Our God reigns

This week has been a fun and eventful week for me! I went to the coffee shop twice this week haha and it was great. I think I like going to the coffee shop so much because it just gives me a chance to get away from all the craziness that goes on here. We had three teams staying here last week and another team that came everyday for the week, which meant that during the day we had about 50 or more people on the compound… It was just hectic. I really did enjoy meeting a lot more people and there was so much word that was completed, but I needed those two trips to Rebo Express. Megan and I went together with Ashleigh and we just a nice time hanging out and talking (and sitting in an air conditioned room). This week we have tutored the 4th graders in math every morning and also the younger kids in reading and reading comprehension in the afternoons. With the 4th graders we worked on subtraction with borrowing and fractions, division, multiplication, and work problems. We chose these because we asked the students where they needed improving and those were some of the places. I enjoyed working with the kids because there were 5 students and 4 of us and so we were able to work closely with each student and help them specifically with what they needed. The students we have were Carmelle, Jovenel, Richardson, Wilderson, and Wilna; it was amazing to see how bright they all were! At the beginning of the week they needed a lot more help with the problems, but by the end of the week they pretty much got all the problems right! Some of them really liked to go up to the board and work the problems.

The afternoon tutoring with the younger children was also great! Each day we would read one or two books and ask the children to draw a picture of something that had to do with the book. For example, we read the book The Tiny Seed, which was about flowers and them spreading their seeds. So, of course, a lot of them would draw a lot of pictures of flowers, people with flowers, seeds, etc. It was so so cute and I just love seeing them draw and get excited about their drawings. I remember when I was younger all I wanted to do was draw and color as much as I could. I also think it is important to tell the kids how great their picture is, because it’s good for them to know they are appreciated! Their faces lit up when any of us would complement their picture. On Friday we decided that we would have them help me think of positive adjectives to describe a person. So we had words like funny, nice, silly, good listener, always smiling, etc. and afterwards we traced each student’s hand and the other students would choose 5 adjectives that describe them for each finger. Then, after we did that for each kid they were able to color and decorate their hand. I LOVED doing this because they all were able to see how wonderful they really are and for them to know that they are loved. I know I have said that a lot, but all of the children are special and they need to know that they are loved by our Lord and by us. My entire time I have been here I have made sure all these children know how much they are appreciated because that can have a lasting affect on them.

One afternoon I was hanging out with the kids down in the courtyard and they asked me what I was like when I was younger, and I actually had a picture of me when I was about 8 years old. I pulled out my phone and showed them the picture of my dad and me from a Daddy Daughter Dance. They all looked and were like “Oh my gosh you were beautiful!!” and it probably was the sweetest thing ever. I think it was cool for them to see that I have actually been their age one time before. We walked to Sisters of Charity later that day and it was a hot day… I was dripping sweat by the time we got there, but was excited to get to see all of the babies. I went to Sisters of Charity last summer also, but it is where very sick children come and stay for some time. In the mornings, the parents of the child come to feed their child and spend time with them. It is important for the parents to come each day so that they stay attached and close to their child. During the afternoons they let people come and help the nannies feed all of the kids. So a group of us walked there and helped feed the kids. It is one of my favorite things to do here, but it’s a big wake up call on how bad some things are here and that there are starving children around our compound. It’s hard each time I go because you can tell the children just want to be held and loved. Also, when you are feeding them they are just so so hungry and want you to feed them their porridge as fast as you can. I love being there because when you hold the baby you try and make them smile as much as possible and it is the best feeling in the world when they flash you their wonderful smile. I just hate having to leave because once you put the child back into their crib they start waling because they want to be picked up again. It breaks my heart and makes me teary every time.

For the time I have been here the city power usually turns off around 5 p.m. and our inverter system shuts down around 1 or 2 a.m. A team that was here though fixed the inverter system to here it will work all night!! One night this week, however, we didn’t have power and it was so frustrating because we have had power pretty much all night, and we were scared we wouldn’t have it for the rest of the night. It reminded me of last summer when we had a tropical storm blow through here and we didn’t have power for about 3 days. It was so crazy and so hot because we wouldn’t have fans at all during the night; we had to only use our small fans. I appreciated air conditioning and fans so much more those 3 nights, and so when I was frustrated the other night I just had to think about those nights again. I needed the reminder that there are so many people around the world that are not as lucky as I have been with fans and air conditioning. Our power ended up working later on and we were thankful for the fans, but we even had a nice breeze so God wanted us to have a nice cool night :) My friend, Kathleen, has finally arrived!! She along with other teachers arrived Friday afternoon! I was so so thankful that everything worked out smoothly and that she got here safely. I am so excited for summer school to start and for us to be used as God’s hands and feet for these students. Kathleen and Megan will be teacher assistants for Ashleigh’s class and I will be the teacher assistant for Tammy’s class! It is excited and relieving to know that we all will have an experienced teacher lead the class. School this summer is for the older students, 6^th grade through 10^th grade. The reason we are doing the older students is because last summer we saw a vast improvement with the younger students that had summer school. Ms. Sherrie wanted the older students to get the opportunity to improve as well! I am excited, but nervous, because I have never really worked with older students. I am in Early Childhood Education and so the oldest grade I will be teaching is 3^rd grade. So, having to teach 7^th graders will be a small challenge for me, but I am excited to see how the Lord uses me and helps me to grow. We will be focusing on reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, and writing. We have prepared so much the past few days and so I think all teachers are just ready for tomorrow to be here. Summer school will be from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and then afterwards I will be tutoring a little boy in the afternoon from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. The tutoring will fun but challenging because tomorrow we will mainly just be seeing where we need to start with him. We have reading tests for each grade level and in order to pass and move to the next reading level the student needs to receive a 70 or above. So he will take a reading test for each grade level, starting at 2^nd grade, until we see where he needs to begin. Pray that Courtney and I will have the patience and understanding to help this student as much as we can while we are here. Courtney will be here for the whole summer school and so she will be able to work with him after I am gone.

Friday night I had the joy of sleeping in a hammock on the roof for the night! We needed a few beds open and so I offered for someone to sleep in my bed will I slept in a hammock. There were about 6 of us that slept on the roof. I was really excited about sleeping on the roof because I remembered my last night last summer when I group of us slept on mattresses on the roof. There is such a great breeze up there and so you actually get cold and need a blanket! So I prepared myself and brought up my pillow and blanket to the roof (and earplugs for the noise). Mrs. Shanda let me use one of her hammocks that had a mosquito net attached so I was pumped! I took a sleeping pill and fell asleep easily, but I woke up several times while I was up there. It was uncomfortable or anything but I just would wake up so easily to anything that happened. Ashleigh came up and even said I slept talk a little while I was asleep (Oops) so that was kind of funny/embarrassing to find out the next morning. Overall, I really did enjoy sleeping up there but am thankful for the bed I have here haha. The next day we ate at Epidor for lunch and I had a yummy ham and cheese sandwich. The rest of the day we spent back at Christian Light just hanging out with the kids and preparing our classrooms for class Monday. The kids had another movie night which meant once again... POPCORN! I seriously love making the popcorn here and want to make stove top popcorn when i get home!

This afternoons, we made peanut butter cookies and cake for the Haitian teachers tomorrow that will be coming for teacher training :) They smelled soooo good and I couldn't help but steal one of course! We were able to go to Port Au Prince Fellowship this morning and I was so happy! The pastor that has been here the past years sadly left to return back home in Australia, but the church was blessed with another great pastor! He had a great message this morning that talked about our thirst for the Lord and how we need to satisfy our thirst with the Lord. It made me think of the times where I wasn’t as close to the Lord and when one day I would just have a great need to be closer to God. I am so blessed to have quenched my thirst since I have been here. I have grown so much closer to the Lord while I have been here and I hope that I may continue my growth as I go back home. This next week will go by so fast so just pray that I will enjoy each day with the students and the children in the orphanage! I am getting really sad that it is almost over but am excited to see what the Lord has in store for me when I return home! I will be posting one more time while I am here to give yall an update on school and then when I come home I will write a post! 

“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; 

I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, 

in a dry and parched land where there is no water.”

-Psalm 63:1

Lord, my life is in Your hands

There is a huge tree next to us that is filled with a small fruit called a kenep. When you first look at the fruit it just looks like a green grape. I saw it on the tree and wondered what it was. A few weeks ago I asked some of the kids here what it was and all they would tell me was, “not yet, once it is ripe I will show you.” I was so curious and frustrated because I wanted to know what it was!! I couldn’t reach the fruit and so I just had to patiently wait until they were ripe. Did I know when they were supposed to be ready? Nope, but I was hoping it would be soon. Two workers here, Wisnal and Yvonet, live next door to us and Ivonet’s brother, Wilness, lives with them. Every morning I see Wilness on their roof and he yells my name and we say hi to each other. He doesn’t know English very well so all we really say is hello and how are you and things like that (the only things I know in Creole). One day, Wilness came over near the dining room and said “Katy, wait minute. I am your surprise.” I was so confused. I’m your surprise? What is he saying? I just nodded and said I would wait for him. A few minutes later he came back and had in his hand a huge pile of keneps!! He climbed the tree to get Lindsey, Tammy, Ashleigh, me and others more keneps. It was so sweet of him! I learned that day how special it is to get keneps. All of the children here love them and eat them like they are candy. I was kind of nervous about eating the first one and didn’t really even know how I was supposed to eat it! I brought over one of the boys and they showed me how to take of the peel and just pop the kenep in my mouth like candy. I was surprised because the fruit it mainly the seed in the middle. The kids told me I just had to suck on it until all of the juice and fruit part is gone. It was actually fun to eat because it looks like you have a huge jawbreaker in your mouth. All of the kids love the keneps and you see seeds everywhere on the ground from where they just spit them out as they walk around.

 

On Tuesday, Lindsey, Tammy, Josh, Ashleigh and I decided to walk to the coffee shop again to have lunch! The first time we went we only had drinks, but we saw they had sandwiches that looked pretty tasty. The road we had to cross on foot, however, was a lot busier than it was the Saturday we went. Edmund was kind enough to drive us there and so we didn’t have to cross the street YET. We eat ordered our lunch and I decided on a chicken teriyaki sandwich. It was good but so so spicy! I love spicy foods, but it took me a while to eat my sandwich from all the spicy. I thankfully had my frappe again and an ice cold water to cool me down. We hung out and talked for a bit and then decided it was time to head back. We walked out and noticed the road was still so busy! We had to cross it and there were no stoplights or stop signs. When we felt there was an opportunity to go and sprinted across the street. My blood was pumping as a crossed because it looked like a motorcycle was coming straight towards me. That was one of the craziest things I’ve done. I guess I can cross that off my bucket list: Running across one of the busiest roads in Port Au Prince… Sorry Mom and Dad.

