Smiles that make your heart melt

 

 

If you are low context here is the run down: I got sick but am doing fine, there was some chaos in our slum but all is good, Haiti is going to have very limited internet, and a boy I have been praying for went from fear to laughter…read on if you wish to get details 🙂

 

 

 I am a firm believer in getting the bad news out of the way first so that you can end on a good note, so let’s hammer that out right quick here 🙂

First of all, I went to the hospital this morning…only reason it was the hospital and not just a doctor is because we are foreigners and have to go to the hospital, no doctors appointments for us. This morning my squad mates Leslie, Jessica, and Cinthia, and my teammate Woody all helped me with moral support and translating to get me through some testing to find out I have a couple of parasites. Nothing too serious, just something to take some medication for. So you worry warts out there, I am doing well 🙂

Other news, there was rioting at Barracones the other day. The people are ticked because electricity goes out randomly all the time and they are fed up. I sadly missed it because I wasn’t feeling good so I headed back early, but my teammates snapped pictures of it (I will have to grab those from them and post them!) They were burning tires and all that, pretty exciting.

Dengue fever is spreading like wild fire in DR, so prayers for protection for my team would be AWESOME 🙂

 Found out internet will be very scarce in Haiti, so no pictures will be uploaded that month, but I will do my best to upload them before we head out of DR.

Now for good news!

 

So there is this pair of brothers in Barracones who have been on my heart since the moment I met them. The first time I met them I was sitting next to them both, and their Mom, attempting to talk with them. Neither of them would respond to my greetings/questions, come play, or even look at me. Their mother tried to encourage them but they wouldn’t. One of them has a HUGE scar across his chest, and the other has severe burn scars down the right side of his face which caused part of his ear to be missing. Just sitting next to them I could literally feel the fear they both had. They both had such worried looks on their faces, it was heartbreaking. I spoke with a few of the other people working at Barracones and on my squad, and they felt the same thing for them. Every day since then I have kept my eye on them, just praying for an opening. A few times they would play with the kids, but it seem always super reserved…..

on Friday, the kids were OUT OF HAND. So badly that we ended up leaving about 3 hours early. These kids are vicious, but even in hard times you can find gems of goodness :).  So the boy with the burn scars, he’s 3, and he doesn’t talk but I think is name is Alex..maybe…for now that’s what we will call him. Alex ended up getting stuck in what I would best describe as a mob of kids fighting. He was crying and looked traumatized. I walked over, put my hands out for him for me to lift him, and he accepted! I picked him up and just kind of walked around with him until he stopped crying. After that I just sort of walked him away from the chaos and talked to him. I couldn’t get him to speak, but when I asked him yes or no questions he started shaking his head. At that point, I just started praying. Just that God would help this boy be released of any pain he has felt in his short life, and just that he could experience God’s pure love and joy. Mainly, I prayed God would just show up in this boys life, whatever that looked like. God is so good! After he colored with the calm kids, I went and checked on him again. He came to be with ease, and just seemed to have so much peace about him. When I looked into his eyes, I didn’t see the intense fear and pain anymore, he seemed to actually be happy. He seemed to start warming up, so I started to tickle him. Thinking back to that moment is welling me up with joy as I type this, because in that moment I was able to see the most beautiful smile. Not only did he smile, but he began to laugh!!

To some, this may not seem that huge, but to me, it is what I came here for. To observe a child seem so upset, so fearful, so withdrawn, to laughing…that is what I came for. I love blessing people with building things, teaching things…but when someones heart feels at least a little better, that is what means so insanely much to me. What was the cherry to top of the evening..Carla, the girl I blogged about last, came RUNNING up to me and jumped into my arms to say goodbye when I went to leave. Aw, talk about a heart melting day. GOD IS AT WORK!!

 

On a last note, one of my squadmates, Colby Gardner, who is staying in San Juan in our little house as well is posting video blogs EVERY DAY. Check them out. On day 8 I believe it is, he shows you all the house..and at 2:35 min you can see my hammock and how high up it is…only the end of it, but it will give you an idea of how ridiculous high up it is 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LQgzydFKyU

 

 

Miss and love you all 

 

p.s. My best friend Hanna gave me a hard time about my misspellings in my blogs, so for any of you English teachers or people that spelling errors bother you..my apologies, because I am lazy and will not be proofreading 🙂 It adds personality 😉 Love you