Coming on the race, I knew that it was going to be a year of many goodbyes. Maybe each day, maybe each week, and the hardest would be the goodbyes at the end of the month. You get to work with so many amazing and beautiful people but in the back of your mind is the simple fact that the goodbye in inevitable and you will probably not see most of the people ever again this side of heaven. Knowing that, it would also be a choice for me to choose to let myself love and be loved by the people every month. You have two choices, harden your heart towards the people and not love with everything in you or love with everything in you. I choose the second. I want to choose to love with everything God has given me with each and every encounter I have with any person.
Hands down, this month’s hardest goodbye for me was with this spunky ten year old named Watlin. I want you to fall in love with her just as much as I did. Now, don’t get me wrong, this relationship started out rocky. She was closed off and a little rascal who would do things just for attention. I was annoyed for the first couple days. I wasn’t going to give her the attention that she wanted. In my opinion, she was really mean to the other kids. She was a Haitian whose parents worked at the ministry site. Her dad did different grounds projects and her mom cooked all of our meals. For the record, I think that Haitian people are absolutely beautiful. After teen camp, three of the five teams on the mountain left and my team was on the mountain teaching English. This gave me the opportunity to really spend all day every day with Watlin. God really began to soften my heart towards her. She is a really precious little girl with so much potential. One night, we had the opportunity to pray over her family and I got to eventually see them begin a personal relationship with Jesus. Watlin is going to be a world changer. I see it now. She has a passion for worship. She joined us for worship each morning and evening and boy does she learn songs fast. Her favorite song is “set a fire down in my soul that I can’t contain and I can’t control I want more of you God”. I wish that you could listen to her sing it. Her voice will always be stuck in my head. And of course, she loves the ever famous “Let It Go”. If she didn’t have a worship song on her lips, you can rest assured that you would be hearing it. I loved just sitting and singing with her.
Fun fact: Her favorite game is the “No Amigas” game. One of my squadmates started it to get her to be friends with us. Basically, Watlin goes around yelling “No amigas” (Not friends) or “Si amigas” (Yes, friends) depending on her mood in the moment. I just always did the opposite and somehow ended up her friend almost every time (until I got back from the hospital).
We spend several mornings having quiet time together. We would listen to worship music and she would sit with me as I read different verses to her. Since her parents worked all day, she attended both sessions of English Camp. She intently listened to what we were teaching and copied everything down. We could actually carry on a basic conversation by the end of the two weeks. I went into the hospital for my surgery about a week and a half into the English camp and about three weeks after arriving in the Dominican Republic. When I returned, her dad told me that she had asked about and prayed for me every day I was away. While I didn’t quite get to “Si Amigas” part of the game when I returned as she was told not to play with me since I was sick, it was still a hard goodbye when I had to get on the bus to leave. It was amazing to watch her grow throughout the short time we were with her. I really wish that I could be there to see her as a teenager and young adult because she is going places and it won’t stop with July 2014. She will always have a piece of my heart and I will almost daily want to hear her sing to me.
Are you loving with all that you are and all that God has given you with every person you come into contact with?