Wednesday and Thursday were easy, relaxing days. There are a lot of donations that come to Christian Light throughout the year and so one way we showed the donors gratitude is by sending them a thank you picture! So for a few times we have had the kids draw a thank you sign and we take a picture of them holding it. I had the opportunity to make a thank you card for a group that sent tons of French books. I made an outline and let the children color in the letters; it was so cute because they were all so excited to color. I have learned that coloring is a definite hobby for most of the kids here, so I will be doing that more often with them. I loved telling each of them how great they are doing because their faces would light up and I could tell it made them feel good. I try and make it a point to tell them either how nice they look, how polite they are, how good they are doing, etc. because these kids need to know that they are special and are appreciated. They need to know they are loved by, not only me, but the Lord also. We had a lot of people come in this weekend and so it was a little hectic. The summer school director, Beverly, came in Thursday! She was the director for last summer too and so I was very excited for her to be here. Katelyn also came Thursday and she was here last summer for a week while I was here too, so it was nice to see a few familiar faces. Katelyn will be moving to the new orphanage house with the children and she will also be in charge of the Baby Feeders Program. She is so awesome and so I cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for her during her first year here! One of my great friends, Megan, is finally here!! Two ladies from my church, Mrs. Shanda and Amanda, were on her flight and so that made things a lot less stressful for Megan. I made sure they talked before then so that they could travel together. We also had a team come Saturday and a team come Sunday. So I guess you could say we have a full house right now! It was stressful at first but things are working out so far!

I was able to see the new orphanage this week! I was so excited because I haven’t gotten the chance to walk down there and see it for myself. A few of us walked down there to check and make sure the water was running and the lights were working. It is right down the road from Christian Light, which will be good for the children to walk to school each morning. The building is just a temporary house for the children because Ms. Sherrie is planning on buying land to build our own! So right now she is renting this one for a year so far. When we got there I was surprised by how nice it looked on the outside. It just looked so brand new and pretty! We walked in and inspected each room and check the water in the kitchen and bathrooms. It all looked so good and really made me want to move in there as well! There are still a few small things that need to be done and so we are hoping to move in there in the next couple of weeks! One of the ladies I have hung out with since she has been here, Ashleigh, made headbands before her trip. She has been a good friend for me since I have been here and there was a group of ladies that really liked the headband I have gotten from her. She only had a few left but we thought we could make a few more with the pieces of fabric we have in the sewing lab. So Megan and I helped make a few extras and they all loved them! I even made me another one too haha. You will probably see tons of pictures of me wearing it so just prepare yourself. I will be wearing them all around Auburn when I get back too.

On Saturday, the group of us went up to the mountains for a little trip! It is always so fun to drive up there because it is a lot cooler and the view is amazing. I love seeing the city from up there. There was quite a lot of traffic on the way up there and on the way back so it was a long trip for us, but I think it was worth it. I always like getting out of the compound and seeing the surrounding places. Where we stopped at the mountain had a few vendors that really wanted us to buy stuff. It was overwhelming at first because so many kept coming up to me telling prices, but I just learned to say no and walk away from it all. I did end up buying two necklaces though which will be a nice addition to my collection of necklaces back at home. There were so many paintings that were all so neat to look at; most of them were oil paintings too and they were beautifully done. Each painting was unique as well so a lot of us just stood and looked at all the different paintings. After we were done with our mountain trip we stopped at a place called the Caribbean Market. It was my favorite place to go when I was here last summer, and so I was pumped to go back. They have a really good bakery that has awesome sandwiches and desserts. Me and Sam would spilt a sandwich and a dessert when we would go last year, but that day I was starving so I ate a whole sandwich on my own (and they are huge sandwiches too). It is also a grocery store, a very nice one actually, so we all decided to just stroll around and see what all is there. I ended up getting a chocolate bar because I really don’t eat a lot of candy while I am here. That night there was something going on with the shower tank and we thought we were going to have to take a bucket shower. What a bucket shower is is where we go downstairs to the cistern, fill a bucket up with that water, bring the bucket upstairs, and use a cup to shower. I have never had to take a bucket shower and so I was a little anxious about how well it would go, but when in Haiti right? Well I thought I would fill the bucket with the cistern water, and while I was filling it we got the shower tank fixed! So I ended up not having to take a bucket shower, which now I kinda wish I did so that I could say I did haha. Maybe another time.

