Another great week!

As the days and weeks pass I just can't believe all that has taken place here. These are things you package in the depths of your heart and save to pull out for a rainy season in your life. Keri and I were so exhausted on Wednesday; more than usual for some reason...and out of the blue little 9 year old Emmanuel, who knows very little English and probably none before this camp, walks up and points to Keri and then me saying to each of us "Jesus loves you!" Priceless. We were talking to Byron (missionary) this morning and found out that Emmanuel's mother died of AIDS about 6 months ago and he has been living with his grandmother in a warehouse. He was taking care of his baby brother Sebastian but when his mom died grandma took Sebastian to the Baby orphanage here at Heartline. Emmanuel visits his brother every morning before camp and afternoon after camp until his grandmother picks him up. Emmanuel has very little schooling because they can not afford it. He started in my class but could not even copy down the words from the board so he moved to the littlest kid class. Probably one of the poorest children at camp, but a smile that could move mountains!! This week we handed out the camp t-shirts. The kids looked great in the bright orange! We took polaroid pictures of them and they decorated frames to put it in. Yesterday I told the story of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho from Joshua 6. I love this story. To teach these children that even when things look impossible, if we have faith, God can break down walls!! You should have seen them singing "Joshua fought the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down!!! They marched in a circle, blew recorders, and fell to the ground. Today Keri taught about Moses. Many of our kids are orphans, so she spoke about Moses being an orphan and how God used him to free his people and do many miracles because of his faith. AMAZING! I have never seen kids soak a message in like today. When my kids got to class I asked them if they wanted a faith like that and they were yelling "i want a faith as big as Haiti...I want a faith as big as the earth....I want a faith as big as the universe". I asked what was possible if they had that faith and they said, change in Haiti. Junior said that he wanted to change some things like stop stealing money from his mom. Such simple obedience. God is moving. My kids learned how to tell time in English this week, they learned the difference between the words love and like because it is the same in Creole, and they learned some more vocab of food items. We had fun this week! I can't believe there are only two weeks left. I thank God for filling us up with energy every morning...it is literally amazing because I wake up and feel completely drained. Thank you all for your prayers. I am sure this is a reason I feel strength. I am so thankful too that I have not gotten sick at all...knock on wood. A little soar throat and cough these last couple days but nothing major at all. What a blessing!! Can't wait to share more.

Hint Hint...

Just wanted to let everyone know that I have been able to check my email pretty regularly lately and do check my myspace as well ...hint hint....I would love to hear what has been happening back in the states. This week starts the second half of the summer. We are trying to keep camp fresh and fun. I would be embarrassed if people saw half the things I have been doing here at camp....dancing like a fool with these kids. I just love to hear them laugh, and me dancing , well, lets just say that is something to laught at :) I think I forgot to mention that all the kids got their teeth cleaned last week by a dental hygienist who came down. Not one of the 49 campers had ever had their teeth cleaned. Amazing. Jan ("dentist") said that they took the pain like champs because she knew she was hurting them much of the time she cleaned. They all got toothbrushes, floss, and toothpaste. YOu would have thought we gave them a bag of money. They had been asking all week when they would get their toothbrushes. More later...

No words

Today our friend Cherry Kay (CK) took Keri and I and CK's two adopted kids out for the day. We went to "Boca Mocha" which is likely the only coffee shop in Haiti. It was in Petionville which is one of the most developed parts of Port au Prince. Then we bartered for a couple of paintings on the street to bring home. And then...........

We took a drive to a part of Port au Prince called La Solien. All I can say is that the words "third world" are no longer such an abstract concept in my mind. We drove down a rode full of trash packed with four or so "lanes" of traffic along the outside of the "town". It is impossible to drive into the "town". Tin homes literally butted up and built around each other for miles. Trash piles everywhere, pigs and goats and donkeys and dogs roaming. Pictures and words are worthless to capture what my eyes have seen today and La Solien is not even the worst. Cite Sole is the worst slum and I have heard that La Solien does not even touch it.

