2/15/10

Tuesday
January 12, 2010
Petit-Goâve, Haiti

The day began similarly to the others, starting with a devotion in the morning. This time I chose the story of a women who suffered from bleeding for 12 years (Luke 8:40-48). She had so much faith in who Jesus was, she knew if she only touched his cloak, she would be healed. What faith! I compared the strong faith of this woman to the weak faith of the disciples as they doubted that Jesus would bring them through the stormy seas unharmed in their boat (Luke 8:22-25). They didn't think that the Son of God would take care of them? That he wouldn't bring them through the storm all right? Thinking back to this devotion is a little crazy. Who knew how much this 5 minute Bible reflection would apply to our day?

We worked in Percin for the morning - moving small rocks and sand for the concrete mixture to be mixed later that day. It was great to see members of the community helping us out once again, but that didn't make it any less hot out. We tired quickly, working about 3 1/2 hours before returning for some much needed rest and lunch. I needed a power nap, so I got one of those in after lunch.

We spent the next little while planning our Vacation Bible School for that afternoon. Our story was from Daniel 6:1-28, also known as "Daniel and the Lion's Den." If you have a minute, check it out! But in the end of this story, Daniel is spared from the mouths of the lions while in the lion's den because he has faith in God and continually prays to God for protection. Our lesson for the kids that afternoon was this: In hard and dangerous times, trust in God and pray to Him and He will protect you. This is now about an hour before the earthquake hit. Now you can't tell me God didn't plan that out - to have us tell these children that their hope will be found in God during hard times. Can you explain that any other way? Coincidence only goes so far...

The craft for the day was a lion's mask. We had acted out the story for the kids and used paper plates with eye holes, string around the edges, and a face drawn on for the lion's mask. They were each given a blank paper plate, orange string, and some crayons to make their own. It was fun! Even more fun to see how different kids draw the ferocious lions! Meaning that some weren't so ferocious...and others didn't even resemble lions. But that's not the point, the point is that the kids were able to reenact the story of Daniel and the Lion's Den after we finished acting it out. That's what counts!

We played soccer again with the Haitians who were our age or at least in their 20's. We had fun, but this time the Haitians showed the Americans that they were a little better - I blamed it on the size of the goals. The following photos were taken on January 12th before the earthquake. I will pick up the rest of the day on my next post. In the meantime, enjoy these photos. They are some beautiful children and they need your prayers. So take a moment to pray for them, their families, their homes, their communities, and their country.


















Was he as terrified of me as he looks? Yes.




My favorite photo.




Another favorite.


Marcio with his buddy












I couldn't decide between B/W and color for this photo, so I chose both. Such a beautiful girl.

2 comments: