Faith.

THE LITTLE BOY I PICKED UP AT THE WATER STOP

A BUILDING AT GRACE VILLAGE

I am left exhausted and beat this evening. Physically I am exhausted, but mentally I am stimulated. It was especially hot and extremely dusty today. The city is dry due to a lack of rain these past few days. We delivered water to two spots within the slum today and for some reason they were more exhausting and physical for me than most days. (maybe it is because I was skipping with the kids, jump roping, doing push-up contests with the water truck drivers, and helping hold the heavy water hose). Not only were we busy delivering water within the slums, we also went to Grace Village and delivered food from Feed My Starving Children to a tent city near by our mission house. It was a busy day filled with a lot of activities.

The day started with a great conversation with Fanfan, our creole translator, about religion. He talked about how so many people go to church or say they believe in God (or Jesus), yet they don't live their lives as a testimony of their faith. People subject themselves to worldly pleasures and evil things that bring them away from their faith. It was a great conversation to start the day out with. He reminded me that I must not only live out my faith and the scripture here in Haiti, but I must bring these actions back home and share them with others. These words came alive for me today at the slums. It is so easy to get frustrated, turned-off, and unengaged at some of the water stops because you really see the desperation, the poverty, and the needs of those that live within these cities. It can be frustrating seeing the unorganized mess, the chaos, and the dirt. It is so easy to reject holding a dirty hand, carrying a heavy bucket, or holding a naked child. Denying the invitation to participate in the Body of Christ is so simple. At one stop, a small boy without any clothes on kept coming up to me and reaching his hands up to me. He would speak in creole to me and look at me with those big brown eyes. I knew what he wanted, he wanted me to hold him. I remained hesitant for a while and even denied picking him up several times. Though I had turned him away over and over again, he would not quit. He came back to me arms stretched out, reaching for me. I looked at him and it finally clicked in my head. What do I have to lose. He may be naked and covered in dirt, but he is a small child that needs love and affection. I picked him up off the dusty street and a smile shown across his face. His little body pressed against my already dirty shirt and, now looking back upon this moment, I realized how my shirt was nothing but a material of this world. The small boy had invited me to participate in the Body of Christ and I denied the invitation over and over again. When I finally accepted the invitation, both me and him were filled with this simple joy as we smiled at each other. This experience remains a worldly metaphor of how so many people deny God's invitation to grow deeper in their faith. He continually reaches up to us (or down.. or within), hands stretched out trying to invite us into a life trusting in Him. He continually invites us into His kingdom on Earth, yet we resist, we deny and we live our lives always trying to do the bare minimum in our faith. It is so easy to reject and turn away from His love.

After our water truck stops, we went back to the mission home and then drove 45 minutes to Grace Village (the new orphanage that Healing Haiti is building). We stopped at one of the mass graves on our way up the mountain. It was so sad to reflect upon the many lives lost during the earth quake. To see all the crosses and the thorn crowns made out of sticks.. what makes it harder to witness such a place is that I have no empathy for the situation- I simply can not began to understand the pain, the anger and hardship this devastation has brought to these beautiful people. I can't even imagine how they can have so much faith and love for God after having been through so much. This is something you continually learn from these people... they have SO MUCH FAITH even though they have SO LITTLE EARTHLY THINGS. They have LOVE for God.

WOW! There was so much done with Grace Village (the orphanage) since the last time I had been there. It is seriously a heaven on Earth. The orphanage sits on top of a mountain overlooking a city and the ocean. Every little detail of the orphanage reminds me of my Aunt Alyn. EVERYTHING from the tiles on the floors and walls to the designs of the iron work on the outside of the building. Though Alyn passed away this past November, she has left a footprint on this Earth.. especially here in Haiti.

Before dinner we went to a Tent city, were we distributed manna packs and shoes that were donated from a friend and a store called TC Runnings in Edina, MN. Our team split up into four groups and we ventured between tents handing out packs of food from Feed My Starving Children. It starts to turn into complete chaos when distributing things to the tent cities. Everyone wants food and it is so easy to get lost in between the tents placed so closely together. I can not imagine the lives these people must have. I can not imagine spending a year and a half living in a tent. These people have made the best of their living conditions though.. (a lot can be learned from this). I saw everything within this tent city-- people studying for school, to a lady listening to music, to children sitting on top of bricks with their heads nearly touching the power cords above them, to people with nutritional deficiencies I have only seen in textbooks, but never in real life. My heart broke during these experience .. upon arriving at the stop I had instantly connected with two young men that looked to be about 19 or 20. They looked like athletes -- their bodies toned and fit. They had seen the bag of tennis shoes sitting on the floor of our top-top. I promised them I'd be sure they get a pair of shoes. After food distribution was complete, I knew immediately that Jean was handing out the shoes from the top-top because a mob of people surround the little truck. I raced back up the hill to the top-top and saw one of the young men on the way up. I smiled as I saw that he had been given a pair of shoes. I stopped for a picture and raced back up the hill to see if my other friend had gotten a pair too. He was standing in the mist of the crowd and I fought my way to the truck to get him a pair. My efforts failed. The mob grew more chaotic and our plans to distribute shoes fell apart before us. We moved to plan B, which ended up in more chaos. Before we knew it, we were back on the top-top with a bag full of shoes and kids running after our top-top as we sped down the streets of Haiti. The young man in his blue basketball jersey was amongst the group of people chasing down our top-top. My heart sunk as I knew I had failed him. I wasn't able to give him a pair of shoes like I had promised.We all continued to watch in amazement as the swarm of kids kept running after our top-top for blocks.. they were determined to get something... ANYTHING from that hockey bag laying on the floor of our top-top. Oh how I wish I could have given that young man a pair of shoes..

My heartaches again. No matter how much we do while we are here.. there will always be more to do.