A Heart for Haiti

Alo from Haiti to all of our friends and family back home.  We think of and pray for you often!  Today was a very good day.  It began in a very meaningful way.  On our way to Shalom House we saw one of Haiti’s mass grave sites.  The one we saw is about the size of a football field.  Our interpreters told us their stories of what they went through when the earthquake hit Haiti in January 2010, and they described to us how the mass graves were created.  It’s a very sad story, but one we will be happy to share with you when we return.  Even though we felt sad we all agree that the mass grave site had a very Holy and reverent feeling to it.  After that we were on our way to Shalom House, one of the orphanages Healing Haiti sponsors.  We were blessed to take 12 children and 2 helpers from the house to the beach at Wahoo Bay.  It was a Haitian field trip!  It is very difficult to put into words how beautiful this beach is.  Picture jewel toned water surrounded by beautiful rocks and stones, blue sky, and lush trees and flowers with majestic mountains in the background.  I spent a moment by myself by the edge of the water just soaking it in.  I was on a beach in Haiti – unreal!  We were, however, mostly excited for the children.  This was only the second time they have ever been to the beach.  It was fun to observe them and compare them to the children at my preschool back home.  We are worlds away but so similar.  Some children dove in right away while some held back and just watched for a while.  There was one little boy who spent a lot of time on the edge.  At one point he had a sand sifter on top of a mold and he was dipping a sponge in the water and squeezing it into his contraption and watching the effect.  I saw the same eagerness towards natural learning and discovery that I see back home and it just made me feel like all would be well.  Suffice it to say, we were in the water all day!  It was just the blessing our team needed today after our morning on the water truck and afternoon at General Hospital yesterday.  We were weary so God provided the rest and restoration we needed.  Our leader, Carol, told us that Healing Haiti carefully maps out the week of serving to create the best experience possible.  I can attest to this.  On our first day, as we pulled up to our first water truck stop my heart grew so big as I went to step out of the Tap Tap truck.  I looked down at a sea of beautiful faces and saw them all reaching up for me to hold them and my heart grew so full.  Then, as I picked up two beautiful kids and started walking forward I noticed all of the broken glass on the ground and the kids running around with no shoes.  My full heart immediately shattered like that glass.  But, bit by bit, through different service opportunities throughout the week God has rebuilt my heart.  He’s putting it back together the way He wants it to be.  And as we continue to serve any time my heart starts to feel comfortable, or needs to be humbled God will start taking it down again.  At this point I have no idea what my heart will look like as I end this wonderful trip, but I know that by God’s grace it will be a heart with different priorities than when I first began this journey.  It will be a heart filled with love and service towards others.  And it will be a heart for Haiti.

In His name,

Joan