Happy Sunday from Haiti! We started our day with Haitian worship service. We couldn’t understand a word that was said but could feel God there so strongly. Two things struck me about the service; the joy and the number of times I heard the word “merci” (thank you). It’s odd because I only know a few words but I do know this one and although I don’t know what was said in between I know they talked a lot about thankfulness. As I sat in the military tent they use for church and looked at the foundation of a church that is literally being built by hand, I was amazed again by the faith of these beautiful people.
After church and lunch, Emily and I, along with three of the interns, took one of the sweet kids from the orphanage to the beach for some one on one time. She has mental and physical disabilities and one of the sweetest spirits I’ve ever seen. We took her out into the ocean and her face was priceless. She’s been to the beach before but this was one of the very few times that she was able to receive individual attention. It took a few minutes for her to figure out that everything was okay but once she did her sweet face lit up with a smile! Her muscles relaxed and she enjoyed herself so much! At one point, Emily put on goggles and swam away and then came back and popped up out of the water right in front of her. She thought it was so much fun and smiled so big each time Emily popped up.
After we brought her back, Emily went to hang out with the Castillo kids and some of the teenagers that live here and I went back to the orphanage. One of the little girls crawled in my lap, stuck her fingers in her mouth and I rocked her to sleep. It was wonderful!!!!! Tonight we all had a cookout at the Castillo’s house and then I joined the ladies for a Bible study. This was a wonderful time and I especially enjoyed going to the church site and praying over the grounds it is being built on. Please pray that the church would grow strong – that the people of this town will know the power of Christ and the reality of Him in their lives.
We love and miss you all. Elizabeth, I hope you’ve had a great day! I can’t wait to see you and everyone else!
Love,
-Karen (Mom)
P.S. I can’t believe I forgot to include that Emily caught a chicken today!!! She has perfected Jose’s chicken call and was very proud to call & catch one! (Of course, Jose informed her the chickens are dumb and will stand still for anyone.) But, we’re still going to say it was her excellent chicken calls that did it!
