The kids here are blowing me away…What God is doing in the hearts of these children… Their ability to continue to rise up despite their circumstances…The heart they have for Haiti…The love they are able to pour out…their ability to dance before Jesus…the way they sing praises to the Lord…the 49 (sorry I miscounted last blog) children here are absolutely blowing me away, breaking my heart, reworking how I view life, leaving me mouth open speechless at times, bringing tears to my eyes daily, and demonstrating to me a faith I wonder sometimes if I even have…
Some of their stories
(Voodoo is very common here in Haiti)
One of the girls I have gotten very close with is 15 but you would think she is much older in how mature she is. It has been amazing having long talks with her about the Lord and about the concerns she has about going to America soon (she is getting adopted). She worries that in America she will loose her focus on Jesus and get caught up with worldly things there. She says she prays a lot about this concern. We pray together and I tell her about my experiences and give her advice (she speaks English!). Today the Lord gave me a verse for her, Isaiah 40:31, and then told me to write down a letter from Him (in a book called His Princess Bride) and what do you know the letter he led me to was written from the exact same verse! She was teary-eyed reading words for just her from the Lord and we talked for a while, it was wonderful. When she leaned her head on my shoulder today and said “I love you Emily” my heart was filled with an inexpressible joy as the Lord showed me if for no other reason you are here for this girl, pour into her. I love her so much!
w her parents live in a tent and she is living at a guesthouse and is a translator for missionary teams that come in to Haiti. She will be going to the states for college and medical school. When I asked her if she would then practice medicine in the states she said oh no I will definitely be coming back to Haiti. This struck me as odd, why wouldn’t she want to stay in America, doesn’t everyone want to live in America? She proceeded to dive into many different things…to sum it up she said most everyone (not wanting to offend me) in America she knows is not focused on God and gets caught up “the beautiful things in America“. At 17 she gets together with her friends all the time to pray, do devotionals, and fellowship together. She says every friend she had that went to America got too busy for God. She says the temptations in America are too much for most people…
FACTS: I am falling in love with this place. I can’t even explain how beautiful it is to live at an orphanage and be surrounded by these kids all the time. To have them fall asleep in your arms, to truly live life with them here, teach them about Jesus, pray with them, to be the one to hold them while we sing and they are in pajamas. To be one big family here…I don’t think I told you guys, I am in Port au Prince, Haiti…we wake up at 5 or 6 to workout!…we have to do this because we are gaining weight here!…they try to fatten up these kids cause they are so skinny they need it…but then we eat the same food!