With a big group coming Sunday, they needed both trucks to pick them up from the airport and so we did not get to go to Port Au Prince Fellowship. I was really sad, but some of us went into the sewing lab, got things ready for tutoring this week, and listened to worship music and an Andy Stanley sermon. It was fun getting things ready for tutoring because it felt like I was a teacher getting ready for the school year!! That night we had a small little devotion where the older boys in the orphanage lead us in worship and we had some prayer requests. I love when we are all just sitting around and singing together because it is neat hearing everyone’s voices singing along together. We are going to start having devotion every night so that we build a relationship with one another that is centered around our God. It will also be a time where we hear announcements and figure out what will be going on the next day. We are tutoring the kids every day this week. Each day there are four of us that will tutor the 4th graders in their math skills and then later in the afternoon we will do reading and reading comprehension with some of the younger kids. Today, we worked on division with the 4th graders and it was fun seeing how well they each were doing! We only did 3 problems, but there were only 5 of them and so we split up and worked with each kid individually, and I had two of them. After they completed the problems we called them to the board where they would work out the division problem and another student would check the work. I was so so impressed by them today and am excited to see how well the continue to go this week! Instead of working with the younger kids this afternoon, I went to a medical clinic with Allex. Allex was very sick last week and we wanted some answers about what was going on. He told me he had malaria before and that he thinks he is relapsing, but we wanted to be sure. Edmund took Allex and I to the clinic where he drew blood, and in 24 hours we will no whether or no he is positive or negative for malaria. If he is positive we will get medicine and make him drink neem tea everyday; if it is negative we will just have to guess that he maybe had the virus that has been going around. Please pray we get clear answers and can move forward to make sure Allex's health is better! 

 This week has been fun, fun, fun and very relaxing! I am thankful for the time that has been spent here. Willness is a boy full of surprises and gifts, and he surprised me with a pineapple. It was probably one of the sweetest things ever because it was such a kind gesture with a big meaning. He didn't have to give me anything at all, but the fact that he somehow bought the pineapple for me made my day. It just shows again how the people I have met here have such big hearts. God has blessed me so much by sending me here, but he also has shown me how much I continue to love this country. Some may not understanding how I could fall in love with a place like this, but for me this really is like a second home. The people I am surrounded by do nothing but lift me up and bring me closer to God. I hear and feel God everywhere I turn here, whether it is in the ravine, at church, in the truck, anywhere. I can feel Him in me and around me and I love that feeling. I hope it continues when I return home. I will be updating more next week once summer schools starts! Continue to pray for all of the summer school teachers that will be arriving to Haiti in the next few days! Also pray for the students and pray they will learn and grow more during their time in summer school!  

"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, 

for my power is made perfect in weakness." 

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, 

so that Christ's power may rest on me"

-2 Corinthians 12:9

BE-Loved

Early this week my mom and I talked about the word Beloved. I told her how much I loved that word because I love knowing that I am God’s Beloved. I am dear to Him and He loves me with all of his heart. Not only does He love me with all His heart but He loves you that much too!! He loves all of us with all that He has and that is such a reassuring feeling. How great it is that our God loves us so much and is always with us? Doesn’t that make you feel so special? It should because we are all special, dear, BELOVED in the eyes of our Father. My mom sent me an excerpt from an article about the word Beloved: “the word beloved in the previous verse literally means ‘beloved, esteemed, dear, favorite, worthy of love’. It’s a word indicating an action on the part of one doing the loving. The God of the universe, the same God who paints a sunset, shapes a mountain and plans the waves at the beach, has chosen to love us, not because of who we are, but because of who He is. Our role in this is to BE-LOVED.” That is a cool challenge to think about. We need to let ourselves be loved by our God and know that we are worthy in His eyes. Here is a link to the full article and I suggest to read it because it is a cool take on being loved by our God.  (http://www.jkclarkfam.com/2014/01/beloved-weekend-project-on-farm.html)

