Typically, we would send teams out on Friday mornings and have Friday afternoons/evenings and Saturday mornings to reset, reload, relax. Between the last two groups there was not any rest - in fact there was one day of overlap, having both teams in Haiti, staying at two different locations! Talk about crazy!
When we went out to Chambon/Valley of Hope for church two Sundays ago, Pastor Maxeau told us about a revival that would be happening at the end of the month, with meetings, prayer, and evangelizing in the community. He told us that 90-95% of the church's members used to practice voodoo before accepting Christ!
We did another sponsorship update out at Valley of Hope and added new kids to the program as well. We got through about 160 kids on Monday. There was a "store" full of free clothing, shoes, socks, undergarments, etc. for the parents to come pick out items. I got to connect with a lot of the moms from church, which was really neat. I've felt a strong connection with the kids for many weeks, but the parents don't always hang around after church, so I was thankful for the time I got to spend with them! It rained on and off all throughout the day which made some things tricky. There were also many more kids than Ashley (the sponsorship coordinator) had originally planned for, so in the midst of the rain, copies needed to be made and there's a crazy wiring-up-a-generator-in-the-rain-to-run-copies story. The things we take for granted are endless...
Tuesday we got to spend most of the day out at the Olympic Training Center. I had been out there many times and learned all about the program and knew which buildings held which sports/activities...but had never been inside until last Tuesday! What a neat experience! The team played a soccer game, USA vs. Haiti. I was content sitting on the sidelines watching! :) The winds that day were SO STRONG, effects of the big storm that came by. We got to interact with the kids, play some sports, take a tour, and more!
Wednesday we spent the afternoon out at SportDisciple. I think I briefly spoke about SD in a previous post. I have such a neat story to share! When the Bradford team was here in mid-July they brought a good amount of soccer balls that were deflated and placed in a special donation bin for SD. We hadn't gotten a chance to go back out to SD since the Bradford team left, so those balls were just waiting for the next time we were heading out that way. Janice & her team (two weeks ago) brought bags upon bags of soccer balls with them also. We put all the balls together and gave them to Barrett (founder of SD) at the end of our afternoon with them. He told us about how he had 3 pastors coming in town that Saturday (3 days away) and they were desperately in need of soccer balls. He was hoping to get some ordered and shipped so they could bring them down when they came to check out the program. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and showed us his screen that was still pulled up (soccer.com) where he was looking at a set of 40 soccer balls for $500. Combining the balls Bradford brought with the balls Janice's team brought, the total was almost EXACTLY the 40 he was going to order. Barrett smiled and said, "God is never late, sometimes early, but ALWAYS on time." These things are always neat to witness and/or be a part of, but I thought it was so encouraging to know that Bradford was a part of making this happen!
Thursday is when the craziness started. We spent the morning by the UN with the street vendors and toured Rebuild Globally, followed by lunch out at the OK and packing 250+ backpacks! While we were eating and packing backpacks with school supplies, Frank went to pick up the YBM guys (and YBW ladies) from the airport. Once we finished packing the backpacks and reorganizing everything to load into the depot, we packed into the van and John's truck to head over to the Tin Market. Frank met us back at the Guest House for dinner and last night of devotions after getting all of YBM/YBW team checked into the Visa Lodge.
Friday morning we left the GH at 5 to take Janice's team to the airport, ran some errands, and headed to the Visa Lodge to pick up the YBM/YBW group and head out for the day! There were 40 people with the group, including the Men's Discipleship guys and the translators. Needless to say, there was not enough room on the canter, so we rented a school bus as means of transportation for the week. The canter held all the shoes for distributions and any other supplies we would need throughout the week.
We went up to the Baptist Haiti Mission for lunch and then continued up the mountain to do a shoe distribution. YBM/YBW partnered with Samaritan's Feet (see previous blog post from July 8th for more information) as their platform for their week in Haiti. We finished the distribution around 6 PM and didn't get to the Guest House for dinner until 8:15! Coming down the mountain, racing the darkness was quite the experience!
Throughout the week with YBM/YBW there was a lot of waiting, a lot of traffic, a lot of learning to be flexible, and a lot of challenges! It made me think back some verses John shared with us during devotions the week before (which are applicable most days):
"Consider it an opportunity for joy..." James 1:2 (NLT)
"The Lord is good to those who wait." Lamentations 3:25
We all (YBM/YBW, Josh from Samaritan's Feet, Frank, and I) packed up and headed out Tuesday afternoon and I got home a little before 1 AM. Wednesday I spent the day resting at my house, getting caught up on mail and bills, and yesterday I took off to come to the beach for a few days of rest and reflection. My heart is heavy and I am trying to process a lot. I'll be going back to school on Monday, but for the next few days, I'll spend my time just "being".
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