Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

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Ok now! The team from New York that came down to do a week of VBS has since returned, and we’ve been manning the orphanage since. The above photo is me doing my main job for VBS, which was running sound. Hey, sound needs to be ran, right? Dad, you’d be proud!

Anyways, we were certainly very blessed to partake in that ministry with them. Though they left two weeks ago, the kids are still singing the songs they learned!
 

You know, in a way it kind of feels like cheating. I’ve learned that I’m a very task-oriented individual, but most of the things we’re doing here are relational, and because of these two things I find myself asking, “Just what are we doing here? Are we really getting anything done?” Well, we have. We’ve revarnished tables and stairwells, painted and prepped bed frames for the boys house… but day to day around here consists of breakfast, completing various tasks before lunch, working on our relationship as a team while the kids are at school by having our team time, then just loving on kiddos and playing with them for the rest of the day. It’s really not hard at all, so it feels like we’re cheating! But being relational and loving on these orphan kids really isn’t cheating at all. You see, “religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” ( James 1:27) And though these kids are fun and joyous on the outside, scratch just beneath the surface into their past and you’ll see hurt come out through their eyes.

A 6 year old girl (pictured below) used to be a slave. Her name is Loubencia.

Lousiani, also pictured below, was also a slave, and told her masters one day that she would willingly be their slave if only she could go to school. They beat her over the head with a bucket, leaving bald scars just into her hairline. Yet this is one of the most joyous of the children here.

A young teen named Rebekah was used in voodoo rituals for 7 years. Her job was to drink the human blood of some sort of cutting ceremony. She’s now convinced that she’s a vampire and, though she’s coming out of it, still has the urge to bite whoever may be wearing a red shirt.

Gina, another young teen, was kept as a sex slave in one of the local tent cities.

Many other children have been traumatized by the loss of parents in the earthquake.

And the stories go on. So are we cheating by having it so easy as to play and love on these kids all day? Do they really need more tables varnished or more bed frames painted or more cabinets made? (Cabinet-making pic below.) Or do they really need to be loved and made to feel valuable, worthy, cared-for, encouraged… this is the work we’re here to do: help restore these children to a being and an understanding of who they are: loved children of God. That’s a huge relational work.


 


 


 


 

I’ve grown a lot myself, mainly in the area of interacting with children. I admit, I used to be intimidated by them. I don’t know why. But since being here in constant exposure to children of all ages, from bottle-fed all the way up to 15 years old, I’ve become much more comfortable in exercising authority when need be, being ready to engage in play at any moment, finally succumbing to letting the baby sleep on me because nothing else will keep it peaceful and sleeping, and all around figuring out creative ways to keep kids doing what I want them to do! (Swing sets for toddlers are a godsend!) Probably the most useful lesson I’ll take away is that consistent and fair discipline is the absolute key to maintaining well-behaved children. It’s not just making them happy to keep them from being cranky, it’s training them to be people of high character and doing what’s best for them, even if it means punishing them and letting them be sour afterwards just so they learn their lesson. And I tell you, Haitians children know how to behave, because the consequences for misbehavior are typically pretty rough in Haitian homes! It’s actually funny to watch the children of the American families that attend this church here and how poorly behaved they are as their parents are always trying to satiate whatever it is the kids want just so they’ll stop acting up, while if a Haitian child misbehaves there is no concession– their parent reaches around and gives them a nice thumpin’ on, and that child remains behaved thereafter! But I digress.

One thing that I’m also taking a lesson from is how the children come back from school and run up to us, so excited and fully expecting to be loved on. And we do love on them! There is none of this “I’m scared to approach you because I don’t know if you’ll love me” mentality. Yet God calls himself our Father, and how much do we treat him as if we’re always walking on eggshells, not sure if we’ll receive his favor or not? So I’m taking notice on how to be like a child and not walk in the fear of conditional love, but fully knowing that I have received eternal favor through Jesus in spite of all my wrongdoings.

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I am still $7,264 away from being fully funded, but I only need $965 by September 13th to meet the deadline of $8,000 to stay in ministry on the race! Please search your heart and consider supporting me so that you too can be a part of the great things the Lord is working through us, then click on the support link in the left column to donate!

A special “THANK YOU!” to all of my supporters and surprise givers!