Grand Goave

Yesterday morning I woke up at 4 am to get ready and head over the mountain with Angie and Andrew Sutton. They are going to be the missionaries at the site in Grand Goave, I needed to head to Grand Goave to meet the children, get some new pictures and hang out with them for a bit so I can truthfully update their sponsors on how they are doing. We were in the car and headed over the mountain by 5 am. We finally arrived in Grand Goave around 7am just in time for breakfast with the team that is here from Ohio. Once we arrived here I was immediately in awe, this place is much different than Jacmel, Grand Goave is definitely rural and the team home is surrounded by trees literally on the beach, if you walk out of the shacoon and take about 10 steps you will be in the water. This is where I will be working the next few days? Really? I wish everyone could understand how beautiful this place really is…Poor? Yes. Gorgeous? Even more so! I have said from the beginning that Haiti is a country of contrast, and that statement is validated every time I see a new place.

After we had breakfast Angie, Andrew, Drex and I headed up to the site where they will be building the homes for the 31 children who are currently living in the school at Mission of Hope. The site is not quite a mile up the road from where the kids go to school and church, and once again it is beautiful. As soon as we arrived Drex hooked up the generator to the water pump and within moment young children came down with their buckets to collect water. After they collected their water they placed the buckets on their heads just like many adult Haitians do to transport items, headed home, and immediately returned, empty handed to play! The girls taught me some hand games as well as some new dances. The boys played around with anything they could find. We staked out the temporary homes for the children as well as the missionaries! It is going to be a beautiful site. We are hoping to have the temporary homes finished by June 20th, we have A TON to do so pray we find the help needed to complete this project!

We also had a small earthquake yesterday afternoon, AHH. Jo and I had been talking about the Jan 12th quake early in the day and about 3 o’clock we heard ‘that sound’ and the ground had a good little shake, we both immediately stood up, grabbed our phones and headed toward the stairs, thankfully it stopped quickly. I thought I may have been loosing my mind since we were talking about the quake, but we looked it up and sure enough, there was a 3.5, not big, but no thank you! Pray we don’t have ANYMORE quakes.

This morning I woke up and headed to the school with Travis to meet the kids here, get some new pictures and have some information to update their sponsors. At first I was a little nervous; I didn’t realize how spoiled we are in Jacmel with the kids that speak English so well! These children are learning English but definitely not fluent, and with my baby kreyol, communication was difficult. But love knows no bounds! I saw a young boy playing some game with rocks on the wooden bench so I went and sat with him, communicating the best we could and he taught me to play ‘jacks’ with rocks! It was quite humorous if you ask me hahah. I then started interacting with the rest of the children and next thing you knew they were all coming up to me saying my name! Rebekah is a common name in Haiti so it is easy for the children to say :o). I got out some pens and paper and the children drew me pictures and showed me how to write their names, which aren’t so easy to pronounce haha. I spent about 5 hours with the children! At the end of the day I was sitting with Luckson and Sheevens showing them pictures and came across a picture of myself and Cameron and I told them that was my brother, Luckson then said “Mwen Se is with Jezi” (broken kreyol bare with me) Meaning, My sister is with Jesus…I tried not to tear up, which is common being here. Then he Sheevens said “Mwen Mama with Jezi to”….ughhh. Two of the cutest, happiest, children with literally nothing who I had played with all day just shared with me that their mom and sister were with Jesus. James 1:27 immediately came to mind.. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this, to look after orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. This is why I am here, I have been given a heart for children and a passion for Haiti. I couldn’t ask to be anywhere else. Despite the NUMEROUS attacks from Satan already trying to cause conflict and discourage me. I KNOW I am EXACTLY where I am supposed to be.

Pray for Hands and Feet as we are trying to grow as an organization to care for more children, with that, comes attacks. Pray for myself to stay encouraged, focused and reminded of why I am here, even if it is simply two little boys sharing their joy with me. Pray that Grand Goave finds the help they need to get these projects done, and these beautiful children a home.
Thanks for taking this journey with me…

I will post some GG pics as soon as I have some better internet...
Much Love,
Bek