Last Day in Desire

It's always with a bit of sadness that I write about our last day in Desire because inevitably we say goodbye to the kids- Lord willing, for a little while.  Today I got several questions about whether we would return tomorrow but I had to explain that we would not because they have school and we need to go back to Port au Prince so that we can see our Desire friends that are now enrolled in the Pathways program- Charlecson, Wilson and Nasson.

Those three young men have officially aged out of orphan care and have chosen to enroll in Pathways.  I'll share more about it after we visit them tomorrow.  But we are sad and excited at the same time because of our visit to the other guys coupled with leaving Desire.

Today was another great day as we had a longer afternoon session due to the kids being in school in the morning.  We strategically used our time today to do activities where the kids could use their artistic creativity on paper as well as canvas backpacks we gave them.  Later we broke out the parachute and soccer balls.

But the most touching thing this afternoon was the kids getting letters from individuals who wrote personally to them.  It was special because the kids were excited that someone from our church would write specifically to them.  The kids brought the letters to us and asked us to read them to them.  In that moment I wished I could translate them into their language but it didn't seem to matter much because they enjoyed listening to the English.  But I was happy to listen to Pastor Jeannot read a letter to a girl- first in English and then in Creole.  Pastor Jeannot said he would read and translate to each child over the next several days.

This has been a trip full of new experiences for both us and the kids.  We still have one more day...