Luckily CK was gracious and in reality courageous enough to allow us the opportunity to see what we saw. CK is a 31 year old women from CA who has been in Haiti for over a year trying to finish paperwork to adopt her two kids. She is single. Things have been a tough struggle these last weeks for her as one government official is holding her paperwork for ransom. She only needs one more signature and they have asked for a $1000 bribe to sign off. She is an amazing mother and is so ready to go back to the states with her son Jerise and daughter Acrissa. Please pray for CK and the finalization of her adoption.

Some pictures

What a week!!

So, at some point I lost count, but I am pretty sure that there were about 28 people living in this house this week; 5 sleeping in my room and 8 or more sharing our bathroom. Oy! I felt the most clean and fresh this week after showering out back with the yard hose. I just took my soap and shampoo on out there and went to town :) It was actually pretty fun.

Interesting story...this week a neighbor lady near the orphanage had a baby. The woman and her other 3 children are sqwatters in an abandoned house there. She delivered the baby alone in the home. One of the women here this week is a nurse so she went to see her and helped her clean and cut the umbilical cord. Keri and I actually sanitized a pair of kitchen scissors and she used those to cut the cord. HHMMMM. Unbelievable. The woman sells underwear and bras for a living on the streets so many of the women living here went over and we bought underwear and bras from her. NOt sure I'll ever wear mine but it was fun.

Something I forgot last week that kind of gives glimpse of the poverty. We were making "breastplates of righteousness" out of paper grocery bags with the kids and one of them starts to cry hysterically. She said, "please don't cut my bag, I want to take it home and use it"...a paper sack. Luckily, thanks to all the hard work of my friends at home, we had enough bags to let her take one home and also make the craft. She was so so happy.

Spiritually, this week and the end of last have been encouraging. One of my boys (Junior) said he was thankful that "God has made his heart happy". One child said that since he has come to understand God and his relationship with Him he is no longer "scared at night". One of my girls (Came-Suze) said that she has prayed many times but a few days ago was the first time she had every prayed to ask/accept Jesus into her life. Probably my favorite part of camp is working with my class on memorizing Ephesians 6:10-20. We are through verse 13. The kids are so excited about it and practically scream when reciting it. Just close your eyes and imagine the children yelling out together "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power....) It is a beautiful sound. He is writing the Word on their precious hearts!

heavy stuff

This week we gave all of the campers medicine to get rid of parasites and worms if they have them. One of the kids (Ruben) in my class has a large lump under his tongue and went to the hospital today. One child came to camp with a bad burn on his arm and Keri cleaned it out. Another one of my kids (Thierry) in my class has scabies all over his arms and legs and says he doesn't even remember when or where on his body he first got them because he has been itching for so long. It is hard to see such simple problems untreated.

Thierry does not seem to believe in God and does not attend the church that some of the children at camp attend. He asked me why we have to pray when Keri just brings him the medicine for his itching. We talked about why prayer is powerful and that God can work through people like Keri to bring answers to his prayers, like to stop itching. We had just prayed for his itching a few days ago. We have prayer time in my class each day for a few minutes before we learn english. Today the children just started asking for prayers for Haiti, like to stop the gangs, to stop the kidknappings, for unity, for all the children to be able to go to school and that the people of Haiti would come to faith in God. These were requests straight from the children. Later in the afternoon Thierry was chattering about a fight he was in in school and that he bit a kid. I took that opportunity to explain that if he really wants change in Haiti and less violence he would have to start by changing his own life in that same way.

