Imagine its 90 degrees outside and you cannot turn on the air conditioner: that was tonight at dinner as we all sit around a long table with neatly sitting plates, cups and silverware. We are the Serenity Village team here in Haiti, all chowing down on the meal tonight called Yakisoba, prepared by the amazing staff. As the room falls silent because of our long day and undeniably delicious meal, our team leader brings up our word for the day. This is a time when we all share one word to describe our experience with the day, an excellent way to build the bonding in our team. It goes around with words like “Connection” and “Exuberance”. Then it comes to me, I first state that my “one word” is actually two; then I finally let out, “In awe”. I am in awe of God’s love for us and how it expelled out of every person we met today. Firstly we ate breakfast together then we all loaded up on sunscreen and bug spray. Then climbed in to what is called a tap tap, a large truck that carries us all in the back. It was a rushed, busy time of day, but because of the group’s discussion and closeness we didn’t notice. Once we reached our destination - Haiti Teen Challenge - we climbed out of the truck and were welcomed by the staff of Teen Challenge. Then we sat down and sang some worship songs in Creole with the fourteen women in residency there. We sat in a circle while two of the residents shared their testimonies and I immediately got teary-eyed. Being a graduate of Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge myself, I felt a rush of compassion for the ladies as they shared their vulnerability with us. I had to let out some words of encouragement but the lump in the back of my throat made my voice shaky. Finally, I was getting through the wave of emotions, and finally got to hear a testimony for Sara our team member. Her courage and testimony left the women with a glimmer in their eyes. Then I knew that I needed to let the women know what I have gone through. Listening to their testimonies, I realized that even if we lived on completely different continents and worlds apart, we felt the same inside. We felt discouraged, extremely sad, and hopeless, but now that we have found people like each other we don’t feel so alone in our fight to succeed and survive. We took a tour of the beautiful building the residents live in, the sewing room where they are learning how to sew their graduation outfits. And finally the garden where bananas, eggplants, and corn were planted as well as an almond tree. Before leaving, we sat down with each other one last time for prayer. We all prayed in our own way, language, and song. As my eyes were tearing up I started to hear the beautiful voices of the TC ladies sing, “I will call your name, keep my eyes above the waves,” “Oceans” from Hillsong. We all joined together to share an amazing experience only God would orchestrate. After the amazing experience at Teen Challenge we went to visit the kiln Serenity Village purchased for Papillon, a beautiful café and pottery shop that started with one women’s dream and four employees, and is now giving jobs to 150 Haitians that can support their families with this income. Finally we stopped at an orphanage called La Loo, we were greeted by the 20 or so children and their angelic voices welcoming us. We all become quickly attached and active with the children, playing jump ropes, catching footballs and frisbees and learning Spanish! One of the children taught some of the team members all the Spanish words he knew from his notebook. What a full afternoon of the welcoming and loving faces of the beautiful people in this country.
~ Becca
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