We woke up a little later than the other days on Sunday. Just a little later. Instead of 5:30am, we were able to wake up between 6:15am and 6:30am. We had church, which started at 10:00am, but we had to be down to breakfast at 7:00am. After we ate, we had about three hours of free time. A lot of us rested and tried to catch up on lost sleep. When 10:00am came around, we headed next door to the church.
When we first arrived, they were praying so we stood outside the church and listened. When they were done praying, we walked in. There had been people in the front row, but all of them moved so we could sit there. That really moved me because they know we have a lot of stuff back home and that we live easy lives and have everything, yet they were sacrificing their seats for us. We originally came to serve them, but they ended up serving us!
The church service was one of the most amazing things that I've ever been to. The message was in Creole, but I couldn't get enough of it. My favorite part was when they would pray. Their words sounded so powerful. We couldn't understand what they were saying, but the same God we cry out to understood. It was just an amazing thing to think that our God understands every language.
After church we ate our lunch and then headed over to the orphanage. We walked a little less than a mile to the orphanage and when we got there, it was so overwhelming. In a good way. We walked through the gates and all the children started pouring out of the orphanage. Each child would find one of our church members and cling onto them. I had just made it up the steps and this little girl literally leapt into my arms. I grabbed her and hugged her back. Another little boy ran over to me and grabbed my hand. Together we walked into the orphanage. I sat down with them and introduced myself and then we played with some bubbles.
After playing with bubbles, we went outside. Both the little girl and little boy pulled me through their little playground. The little boy ended up running off with the other kids to play some soccer, but the little girl stuck by my side. She got on the swing and I pushed her. She led me to where they got their water. All the kids at the orphanage got their water outside behind some bushes out of a pump.
When she showed me, there were other girls already there getting water. They would pump the water and cup it into their hands and then drink it. It made me realize that the children at the orphanage have more water source than the other people in the village did, and they were still getting it outside. How is it that we're so blessed to have multiple water sources in our homes?
The orphanage had a little shop inside of it, so right before we left we bought some souvenirs. When the time came to say goodbye, it was hard. All of the children wanted us to stay, they would ask, "Come tomorrow?". They would hold onto our arms. All of their facial expressions just saddened. It was pretty heart wrenching. I wished so bad that I could just take them all. That I could take them home with me. I know someday I will.
We went back to the compound briefly and then decided to take a walk down to the river. The walk down was very different. Everything was. We passed by small homes and children who were playing. When we got to the river, it was absolutely stunning. If you looked to the left, the river seemed to go on and on and you could see the mountains in the background. About a hundred feet away were women doing their laundry in the river. If you looked behind you, there was land with horses and cows.
It was just amazing. We headed back to the compound once again to eat dinner. After dinner we had some free time until the generator kicked on. So we sat on the porch. That had become our favorite place to sit. I sat on the porch with the song "Kings and Queens" ringing through my head.
Little hands, shoeless feet, lonely eyes looking back at me
Will we leave behind the innocent too brief
On their own, on the run when their lives have only begun
These could be our daughters and our sons
I saw a lot of little hands. I held little hands. I saw lots of shoeless feet, not at the orphanage but plenty in the village. Too many lonely eyes looking back at me. We left behind the innocent way too brief. I wished we could've spent more time with them. I saw a lot of children just on their own walking, on the run, searching for a kind hand to give them some food. These children could be our daughters and our sons! Oh that song kept repeating itself.
I also sat on the porch thinking about how far I've come this year. In the beginning of the year, I started track. Well, when track starts, the meets start. I disliked preforming in front of people very much. I know Jesus made me get out of my comfort zone at the meets. Then I started to do hurdles, which made me extremely uncomfortable since I didn't know exactly know what I was doing. After that I had to preform in front of a crowd of people doing something I wasn't comfortable with quite yet. Then I went to teen camp with my church group where I spoke and prayed in front of people, which makes me even more uncomfortable than competing. Then I came home and took off to go on an overseas mission trip without my family.
Now that we were in Haiti I was living on not flushing the toilet. I was in the heat all day without any breaks. I was always dirty, grimy, and sweaty. All the things I don't particularly normally like were going on in Haiti, but it was completely and totally worth it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjdNMCwbf2s&t=78s
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