This week hasn’t been as busy as the last couple of weeks since I’ve been here. With there not being school and summer school yet its been nice to just relax and hang out with the kids. Monday was the last day of school for the students. They all were done with schoolwork and so it was just a day of fun and playtime. Some were playing soccer outside, others were inside hanging out and there were some just running around. It was hectic and crazy so I guess it was a good thing they got out of school at noon. There was a team here that put together goodie bags for each student and so once they left they all got cookies, punch, and a goodie bag. It was so fun and sweet to see how excited they got when they were handed the bag. It makes me remember to appreciate everything given to us. My Haitian brother, Allex, hung out with me a lot after school got out and he surprised me with a gold bracelet. I was so shocked and grateful for it and I wear it everyday. It makes me see that the people here may not have as much as I have at home, and yet Allex was willing to give me a bracelet. It was the sweetest thing and I feel like I can never repay him for the gift. He is such a great brother and a great friend. I have been able to hang out with Allex a lot this trip and he has given me some Creole lessons also. It’s been fun trying to learn the language and I can now have a semi-conversation with people. I can say hello, how are you, I am good, what is your name, how old are you, my name is, etc. so I guess you can say I am doing a lot better this trip than last trip.

Tuesday was the teachers’ last day and so we threw them a party as well. The party was for teachers, cooks, and everyone else that worked at the school. It was so fun because they got food, cupcakes, cake, soda, and bags as well. As I walked by I heard singing and I peaked my head in and all the teachers were singing. It was so fun and cool to see them all happy and funny. I went to Baby Feeders again with a small group of the team that was here. We went a lot later than usual and after that I understood why they want to go early in the day. It was so hot and there was no breeze whatsoever. I was glad I still went because some of the kids are starting to remember me!! I was so excited when these twins ran up to me and hugged me. It made the hot and sweatiness totally worth it. When we got I was exhausted but just hung out with the kids for most of the day. I used to take a nap during the day, but have decided to stop so that I can sleep throughout the night more. I started to see that whenever I took a nap I would wake up constantly during the night. I have also realized how much caffeine affects me more while I am here. We made sweet tea one night for dinner and I was so excited! SWEET TEA! I didn’t think I was going to get that here, but I seriously only got about 4 hours of sleep that night. No more sweet tea at dinner for me. Wednesday, David needed to go to a hardware store to get a few things and so some of us decided to tag along. We walked around a few hardware stores and then went to a grocery store. I got a type of limeade soda thing that was really good and a ham sandwich. The bread here doesn’t have any preservatives and so it is so fresh and tastes sooo good. The sandwich really hit the spot. David bought an antenna so that the older boys and girls here can watch the World Cup on one of the TVs. We put the TV on the roof and set up benches and stuff and it is so fun to watch the World Cup on the roof. The coolest part is when one of the teams scores and the whole neighborhood begins to cheer. I get goose bumps every time. I’ve been told that the team of choice here is Brazil and if Brazil doesn’t make it then Argentina so that is who I am cheering for!

Thursday I began sewing more curtains! Joann, Cathy and I finished the curtains for the men’s room already, but I started the curtains for the women’s room. It took a lot longer than I thought it would. I guess it was because it was just me making the curtains and I didn’t have the wonderful help I had before. But I finished the curtains a few days ago! Now all I have to do it put the curtains up in the room and they will be complete! Lindsey and I are planning to go to the new orphanage to measure those windows. I am hoping to complete curtains for those windows before I leave. Wish me luck!! There is a bakery down the street from us that makes delicious homemade bread. They make the bread and then ladies from the market come and buy bread to sell at the market. David brought the lady in charge of the bakery some raisins, cinnamon and sugar and asked if she could try to bake us some raisin bread. I wanted to see the outcome of the bread so a few of us walked down with him to the bakery. When we first got there I could already smell the fresh bread and it smelled amazing!! I already love the smell of dough and bread and so I was very happy to stand in there and watch. It was so cool to see the guys roll the dough, cut the dough, and put it in the oven. They were so skilled and knew exactly when to move the bread around in the oven and how to do it. I was very impressed. When they brought out the raisin bread we laughed because they just poked the raisins in the top part instead of mixing it, but it still looked great and smelled great. We had it as dessert that night and it was yummy! I was very happy with the result and ate so much of it! That night Tammy, Josh, Ashleigh and I played the card game called Phase 10. I had never heard of it before but it soon became my favorite card game. If you haven’t played it, I suggest you buy the card game and play it! It took us about 3 hours to finish the game, and I had started out as first place and sadly moved to last place by the end of the game. I was very sad if were being honest haha.

