Day 3 ~ April 2

Day 3: April 2, Friday

Woke up to multiple roosters crowing ~ I love that sound! It's a beautiful, beautiful day! Scattered clouds (more clouds than not), lush green, palm tree covered hills, cement or clay houses scattered on a hill ~ patches of blue peeking out from the clouds.

Read Malachi this morning. The Lord was quite angry with His people for basically totally blowing Him off. He said His name would be great among all the nations from one end of the globe to another, from the rising to the setting of the sun. But His people didn't want to bother to spread His word or do His work or eat His food. They wanted their OWN stuff, their OWN way. They thought serving Him was a burden and contemptible. They cheated Him with what they gave ~ instead of giving their best to God, they gave their leftovers, or what they couldn't use anyway, or what was broken or injured. They pretended it was their best, but it wasn't at all.

How often do I put you first these days, God? Many days I don't. Many times I don't give You any of my day at all. I think my agenda is so important, I fail to stop and look for Your agenda. I fail to put You first, the only place You belong.

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me." ~ Exodus 20:2b

I pray I'll seek His agenda at least while I'm here in Haiti and that I'll do His will, putting Him first.



We had our new group orientation with Melonnie, the group coordinator and heard all the mission rules and guidelines, etc. After breakfast, we went on a tour of the campus, saw the orphanage, Gran Mon (nursing home), Miriam Center (special needs orphanage), operating room, birthing center and maternity ward. Later, our luggage arrived and we unloaded all our supplies and distributed them where they belonged. The piles of "stuff" were a bit overwhelming, yet so gratifying to see! Toilet paper pile over here, diaper pile over there, Easter candy against that wall, banquet night dinner food on this table, medicines on this stack, baby formula, clothing, etc. etc. etc. Wow, 40 people times 2 large suitcases each = a lot of stuff! Amazing to think this much stuff comes in week in and week out, all year long, and really hardly makes a dent! Well, I hope it makes a dent, but the intense need never goes away. Like trying to fill a hole the size of Texas with a kids' beach sand shovel. Definitely would take a lot of time.

After lunch, we took a walk around the village, and were gone about 2 hours. Saw many, many homes built about 30 feet from the ocean. Trash, mountains of it, everywhere ~ with random pigs, goats and chickens eating stuff in the trash. Pretty spartan situation, yet all the children and adults we met while there seemed so carefree and happy.

In the evening, I visited the orphanage again and saw Wensley. He was burning up with fever! The nurses seem to be very good over here ~ they hadn't yet realized he was sick, but that's normal, as they have lots of kids to be caring for, and his fever/illness came on rather suddenly. He was fine just a few hours ago! They sponged him down a lot and gave him tylenol. I laid down with him and rubbed his forehead. The poor little guy. He finally fell asleep and I snuck back to my dorm. How I wish I could really take care of him.