This biog was written Monday night. Unfortunately, we have had problems with the internet and haven’t been able to post this until now.
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Howdy Y’all! Its C Mac! The last week has been absolutely buck wild and I have so many things to say and share…but to save you all time, I will condense as much as possible!
For Sunday, we had another super full day of learning, serving, and traveling! We started the day with Haitian Church and it went for a solid 2 hours…and honestly, the music was my favorite part, no surprise to those who know me! The entire service was in Haitian Creole except for a section in the middle where the congregation welcomed us and sang us a really awesome welcome song!
After church, we had time for lunch before hopping in the truck and heading to Savane Mole which is a village 45 minutes away from the mission. We had a UV index of 11/11 according to Claire and Maddi so a few of us got a little burnt on the way there and back. (Don’t worry Gillian, Drew remembered to wear sunscreen!)
While we were there, we played soccer and hot potato with the kids in the village and then held a VBS lesson in the little church for everyone who wanted to join. There was the sweetest little boy who sat next to me and I taught him to “explode” the fist bump I gave him. He was very shy and very sweet! All the little ones sat around us and listened as Cole taught about Jesus walking on water and how Peter learned to trust Jesus no matter what. Our translators were a lot of help and we created a really fun environment for the villagers to learn more about Jesus.
After we made it back to the Mission, we ate dinner, unpacked our backpacks, and started prepping for the Easter Party held for the Campus Kids. It was a glow party and we had glow sticks, neon body and face paint, and blacklights for the kids to play with. I got to spray temporary hair color in some of the kiddos hair and give them super cool hair and paint designs. (See mom? Told you that playing with hair dye would come in handy some day!)
Each of the team had a game set up for the kids to play after they had their fun with the glow toys. Brad, Mason, and Kate had a make shift dunking booth that was an absolute hit with all the kids. Leave it to those three to make a memorable experience out of some PVC pipes.
After all the kids had their turn with the games, we did an Easter Egg hunt. And let me tell you, having 2 younger brothers and 6 younger cousins definitely prepared me for this section of the party. We had eggs that would glow in the dark so that the kiddos could find them easily and each one was paired up with a “zammie” or friend from the team. Not to brag, but both of my zammie’s (friend) found lots of eggs super fast.
At the end of the hunt our kiddos got their candy and a cupcake and were sent off to get ready for bed. The team on the other hand immediately got busy packing up and picking up after the party. Now mom, don’t freak out, but I had to beat my personal best for number of glowsticks I could fit in my hair and yes… I beat the previous record of 110 glowsticks with a whopping 170.
So after Drew took lots of pictures of Lady Light-berty we finished up the night. It was a JAM-PACKED day full of church services, rocky truck rides, mildly-involuntary sun bathing, and easter egg hiding, but I think I speak for the group when I say we felt very blessed (if not ridiculously exhausted) by the end of it.
Getting to worship God in a new language was such an exciting experience and I will be trying my best to convince Dallas to let us use Haitian Creole at Underground. Playing with and teaching the little kids in Savane Mole really spoke to my heart and affirmed my love for all the Lords little children and I was really sad when we had to leave.
And finally, the Easter party, I learned so much language-wise (thanks to my linguist Hope) but also I learned that a “language barrier” is only a barrier if you let it be. You really only need to know how to hold a hand, point at an egg, and say “ooooo” when you see something in order to give a kid a quality time. The Lord has been trying to speak to me all week, and I hate to say it, but I might’ve been a little too loud to hear most of it (are we surprised?)
Thankfully, I’m starting to see it now. God never wanted someone to show up and be a fixer of every earthly problem out there. (Something I pride myself on being able to do, how humbling) He wanted someone to show up, “explode” a fist bump, and color some hair and I’m so glad I got a chance to do just that. Anyway, I’ll wrap it up now…catch you on the flip side y’all!
(p.s. Mom, Dad, Will, Connor and all my other friends and family… I haven’t died yet from the lack of cheeseburgers and I have eaten more vegetables than I ever thought physically possible for a self-proclaimed carnivore. Miss you guys lots and I’ll be sure to bring back lots of photos! Love you!)
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We will post an update soon from the group members that visited KaPaFu. They went on Monday, just one day after a devastating fire destroyed the entire fishing village.
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Thank you for sharing your loved ones with us. It was definitely a life-changing week for us here – for those of us who were blessed enough to spend time with these incredible young adults! They were so encouraging & never complained!
