Crossroads Day 6

Tonight the team had a movie night and was unable to blog again. So I’m going to post a short recap of their day.

We started the day by finishing the organization of the depot. We had all the suitcases sorted with supplies and labeled so we just needed to take them all down to the depot and stack them up. Luckily, the guys on the team were willing to carry the heavy suitcases downstairs. They did a great job and the depot looks nice and organized now! Hopefully, sorting and counting out some the medications will really help the next medical team that’s coming in; it was God’s perfect timing that the week before the medical team we had this team with a pharmacist, Lauren, who was able to help sort all the medications out. JD also headed out to the property to work on the Castillo’s house again. They now have running water, woo hoo!

Once all that was done, we just had a little time before market! It’s a great time for teams to buy some Haitian-made goods like coffee, vanilla, machetes, paintings, baskets, and bracelets. And it’s always fun to see the mission staff get into being salesmen, like today as Pierre and Rodner were calling out discount prices and trying to persuade team members to buy certain items. After having a fun time shopping at the market, the team headed over to get ready for the last VBS of the week!

Today was such a fun day at VBS! The kids came ready to have fun and the team delivered. After having lunch together we started right in. Jennifer and Veronica did the last puppet show with Mop talking about Joseph becoming the second-in-command in Egypt. All the kids always get so excited for Mop and they all stand up and try to see and they love shouting, “Bonswa Mop!” Then Matt finished reading the story of Joseph for the kids explaining how God used Joseph to do great things and made a slave into a powerful leader. Mirroring the story of Joseph when Benjamin is found with the royal cup in his bag of grain, we played a modified and very creative game of “hot potato.” Each circle of kids had three bags of sand (which represented grain) and one of the bags had a little trophy (which represented the royal cup) and we all passed the bags around while the music played. When the music stopped the person with the bag containing the royal cup was out. The kids loved this game and I thought it was a great way to connect back to the story while having fun. They were all dancing along with the music and howling with laughter as we passed the bags around.

Then we had some playtime while the team called kids over to get sized for the outfits they were going to give to each kid. Genesis, Kelilah, and the Castillo kids all had fun playing with the VBS kids. Everyone played soccer, jumped rope, colored, and had tons of fun! Pastor Agenor from the church came today to help ask the kids if any of them wanted to accept Jesus and to pray with them. Phil and Lauren explained the importance of accepting and walking with Christ throughout your life and talked about all believers being a part of the family of God. Several kids moved to the front to pray and my prayer for them is that they will continue to talk with Pastor Agenor and further their relationship with Christ.

Then it was time for the grand ceremony where each kid was called by name and Lauren and Veronica presented them with a crown and backpack full of goodies – including the t-shirt they tie-dyed and their new outfit. Each kid was told they are a child of God, a prince or princess of the One True King. They were hugged and loved on. I know that every kid left knowing they were loved by God and by us. I’m glad we were able to just show them a glimpse of God’s love for them.

Then they got to walk out of VBS down the red carpet to high fives and cameras flashing (Phil and Matt were great paparazzi!) like true royalty. After VBS we had dinner before getting ready for movie night! The team was going to show the movie “Joseph: King of Dreams” in the town square to connect with the story of the week and all the VBS kids were invited! It was great just getting to hang out in the community and see the kids we’ve built relationships with again. It was so cute because a bunch of the VBS kids showed up wearing their tie-dye shirts! They were so excited to have been a part of VBS this week and just become better friends with all of us. After the movie it was time for bed after a long and exhausting day! Tomorrow we’re planning on heading out to a fishing village, Kapafu, in the morning to do a mini-VBS with the people there.
Bonswa everyone!
– Intern Emily

We could only get one photo of today to upload, but here are some photos from yesterday that never got posted!