Day 5: Uh Oh Spagetti O

Today was the 2nd day of VBS. Many of us listened to worship music on the van ride over to the church. We felt like we were watching a music video as we listened to the powerful words and saw the disparity and poverty stricken people of Haiti. We arrived and the kids were so excited to get started!! Today the kids learned that God’s Plan is Right. The verse was Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast. For our craft we had black crosses that signified sin and the kids scratched the black off to reveal bright rainbow colors, showing God washing away our sin and his light shining through us. We also made glow necklaces, showing the kids that if we fill ourselves up with God’s light, that light will shine even in the darkest times. After the invitation to accept Christ was given 65 kids came up to the stage and committed their lives to Christ!!!! Just that alone made our whole trip and all our efforts worth it. We served spaghetti for lunch today, and all was going well until the second batch of food was delayed…we had to wait for it to arrive. Thank goodness for Monica and her endless energy! She sang with the remaining group for over an hour as they waited patiently for the food to arrive and for us to serve them. Doug had a run in with a few boys who weren’t even involved with VBS and they were stealing food and shoving it in their backpacks.

After we finished VBS and cleaned up we were on our way to the orphanage, Maison for Day 2 of our mini VBS with the kids. The kids were in RARE form today and were crazy!!! We sang a few songs, had a craft played a fun game, and shared a bible message with them. The kids decorated noise makers that were so cute…too bad we didn’t think about doing the craft LAST…all the kids were drumming on their noise makers during the story and we had to take them away from them.

While we were finishing up VBS we were told that Jimmy (the director of the boys home) and a few of our team was going to pass out the left over spaghetti from our VBS. Doug, Monica, Jessie and I all decided to go with Mike and Carrie and some of the Zanfan boys. Mike drove us from the orphanage to Zakat, and I must say I was super impressed with his Haitian driving skills! I told Jimmy that a lot of it must have to do with the fact that he has had to drive in California…which is also pretty crazy.  We were at the same spot as we were on Monday when we passed out food, but this time because it wasn’t planned we didn’t have as many people. We had a lot more kids this time though. It broke my heart to see the little ones half dressed with holes in their clothes, some without pants or shoes. How can this be that a small child lives on the street? We had no problem handing out all the food, and before we knew it we were scraping the bottom of the pan to get the last bits to those still hungry. I loaded up on the bug spray and I am happy to report that this time I didn't get ANY bug bites!! I figure I've had my share...they are all scabbed up and I look like I have leprosy or something. Bleh!

We returned to the boys home, to drop off Jimmy and the boys. Earlier on in the day our Texas team had spent time with the street girls. The Texas team brought along supplies for the girls to make special bracelets so that they can make some money. This is an outreach that is in the very beginning stages. Before now teams have visited the street girls where most of them sleep, in the cemetery and bring them food. It is so exciting to think of how God is moving in this project. He has risen people up to have a desire to minister to these hurting girls and share the hope of Christ. I am hoping to get connected with this group as I would like to be a part of this ministry in the future. These girls are exposed to so many horrific things on a daily basis…things we can’t even imagine. They are in desperate need of HOPE…the hope that only God can offer. Please pray that all the pieces will continue to fall into place and that the funding and resources will come together in God’s timing.

After we left the boys home we returned to our hotel. Doug and I took our nightly swim in the pool to cool off. Before we headed to dinner I realized I couldn’t find the camera!!!! We ransacked our room with no luck. I had it when we left the boys home so I think it may have dropped in the van. Please pray that we find it tomorrow…all the fun memories we captured today would be lost if we can’t find it. Not to mention we wouldn’t have a way to take pictures for the rest of the trip. We enjoyed a delicious sandwich for dinner with fried egg, ham, cheese and bacon with fries YUM! After dinner we had a brief meeting in the room to prepare our supplies for tomorrow and Lloyd led us in a devotion. Quite a few of us are still not feeling good and I worry that I am coming down with a sore throat and body aches. I am happy to say Doug got through today with minimal pain, so that’s quite a praise.

Tomorrow is the last day of VBS and promises to be another Spirit led day!
Please pray for our team and our energy as well as the kids.

No pictures tonight…praying we find the camera tomorrow!