I often describe life in Haiti as a
roller coaster. You can experience the
highest of highs and the lowest of lows in the same day. These last three weeks have been a roller coaster. One day I watched a child die in the surgery
wing. The same week, the surgeons
performed three c-sections and brought three lives into this world in the very
same surgery wing. At the same time that
we were celebrating at nutrition program preschool graduation, there was also a
funeral for a 9 year old boy. While we
were so excited about so many lives being changed with the surgery team, a good
friend tested positive for HIV. Life here
is a roller coaster.
As I sat there watching Job (a boy
from the Miriam Center) die, I selfishly prayed that he would be healed. Then as time went on, I prayed that God
would take him quickly because it was painful to watch. I struggled with why God was not answering
either of those prayers. I was reminded
of a lesson that God has been working on in my life. True faith is not praying and expecting God
to do something because you prayed. True
faith is believing that God can do all things and trusting Him to do what is best even if it is painful for us.
While my heart is still aching over
all the hard things that have happened, I do not want to focus on them. I want to praise God during this storm
because so many amazing things have also happened. These last two weeks we have had a surgery
team on campus. They completed 166
surgeries! What a victory. 166 people had their lives changed. This was one of my favorite moments from the
two weeks. Our Haitian doctor’s father
had surgery. One of the nurses spoke
English and Spanish. Dr. Tchoumany
speaks Spanish, and his father speaks English.
She went through some of the pre-op instructions speaking both Spanish
and English, neither of which are their native languages, but everyone
completely understood!
St. Verty |
Another big event was the nutrition program preschool graduation! 27 happy and healthy children graduated! Graduation is a huge event in Haiti, and all of the kids looked so precious! Every child also has a Marenn (godmother) and Parenn (godfather) who attends the graduation. I was asked to be Louvens godmother for the event. It was so fun to pick out a little gift for him and celebrate him.
Me and Louvens |
I have spent the last several months getting to know and love on the nutrition program children and their mothers. I absolutely loved watching how proud the mothers were of their children. Here are some of my favorite photos!
I don’t understand why these last three weeks have been such a roller coaster. I don’t understand why the bad stuff has happened. I don't understand why some kids die and some kids live. However, my job is not to understand. My job is to trust that God knows what He’s doing and to hold out hope for day Revelations 21:4 describes. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Bless you. It has truly been a roller coaster. Thank you for sharing with us. Even in death there is victory. "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" http://esv.to/1Cor15.55
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