Parkside – Last Day…

It’s Julie. Today was our last full day at the Mole, and I have the privilege of wrapping up our trip on the blog. We leave tomorrow morning at 8:30 on the charter plan to Port au Prince. Wow. I have been so humbled on this trip. The Haitian people are incredibly strong, passionate people, and I have been so blessed to learn from them this week.

We started off our last day with a VBS for the kids in the orphanage. While we were waiting for all the kids to arrive, a couple of the bigger kids got up and started “leading worship.” They were belting out worship songs (in Creole of course) and we were clapping along. The kids, like all the others this week, loved painting the rocks. And some of the girls began painting their nails too.

This afternoon, we walked around town with one of our interpreters, Kenson. He took us up a hill and asked a couple families if it would be ok if we sat and chatted with them. They welcomed us into their yard and brought out chairs for us (can you imagine if we were this welcoming?). I know this was a pretty amazing part of the trip for all of us. We got to see a closer look to their daily lives.

Ashlyn and I painted nails of the little girls, but also the older women, while Seth and Matthew played with the boys and talked with the adults. I asked one woman what she thought the hardest thing was of raising kids. Her answer was pretty humbling. She said that if you can have a job and provide food, water and education for your children, then the rest is pretty easy. A little different than what my answer would have been if I had been asked. We also were able to pray over a woman who has been ill for a long time with seizures. In one of the homes, two girls painted Ashlyn and my nails! They were very sweet, and played hand claps with us and asked us if we were sisters. The joy on the kids’ faces was amazing all week, and these girls were no different.

Tonight, we went to the beach (about a 5 minute walk from the mission) and had a calming night recapping the week and enjoying our last devotion together. The whole evening I was in awe of God. It was so beautiful to look out on to the ocean and the mountains as the sun set. There were quite a few men out on boats and even a few people swimming, which was very fun to watch.

This week was such a blessing to see how the Haitian people live on so little, but remain strong with smiles on their faces. I am so grateful that I was able to come and spend a short week with them. We are going to wake up early tomorrow morning to hug on the kids in the orphanage one last time. It will be hard to say goodbye to them. They are all so precious. We will see you all soon! I can’t wait to hug on 4 other little kids I know!!