Feast

Yesterday was the last day of Teacher's Summer Institute.  What a bittersweet time spent together with  people who are friends and colleagues and, most importantly, brothers and sisters in Christ. 

The highlight of this summer was being able to spend time talking and thinking and laughing and crying and praying and singing and playing and philosophizing with these amazing people.  I have so valued the insights that these men and women have shared with me over the past month.  They are thoughtful and caring and funny and loving educators and it is sincerely an honor to get to spend summers with them.  I sometimes walk away from a day with the staff at Christian Light School and pray that they might get one thing from our time together, knowing that I get hundreds of blessings from being with them each day.

To celebrate the accomplishment of finishing another Summer's training session, and also to unite the staff for the upcoming school year, we jumped into trucks and headed out to a local museum and restaurant.  There we learned a bit about the history of sugar cane in Haiti.  It was neat going through a museum experience with a group of teachers.  You could almost hear the information being sucked up by minds that are eager to learn! 

After the tour, we sat down to a yummy meal for our own little "feast."  It seemed like everyone was really enjoying the chance to just relax and enjoy spending time together.  

My friend and staff member at CLS, Ms. Guetty, was a big help with negotiating the payment and schedule for our visit.  When we arrived, we had a handful less teachers than we had originally planned, so she talked with the restaurant about cutting us a deal for the empty seats in our reservation.  Of course, as any good business would do, they explained that they had prepared the buffet for a certain number of people and couldn't change the pricing so late.  Well, that answer wasn't good enough for Ms. Guetty, who walked away from the meeting with the manager with a look of determination in her eyes.  "If we are going to pay for all of those meals, then people will eat!"  She was outraged that people would be starving on the streets and we would have food to spare at our table.  So, she walked over to the leader of a large group of children who were playing in the yard of the museum and explained the situation to him.  She told him that if he was able to choose, we would be happy to treat 6 of the children from his group to lunch.  And so, within a few minutes, the youngest of the children from the group, which turned out to be a community group which was just visiting the museum but unable to afford the restaurant, were sitting interspersed with the teachers of CLS.  As I looked around the table, I watched these educators converse with theses unknown little boys and girls whose eyes were wide as saucers at the food piled before them.  My heart was a mixture of utter joy and thankfulness.  Joy because I got to be a part of this feast table, this table of celebration and community and family.  Thankfulness that God has provided for us to enjoy the day and also to be a blessing to those around us as well.  By the end of the meal, I was struck once again by the heart of love that each of these teachers are blessed with.  They weren't "on duty" during this celebration, but they responded to the appearance of these little ones in the most natural of ways - by being teachers.  It made my heart sing!

I think about these teachers and their way of loving children and I pray that my students in New Hampshire would know even a fraction of that love and care from me, that they might see glimpses of my Heavenly Father in me.  As I look forward to transitioning back to life in the States soon, I'm praying for eyes to look at the places and people that God has placed me in the midst of and I'm praying for a heart that is moved with love and compassion.  I've had great examples this summer with these dear friends at Christian Light School!

Many thanks to you for following along again on another summer in Haiti!  With much love in Christ, Jessie :)

Super

I met a new friend, Brittany, this week who had been a visiting teacher from the States two years ago.  She had a very special bond with the special education class that she taught at CLS.  This week she came back for a visit and had some really sweet time with her students.  It's always exciting to meet different people who are involved in ministry in Haiti!  Like most visitors, Brittany and her mom, Tammy, brought bags full of goodies for their friends in Haiti.  One of gifts that they brought with them was a bag full of costumes.  It was so much fun watching the children from the home running around pretending to be superheroes!

For most of the summer, the littlest kiddo at the home, Jean Wilson, has been breaking into his alter-ego, Superman.  He runs around the yard and pretends to fly.  I pretend to swoon and we giggle about the idea of a superhero who comes to save the day.

In watching the kids play pretend like this, I can't help but think of some real life heroes of the faith that I've met over my time in Haiti.  I find that I meet such amazing people doing so many amazing things, and I want to know how to help and support their work beyond a few weeks in the summer.  They are inspiring examples of faith in action and my own understanding of what it means to be a Christian in this life is changed for having known them.  

This week I have really been impressed with the need to be praying specifically for the needs of these brothers and sisters and the ministries they are involved with.  I wanted to share a bit more about a few of my friends and personal heroes...

Ms. Clotilde and Mr. Walner are friends from past years at Christian Light School.  They are currently working as the house parents for the Rev Haiti Children's Home.  In addition to their work with the orphans, on the weekends they have also started an informal community schooling program in their neighborhood.  I had the opportunity to visit them earlier this summer and shared a bit about this in a previous post.  This week I talked more with Ms. Clotilde about their work with the neighborhood children. 

Clotilde told me that they started the school/church program because this generation of children in their neighborhood don't have families who will support them as they grow.  She said the families are broken by teen pregnancy, substance abuse, and voodoo worship. She said the children needed others to come into their lives to teach them about simple things in life that no one else is teaching them.  As they instruct the kiddos on how to show respect for others or care for themselves, they are also teaching them about Jesus and His great love for them.  Resources are hard to come by, but Clotilde and Walner are generous beyond what seems sensible, and continue to welcome dozens of children to their yard each weekend.

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Rev means dream in Creole.  The Rev Haiti Children's Home is the newly adopted name of the children's home that I have been partnering with since my first visit to Haiti.  For various reasons, the home as branched off from the school and joined with a new mission organization.  My friend, Amber, who I met in 2013, has officially taken charge of the home.  Working with her home church and their sending mission organization, Amber has come back into the lives of the nearly 40 children living at the home.  I can't begin to express the thankfulness I feel when I think about Amber's willingness to pour out her life for these kiddos.  After years of being shuffled to different homes and living under different orphanage directors, these kids finally have a chance at a stable, consistent, loving, family-like home situation.  The task at hand is very complicated.  Not only does Amber need to care for the day-to-day needs of all the kids and teens living at the home, she is also responsible for overseeing the staff of nannies and cooks, maintaining the housing, ensuring all the children have proper medical care, and is currently working on updating the orphanage and registering it with the Haitian government, which is a road marked with many hurdles. 

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I'm hoping that it's not just me who tends to worry and fret over the people that I love.  Instead of thinking of friends like Clotilde and Walner and Amber and lifting them up in prayer, I often let the questions and concerns about their lives and their ministries circle in my mind.  As if my worrying about their safety and physical provisions and endurance in the faith would actually help!  Instead, I'm writing this post in the hopes that I will remember to turn those worries and concerns into prayer and that you may join with me in praying for these dear ones!

Ephesians 6 ...praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

Much love and thankfulness in Christ, Jessie