This blog is long over due.
So let me tell you about month 2, in Haiti.
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We spent the month doing several things:
1. Regular Village Time – This meant going out into the surrounding villages and going to families homes. We would spend time learning about the family, getting to know who they were, doing random things around the home for them (one house we literally moved rocks for 2+ hours), and just having a good time building relationships. We also would hang out with all the kids in the village and play soccer, run around, and just generally love on them.
2. Strategic Village Time – This entailed going out with backpacks full of hygiene supplies and going house to house to give mini tutorials on general health habits, how to brush your teeth/hands and discussing where germs come from. We would also rather general consensus data that we would record later for MOH’s use.
3. VBS/Day Camp – We would run activities based on the age group for the orphans that lived on MOH property in the morning for 2 hours and then in the evening for 2 hours. Things ranged from games to songs to talking about God.
Everything above involved God. He was apart of every conversation and was the center of every activity. As he should be.
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Now let me talk about what this blog title entails.
I had the privilege to work with the older kids during our VBS week… and boy was it a challenge in the beginning.
The first day all we received were frowns and a complete lack of participation from the kids. We felt beat, and like we had failed. They didn’t want to engage with us, and we didn’t know how to break through.
After that day while I pondered what we could do better I was reminded of the situations that a lot of these young adults come from.
Abandonment and distrust.
It was then I realized what needed to be done.
The next day I made it my goal to show them that I wasn’t just there to be another face that came and went. I cared about who they were and what they wanted to do.
If one of them decided to seclude themselves from the group, I made it my goal to go over and sit with them. I didn’t have to say anything. I just wanted them to see that I noticed their separation and I was choosing to sit near them. If they were being difficult in participating in the games I would literally pull them to their feet and make them play. Or I would constantly joke and nag at them until they did. I wanted them to see and know that I noticed when they didn’t do something.
And finally, it happened. That breakthrough we had been waiting for. And it came in the form of a water balloon. We were playing capture the flag with water balloons and one young man was refusing to play. He had said that “this game was boring”. I had a water balloon in my hand and held it over his head and asked if he really didn’t want to play. He gave me a look that said “you wouldn’t dare”.
I broke the balloon over his head.
Just like that the kids were having fun and a huge water fight began that eventually turned into filling cups with water and drenching each other.
Later that evening we had a big dance party and busted out some of the most ridiculous dance moves possible as well as jump rope and soccer.
These kids transformed before our eyes from being stand-offish to full participants who laughed and truly enjoyed each activity after that. And all it took was a water balloon.
All of took was for someone to truly care.
Someone to notice them.
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That’s how I feel sometimes our walk with Christ is.
We think that in order to be good Christians that others have to notice, we have to prove that we are good by what people see.
But that’s not what matters.
The only thing that matters is that Christ notices us. His eyes and his attention are all we should crave. Not the attention of others. If we are following Christ and only care for what he wants in our lives, than others will notice naturally simply by what we’re doing for God. We don’t have to prove anything so long as we are following and living for Christ.
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Month 2 was hard to say goodbye to. I didn’t want to leave the kids that I had come to love. I didn’t want to be one of those faces that just slips away and fades from their memory.
I had expressed by sadness to one young man in particular that held a special place in my heart and his words will forever be imprinted on me.
“You shouldn’t cry. Crying means you will never see that person again, and I know that I will see you again. I will pray for it.”
Such wise words from a 17-year old.
So who knows what the future holds. I may return for a season to Haiti, even if it’s just for a couple weeks. God knows.
Blessings to all!
