Last Day in Desire

Today was the last day to spend with the orphan children that we have come to love so deeply.  Three months ago when we started preparing for our trip and team members met each other for the first time, we started talking about humility and flexibility as highly held values for our short term team.  Tonight as we debriefed the day, things have come full circle as the team has been reflecting on the last four days of ministry in Desire.

This team has demonstrated humility in every aspect of the trip from preparing and getting to know one another, to putting the interest of others ahead of their own and striving to understand a culture very different from their own.

Our daily plan has been to spend two sessions in Desire- one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Today we had to exercise flexibility as we stopped by Pastor Jeannot's home for a quick visit and to see his home.  Then we were going to stop and wait as Pastor Jeannot purchased goats from funds that a young girl from our church collected instead of getting birthday presents for her birthday.  If you know Haiti, you know that Tuesday is one of the market days and we waiting on the bus just outside the congested street market while Pastor Jeannot went on a mission to finds goats.  Finding the goats and tying them on to the bus was only the first obstacle.  Our next and most challenging was to maneuver a bus through the busy market and make a left turn down an alley where the market continued to plug up the road.  Some vendors were a little put out because of the tight slow movement to get the bus through.  By the time we got to Desire it was already noon- the time we would have ended the morning session.  So instead of going back to Gonaives for a break, we hatched plan B to stay for an extra long session that took us up to dinner time.

Given that this was to be our last visit to Desire, the team worked hard, played hard, and loved well.  I couldn't ask for anything more than a team that is willing to adjust and take the change in stride.

A final thought for today.  Almost six months ago when our last team was here we delivered letters to the children.  I had a chance to read a letter (again) to one of the boys who proudly showed me the letter and the envelop that it came in, in pristine condition.  When our teams come we do our best to bring supplies that are needed and sometimes fun.  Most of those things get trashed quickly given the tough environment the kids live in and that kids are kids and material stuff can keep attention for a short time.  But this letter is a treasure.  The kids have preserved their letters and carefully place them under their mattresses.  It was a reminder of what's most important in our partnership- relationships.  For those kids to know that someone loves them and prays for them, we may never fully know the importance and impact that it has on these kids.  One child even wrote a letter in Creole for me to take back with me for the church.  It's important to remember that what we are doing is not a transaction- it's transformation.