The Bible lessons with the little ones are going well and Keri and I are having fun with it. Yesterday I talked about the "Righteousness Tree". This was to explain the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5. I drew pictures of fruit on the tree and labled them Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control. We talked about getting rid of bad/rotten fruit in your life and to ask God for help to do this. Today Keri talked about creation of Adam and Eve by bringing out a basket of fruit and having the kids imagine the garden of eden. She then shared the Gospel message about Jesus as a perfect/sinless person who died to cover our sin. They listened very closely today and some came up to pray with me at the end. Of course we may never know how much they understand about the Gospel message but that is up to God. The song time with the kids was a blessing today. I wish you all could hear these kids sing. It is a beautiful thing. Please pray for me as some days I get so frustrated that I can't just sit and talk with a child because of the language barrier. When I see a sad face or tears in one of their eyes it just kills me not to be able to tell them that they are loved and ask them what is wrong. Anyway, I have so much more to say but this is getting enormous. Please also pray for Keri, Lisa, and I as we come to the end of the second week. Four more weeks is looking very overwhelming at times. To plan lessons for English class, Bible study every day, songs (for me), a craft and game time every evening after a long day of camp is hard on the brain. Not to mention that we live in a house of 20 or so people which includes 8 kids who are NOT quiet :). Okay, enough for now. One thing i love about this culture is that you greet with a kiss on the cheek. I get kisses and hugs all day long from these kids...that is enought to keep me going!!

More Pictures

PICTURES!!!

Just a few pictures that others took during the first week of camp. These are our first two campers of the week up top, a picture of me pretending to be lifeguard in the pool Friday, and Farrah and Nephtalie on the bottom. Can you say cutie puttoootie!!! More to come :)

Week one of Camp...

Finne (finished)...with week one of English camp. We had a great first week! We had the award ceremony for our first campers of the week (Jeremy and Dylan they loved their metals). Nephtalie was the girl winner (the clincher for her win was when she (at 4 years old) stood up and recited the 23rd psalm in creole for us) and Jean-Ellie the boy. Keri and I gave a puppet show on Friday that was so fun. It was about Jonah and the Big Fish. We sprayed the kids with a water bottle when we talked about the storm. The kids were screaming and laughing. What fun. Its fun to act like a total dork every now and then. Friday is fun day in the afternoon and the kids got to swim in the pool. Wow, we used to be able to see the bottom of that pool...not anymore :) The kids loved it and were so good. We had to keep asking "ale peepee" which means "do you have to pee" to make sure they didn't go in the pool, ha! My kids are learning English so well and I am learning so much too. The kids laugh when I say things wrong in Creole. I can now count up to 1,000...well, sort of. I wanted to thank everyone for their prayers, especially for wisdom as we prepare lessons every evening after long days at camp with 50 kids. It gets very very draining! Today was a great refresher. Byron drove us to the ocean. Nothing like a swim in the Carribean to boost morale :)

English Camp begins

Bonjeux...(Hello) from Haiti. Thanks friends for checking in on me and letting me know you are praying for me on your comments. I appreciate it so much. We have made it through the first two days of camp...WHEW!! So far my English class has learned Hello, how are you....good, fine, not too good, great. The days of the week and body parts. I am learning Creole as well. What a challenge!!! Luckily I have a very good translator who helps me teach and translate the Bible studies and anything else. His name is Alex. He is in his early 20's and was raised in an orphanage, now living on his own and attends church with the missionaries I stay with. This week our theme is the "belt of truth". The Bible study I gave to the little ones at camp was about "truths" about God. They came up with: powerful, made everything, can do anything, and a couple more I cant think of. We had them say God is...(all of the above) to each other in Creole and then English. This was to help them to learn to encourage each other with truths about God to battle against their fears. Key verse was Hebrews 3:13. Please pray for wisdom as the three leaders prepare Bible lessons every day. The kids are loving the theme song "Lord's Army" and do the motions. Ro-Ro, the belts of truth were awesome today. And Collette, we used the stamps and made prayer journals with the older kids today. They enjoyed them. So...things are going well so far. I will keep updating as much as I can. I don't think I will be able to post pictures at this point because the computer is quite slow, but maybe later in the summer. Thanks for your prayers. Bonswa...(Goodbye)