First full day,
This is team member Willi Pederson. It was wonderful to start this day seeing all of our team members finding little corners to do their own personal devotions. I love the hearts of my team members and it is a privilege watching them living out their personal time with the Lord. After breakfast we headed out in the TapTap to Teen Challenge. Riding the TapTap is an experience in itself! We all pile in the back of a Fed Ex size truck that has benches on the side and wire mesh up to the roof & hang on for the ride! Roads are very rough and bumpy and we are hanging on for dear life as we look out and see the Haitians "doing life". I saw a woman balancing 8 dozen eggs on her head walking up a steep hill. The physical strength and balance of Haitians is amazing!
At Teen Challenge we were introduced to the students and the programs. It is a 18 month program for teens who have come out life challenges hard to imagine. Most have been sexually abused and many orphaned. They grow up in an environment impossible for us as Westerners to comprehend. At Teen Challenge they learn what it is like to live with a roof over their head, protected physically, and learn to know Jesus learn life skills. They will stay there for 18 months and then go back to their communities to be the light of Jesus. Their joy was undeniable. I gave my personal testimony of redemption through an interpreter. The girls were on the edge of their seats & applauded when if finished. I wanted them to know I had made plenty of bad decisions in my life and how redeemed we all are. We are all, indeed, sisters in Christ.
Afterwards we treated the girls to manicures, pedicures & facials and the braided our hair. It was a sweet time of international sisterhood we will take into eternity. My heart was full as we left.
In the afternoon we went to orphanages where we fed & held babies and played with the older children. They had health issues - many very malnourished and so small for ages. Most are orphaned or abandoned. Touch is universal and all of them longed to be held. One particular little girl attached herself to me and called me mama. It made me weep - I physically could not be a mother, so to be called mama was a bigger gift than that little girl will ever know. At one point she crawled up my back & just wanted to play with my blonde hair. When I became overwhelmed, this sick little girl patted me on my back to comfort me. A moment in time etched in my memory forever.
At evening devotions we each shared memories of the day. Journeying with these sisters in Christ is another indescribable memory. For the first time since arriving, I slept soundly tonight after my cold water shower. I am blessed beyond my wildest dreams.
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