Today, something very special happened; we lost a teenager — Matt Castinado turned 20! He said it was a memorable birthday, different than any other.
Christmas arrived early in Haiti, as 300 or more children in two tent cities received Christmas gifts. It was a little chaotic but our missionary “elves” worked together to keep CHRIST in CHRISTmas. We first did a prayer and then the children sang a traditional Creole Christmas carol, “Santa Clause is Coming to Town,” and then we distributed their gifts in bags that had “Jwaye Nwel. Jezi renmen ou” written on them, which means “Merry Christmas, Jesus loves you”. It was such a blessings to see their glowing faces from receiving something as simple as a bouncy ball. What a lesson for all of us!
We came to Haiti thinking that we are going to be the ones helping them but they are the ones who teach us a new lesson every day. For example, the value of a smile or of giving, even when ones has nothing. One of our missionaries witnessed the following “One little orphan was so willing to share that she bit her sucker into 10 different pieces and started passing them out o those kids who wanted more candy.”
We are getting ready for a lot of tears tomorrow as we say our goodbyes to the children who we’ve grown attached to.
Count on our prayers, please keep us in yours.
