Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Adult Literacy Comes to Grace Village


Last night was the first adult literacy class!  Sponsors paid a onetime fee of $12 to provide 24 students with the instruction booklet you see below as well as a second booklet when they are ready.  We also have 1.5 months of the teacher's salary covered.  If you feel led to cover more of the teacher's salary, please click here to donate.  What a gift it is to be able to provide this basic dignity to these beautiful elders!
Pictured here from left to right are Antchola, Antoinette, Felicie, Pierre and Dieufort.
(Dieufort is still in need of a $40 monthly sponsor....he is such a wonderful man!)


Monday, March 4, 2013

Why?

In preparation for our trip, many friends and family members asked us why we were going to Haiti. In all honesty, we did not fully understand the answers to that question ourselves; at least I did not…until now.
While we were in Haiti we…
• Delivered 10,000 gallons of water, bucket by bucket, to the people that live in one of the poorest places on the planet: City Soliel, Haiti.
• Held, fed, played, and loved hundreds of kids in orphanages, hospitals, and city streets.
• Sang for, prayed with, and brought food and water to homebound seniors.
• Changed diapers for and spoon-fed dozens of sick or starving babies.
• Cleaned, sanitized and bandaged serious injuries for patients at a wound clinic.
• Spent an afternoon at a hospital for sick and dying adults. We massaged their dry bodies with lotion, painted fingernails and prayed for healing. Praise God, two of these men came to faith in Christ. We will be praying for you Jackson Lois and Frenal Jean-Roger.
After some amazing conversations, questions, and prayer, one of our team members rededicated her life to Christ and two of our team members decided to be baptized; it was amazing. We found a beach and baptized our friends in the beautiful turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea. Then just when you thought things could not get any better, one of our Haitian interpreters, Pouchan, decided to be baptized, too. Seriously…only God does that!
team photoBetween serving opportunities we studied, prayed, cried, laughed, shared our stories, made videos, took photos, shared communion, drew pictures, laughed some more and openly praised God together.
So why did we come to Haiti? Our purpose was to love God and love His people. We came to serve, to be stretched beyond our comfort zone and in return, God was working in us. While we were focusing on the ‘going and doing,’ God was transforming us from the inside out. We will leave this place with much more that we came to give.
Thank you, Jesus.
Ray Z
jesus is the way