Friday, February 21, 2014

And more God moments!

Dear Friends,


It is so hard to adequately describe all of the things that we have seen and done in a few short days.  From one moment to the next we are moved from belly laughter to tears – the members of this team that Hopewell has commissioned to be on this trip are beyond extraordinary.  I feel truly blessed to be a part of this experience with each one of them.

Our team has been spending all of its time in the tiny village of Leveque.  The Village Leaders believe that there are approximately 10,000 people residing in the village and they have no idea how many children there are.  From our experience, we can tell you there are HUNDREDS!!!!!!!

Here are a few of the God Moments that stand out in my mind………

Pastor Louis Lonies
Yesterday we met the Pastor of the church in Leveque. With the help of a translator, he honestly and sincerely shared with us the struggles of his church – his parishioners are in need of essential things like food, water and clothing.  Adults need jobs and there are none to be found. He wants so desperately to provide encouragement and hope (espwa in Creole) for his people.  When he was done talking, our pastors, John and Vicki, quickly jumped up and provided him amazing words of encouragement – witnessing this literally brought me to tears of joy.  Then we laid hands on Louis and prayed over him, his church and his community for whom he cares so deeply.

Mass Grave Site from the 2010 Earthquake  
Today we went to the site where approximately 250,000 souls were buried after the 2010 earthquake.  A local young man and one of our translators, Berdy (he is only 21 years old) shared a bit of his perspective as a Haitian.  He explained that the earthquake was a horrible disaster but good came out of it because it helped to teach the Haitian people how to care for one another.  In Berdy’s words,  “God loves Haiti. The earthquake taught us to learn to love and to not be selfish.”  He went on to thank us for being here to support them in their time of need.

Children, Children Everywhere
One of my greatest joys here in Haiti is connecting with the children and there are A LOT of them!  Whether it’s a work day (planting mango trees) or a village day (we literally “hang out” in the village going from home to home to talk with these beautiful people and to pray with them), when our big yellow school bus groans to a stop, children come from every nook and cranny.  When they do, they want to be held, they want to play…… they want love.  Truth be told, there are a lot of us to plant these mango trees so I’ve been mostly hugging and snuggling on these children.  Now that I know a tiny bit of Creole, I can ask them their name, their age and a few other things.  Having these beautiful little timoon (children in Creole) clinging to me, smiling at me, napping on me makes me feel like God’s arms are enfolded around me.

-Carey Burke

Ps – I am now a Mission of Hope Sponsor !! I am holding my sponsored child, Malicha, with the adorable red ribbons.  I am officially in love with the children and the people of Haiti!!   

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