Friday I continued working on the curtains, but after a while Tammy, Josh, Ashleigh, Lindsey and I went to a pool down the street. There is another house that some people are good friends with and at their place they have a really cool pool. You walk in and there is a mural of a beach and so it really feels like you are not in Port Au Prince anymore. It was a hot day also and so the cool water helped us feel more refreshed. It was nice to just relax and enjoy each other’s company. I think that has been one of my favorite parts about being here is the fellowship. Yesterday we walked to a coffee shop about 10-15 minutes away. We had to walk through the whole market in the ravine and then had to cross a busy intersection to get to the shop. THAT was an adrenaline rush for sure haha. But while we were at the coffee shop we were just able to hang out and talk about a lot of things. The fellowship here has been so nice. I have grown close to the others that are here and it is nice to just have people to talk to and to enjoy spending time with. Being the youngest, I have also had the wonderful opportunity to learn so much more than I have before. They have taught me so many random things, but they have been a great help to me. I am the kind of person to ask a lot of questions so I have been so appreciative that they do not get annoyed or bothered by all my questions. They really have shown me the love of God through their help and I could never thank them enough. I have appreciated every one here because they all have helped me throughout this journey. I am definitely out of my comfort zone being here for so long, but they have made it a lot easier for me. I am starting to feel more at home here and it would not be this way if it weren’t for them. S I thank all of them for helping and loving me constantly.

The power has been on all day for 5 DAYS! Y’all… That doesn’t happen. Ever. There is a light that we have and if it is turned on then we have city power and if it is turned off we are running on inverters. Every night I look outside to see if the light has turned off yet and it hasn’t!! We have had the fans on all night and there are times where I have to get up and cut the fan off because I was so cold. It has been so weird and I thank the Lord each day for it. Lindsey told me how in December the school sometimes goes days without power and so we have been grateful for this change. We joke and say that maybe the city is keeping it on because of the world cup haha, or that they just forgot to turn it off for our building. We may never know I guess, but I am thankful for it that is for sure. My great friend Megan arrives in Haiti on Friday!!! I am so so excited to see her because it will just be great to see a close friend. With it not being so busy this week I have missed my family greatly, but I have gotten such encouraging text messages the past few days that makes me being here worth it. I know my Father is with me constantly and that is all the reassuring I need. He is hurting when I am hurting, and he is the shoulder I have been leaning on while being here. Something I have learned since I have been gone is to trust more in Him. I am such a hesitant person and putting all of my trust in someone is a very hard task for me. But while I am here I need Him and I realized that I have to put my trust in his Hands because I will not make it through this trip without His love and strength. I feel like I have grown so much while being here the past three weeks and I pray I will continue to grow when I return. I know it is okay to miss my family, but I began to think about the fact that once I leave I will begin to miss my family in Haiti. With only three short weeks left here I am trying to make the most of everything and take all the opportunities I can get. I want to be with these kids as much as I can before I leave because I have no idea what the future holds. I am not sure where God is planning to take me next, but it could be a little longer before I can return here. I am trying to make the most of this trip and this experience while I can. I am literally jumping out of my comfort zone until I leave. I want to fully rely on the Lord and in order to do that I need to just put all my confidence in my great and mighty God’s hands.

“Let the Beloved of the Lord rest secure in him,

for he shields him all day long,

and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.”

-Deuteronomy 33:12