Jayme
