Day 5

Day 5

Today was a tough day for our group- as the week wears on the stress, emotion, fatigue and a number of other things has truly begun to take it's toll on the group, including me.  There are six of us, out of 11 that were not feeling well today, two of which did not feel well enough to venture out on today's mission.  Please take a moment and pray for our health tonight.

A few of us  woke up at 5am today to attend a church service at 6am with our Haitian staff, FanFan.  What an awesome experience that was.  We walked a few blocks to this church, the walk was very interesting- we hadn't walked the streets of Haiti yet.  We walked through a tent neighborhood, up a hill, and down a few streets to arrive at an American owned school and open air church.  The church typically sits under a huge white canopy, but with with recent winds and storms, the canopy was ruined.  The benches were lined up in many rows and the view was breath taking.  This church sat on a hill that overlooked the beautiful hillsides of Haiti.  In the far distant, a natural rock formation of a cross lays in the hillside.  God's amazing works.  The whole service was in Creole, but that did not matter, the passion and praise that was being sung was so heart felt.  I wish I could bottle up the emotion I felt after sitting through church.  God filled me so much!  

Our day was another amazing day.  It was low physical impact, but another high emotional one.  We started our day visiting a school named Elders, a school that Healing Haiti supports.  It is located in Cite Soliel, the schools here a nothing like our American schools, but it's amazing what Healing Haiti has done to help improve it.  

Our next stop was the mass graves. The mass graves are for all the hundreds of thousands (200,000+) who lost their lives during the earthquake.  The mass graves are located in the country side, tucked on a side of a hill. There are no headstones, no plaques, just black crosses that line the field.   It overlooks the ocean.  A beautiful sight, a sad moment.  The tears just welled in my eyes.  

We then headed to Grace Village, that was a joyous stop!  Grace Village is a community that Healing Haiti is building that will house two dormitories (one for girls, the other for boys) where two current orphanages will be moving to.  The new site is beautiful.  The orphans will have a nice place to sleep with real walls that are painted that are bright and cheery.  There is also a feeding center to feed all the orphans and the surrounding community.  What a glorious gift.  

Our next few stops where actual visits to two elders at their home (tent).  I visited one, and stayed back on the truck for the other.  The first visit was really tough, a 78 year old man sat on his bed in a tent, blind and hard of hearing.  Standing there touching him to let him know I was there he cried out, take me from my misery.  It was really tough.  The second visit, I did not attend, I was not feeling well enough so I stayed back in the truck.  This visit was to a 107 year old woman.  

The final visit for the day was Yvonne's Orphanage.  This orphanage will be moving to Grace Village when it opens.  The children at Yvonne's were just stunning.  They greeted us with song and praise.  I was saddened when we arrived as there was no field and little space to just play.  Today we painted, did more spa treatment (head massages, and finger nail polish), as well as soccer and jump rope.  It was a fun time.  As we pampered and played with the kiddos, they in return started pampering us.  While I was polishing a young girls nails, another girl started braiding my hair, shortly after another young girl polished my nails.  I was so taken back at how much they were pampering me, when I was trying to pamper them.  After spending time with the girls, I began to play with a young boy.  He was so cute.  He and I were throwing a glider back and forth.  After the glider was broken, he and I just sat on a step.  Then we painted a picture together, it was so moving.  He kept the picture and protected it.  Another little child that I really wanted to take home with me.

Even though I was not feeling well, God provided me all that I needed to get through the day and filled me up again.

He is so great!

Here is today's closing verse:  Psalms 6:2  Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am weak; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are troubled.

  

To Him be the Glory~ Phuong