Thursday - church camp and visits

Ok - I am trying on this again.  Sorry the blogs are a little spotty.  Each time I do one, when I go to publish it, I find out I have lost internet connection and I lose all of the work.  Alternately, I have internet connection, but it freezes when I try to upload a photo.  That is the nature of things in Haiti, so I have to remind myself to not get too frustrated.  It is hard because I really want to share with you the amazing things that we are doing, so you can see how your support has blessed these people who are so full of joy, despite their suffering.   I hope you will be patient and I will update as frequently as I can.  I am going to upload shorter blogs so I don't lose connection as I type and send them without pictures, and then try to upload some photos separately and see if that goes better. 


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Thursday was a great day.  We woke up this morning bright and early, looking forward to spending the day working with children.  We worked at a camp for children and then toured the school and had a brief lecture on the background, organization, and function of the school.  The last pieces of the playground that we fundraised for had just been delivered, so that was very exciting.  All of the equipment was not fully assembled and it still needed to be moved into place and anchored, but it was all there.  It is really beautiful and very strong looking, so we are excited that the children will have the joy of playing on it!

So - this is how the events of the day went:
After breakfast (oatmeal...turns out the kids were not fans; good thing for toast with peanut butter and jelly!!) we gathered up our things and headed off to camp.   As the children started arriving, we greeted them and took them to stations.   There was jump rope and colored chalk. We had make-shift "Go Fish" games they figured out with colors and shapes flashcards we had brought.  Soccer was a wildly popular station with the older boys.  An impromptu hair-braiding station popped up when the girls got there and saw my group with their long very braid-able hair.  After stations the kids played a couple of Haitian games directed by the youth group leaders.  It was a lot of fun and such a joy to play with and love on the children.  Even if we got tired and had to sit down, we did not miss out on loving the children, because as soon as you make a lap, you have at least one, if not two children who plop down on it.  Then others begin creeping up, and soon you will have a child or two on your lap and one leaning on each shoulder.  Some children have no parents, or only one parent and many siblings. If there are parents, they  are often so busy with the business of survival that the children do not always get the attention they want and need.  It was a lot of fun. 

After camp, the kids were bussed back to the villages and a few students had been chosen to ride home with us.  These kids rode in the trucks with us back to the village and we walked them home (You park at an entrance to the village, but it is all pedestrian roads within the villages.)  We divided into three groups with two students each and an American leader (me or one of the adult missionaries who are here) and two Haitian guide/translators.  We walked our children home.  When we got to the house, we got to meet their families.  We spoke briefly and learned about their family and they learned about ours.  When we left, each family was asked what they needed, and each family asked us to pray for them. It was very powerful to pray with the children and their families.  They are such a good reminder for us to trust in God and His plan and to know that He has us in His hands.