Day 5 in Haiti

Due to the lateness of the post, expect pictures tomorrow as they take at least an hour or more to upload, and I don't feel like staying up too much longer.

             

            Thanks,

            Kyle Young, Blogger Extraordinaire

            Haiti is unlike any other place I have ever been. It’s not what you see on TV or in the newspapers. Rubber, dirt, and trash cover the streets and surround all the people. Old tin boxes are the children’s toys, and the pile of dirt and rocks are their play place. As kid after kid love on me, and beg for my attention, I have wondered all week what it was that the Lord was wanting to share with me. It wasn’t until a couple days ago that I was convicted and my eyes were open. All week, I had experienced an indescribable love from the Haitian orphans. There was still something that I felt I was missing, something that the Lord wanted to teach me that I still had not grasped. On Saturday night, as I laid in bed, I prayed to God, begging that he would show up on Sunday morning at church. I so desperately craved for what the Lord was wanting to teach me and I felt confident that he would show me the next morning. That morning, I sat in church with a child on my lap, with no air conditioning, and the inability to understand what was going on during the service. I started to get frustrated, because I was trying so hard to understand what I needed to learn, and I felt like it was still not clicking in my head. I prayed during the service that my eyes would be opened. It was not until worship that I witnessed the way the Haitian people honestly, and fully worshiped the Lord. They were dancing and raising their hands, with tears streaming down their faces. I realized that even though these people had absolutely nothing, they still gave every ounce of what they had to the Lord. Some of these families had lost countless friends and families in the earthquake, and I had lost absolutely nothing; and yet I found myself only partially giving myself up to the Lord in worship. The Lord has taught me in Haiti that we are all broken, in desperate need of Christ. It doesn’t matter where we live, or how much money we have, or whether we have both parents or not; we are to completely surrender to Him. He is the only thing we can count on in our time of need, and the fact that he has given us the gift of breathing, gives us all the reason to worship Him fully and openly.

I can’t wait to come home tomorrow and share more stories and lessons the Lord has taught me here in Haiti. Thank you for all the prayers this week, they have been a blessing.

God bless,

Lilly Beil

            Oh Lord, where to even begin I just don’t even know! I’ll start with the saying we have been saying everyday this week – we are blessed so that we may be a blessing, I have spent a lot of time just meditating on that, and it is just as simple as that. And getting the chance to bond with each and every child that in itself is such a blessing to me, I just only pray that I could have been the same to them. The thing that really awakened me on this trip was of course all the children, but today we went to the memorial for all the earthquake victims. It was a big sulfur mine that they ended up using to put all the bodies from the earthquake and they marked it by a bunch of black crosses lining the area, and had a few larger crosses, and once I was at the top of the hill and just gazed down at all the crosses, just amazed, and mind blown at how many people had lost their lives, and didn’t even get a proper burial, but what were they suppose to do in such dismay. And then the guy leaders went out with the machete and started propping up all crosses that had fallen over and I could just see clear as day how it must have looked to be there the day it was all happening and my heart just broke! Then there were some Haitians just walking up past us, and they all stopped and helped and slowly everyone was helping put up all the crosses that had fallen. It was the most magical, surreal thing I have been a part of, and then we all gathered holding hands and sang and then prayed for Haiti, the people, it was just the greatest fellowship ever! And I know my mom will be reading this, and all I want for Christmas is another sibling! J but really! These kids just love on you even though they know eventually we will fail them and that these kids still show us the unconditional love! And getting to meet kids the same age as my brother, and me just really showed me that we are no different in anyway-that every kid loves to be loved and longs for that and even though our parents love us the most but that it doesn’t even compare to how God loves us. And that’s what I have truly learned on this trip. And let me apologize if this sounds a little all over the place, I have soo much to share its hard to break it all down so small. And its been a full week here at Haiti and I don’t want to leave I mean a real good shower is gonna feel nice but I am going to have to leave behind half of my heart here. But anyway I should go get to packing since in a few short hours we will be up and on the plane back to good ol Kansas city. Love you all so much and thank you for all the prayers this trip has been such a blessing! Dani Reeves