My Two Families Collide

     My last week as a Mole intern, I had the privilege of leading people that I already knew and loved-a group from my home church. They arrived on Saturday afternoon, some of them flew into the Mole and the rest of them came up to Marouge on a bus. It was super fun greeting the group that got off the plane at the landing strip and being able to show them a quick glimpse of my home in the Mole before we headed up to Marouge. Once in Marouge, the group went out with the interpreters to explore the town while Pierre and I finished setting things up in Pastor Capre’s house. The group on the bus arrived a little after suppertime. They were all exhausted and super excited to be done with travelling-especially those who didn’t feel so great. That night we finished settling in and met quickly as a group before heading to bed.

Sunday morning, everyone woke up nice and early due to the chickens and donkeys that decided to welcome us all to Marouge. We had a great time at church worshipping with our Haitian brothers and sisters. Josh did a great job giving his sermon and the group did a great job leading children’s church for the kids. We had many kids join us when they passed by the church and saw how much fun we were having. After church we ate a delicious lunch and then spent some time talking about how the week would look. I also gave a quick talk on voodoo and a mini version of our theme devotion for the summer. We then started preparing for the teen conference by practicing worship, practicing the Everything skit, and borrowing benches from a neighbor. The rest of the afternoon we spent playing with kids outside the pastor’s house and passing out bracelets for VBS and the teen conference. They had such a blast! That night we had our first night of teen conference and Nathan did an awesome job sharing about the effects of words and gossip with the teens, even though he was super nervous. After he spoke, we broke the teens into a girls group and a boys group. In the girls’ group, we asked questions about what Nathan had shared and then were able to pray with each of the girls individually. It was so awesome! After the teens left, we gathered as a group to reflect on our day and Josh lead us in worship. For me, it was SO awesome to sing with people from my church, because even though we had worship time almost every night this summer each church sings songs differently and I just loved worshipping alongside those from my church.

         Monday morning we woke up, ate breakfast, and then headed out into the community. One group headed to the property that UCC helped the church in Marouge purchase to work on building a temporary place for the church to meet while they wait for the building to be built. The other group headed out for a fun morning of VBS. Both groups did an awesome job! The kids at VBS had so much fun playing games, making crafts, eating a yummy snack and sandwich, and listening to Angie tell them a Bible story. It was great! The group at the property also did an awesome job and got a lot accomplished. After we had lunch at Pastor Capre’s house we had a group head back to the property to do some more construction and the rest of us headed to the soccer field. At the soccer field, some of the group played against a local team and actually did pretty well against them. The rest of the group enjoyed spending time with those gathered on the side lines by painting the little girls’ nails, coloring with many kiddos, and talking with some of the older teenagers who knew English. After a few hours we headed back to Pastor Capre’s house to hang out with the kids there and to start preparing for our second night of teen conference. Monday night’s topic was purity and my sister Miranda was the one who shared. She did a great job! After she spoke, we again broke into a girls’ group and a guys’ group. In our girls’ group, it was really awesome to see many of the girls-even our interpreters-open up and share with us about their own experiences with the struggle to remain pure. The sad part is most of their struggle to remain pure is because others will take advantage of them. As we wrapped up our discussion with them it was getting dark, so we just prayed as a group before dismissing them. Before heading to bed, we meet again to discuss the day, figure out the plan for Tuesday, and spent time in worship.

         Tuesday morning it was hard to believe that it was our last full day. The team had dubbed this day, “Jesus Day” because we were sharing the story of salvation at VBS and at the teen conference. We spent the morning loving on our VBS kids one last time. The kids had a lot of fun at each station. To wrap up VBS, we headed to the new church property to play some games with the kids so that they could know where the church would be meeting now. It was super cool! I am so excited to see all that God will continue to do in that place. After walking back from the property to Pastor Capre’s for lunch, we spent the afternoon organizing supplies and donations, hanging out at the soccer field, and preparing for the last night of teen conference. We were busy! That night for teen conference after worship, the team performed the “Everything” skit using sins and struggles that would be relevant to the teens there. After the skit, Ben shared the meaning of the skit and Jesus’ desire for them to follow Him. When we broke into our groups, the girls really seemed to have taken a lot away from the skit and we were able to pray individually for each girl again. That night we met together again to go over the plan for tomorrow and to reflect on the day and worship.

     Wednesday morning we woke up nice and early in order to be on the bus at 4:30 to head down to the Mole. We made awesome time and were in the Mole in an hour! The bus was also super nice. When we arrived in the Mole, everyone was still sleeping so the group rested in the cafeteria for a little while before we headed to the beach to see the sunrise and enjoy the ocean before breakfast. The rest of the morning, I was busy helping Miss Beth, Emily, and Haylee make sure we got everyone on the right truck at the right time to make their flights. It was hard saying goodbye to everyone and being the last blan in the Mole. After a shower and being able to just sit down for awhile, I was off to St. Louis on a tap tap with the translators. 

     Serving alongside UCC was such a blessing and honor for me. It was SO wonderful that I already knew everyone's names and didn't have to be worried about them doing anything too crazy. :) It was also so great to have so many adults that helped organize and get everything going. I was also so blessed to have three of my family members come! Everyone's willing and servant attitudes made it a great week. The best part was being able to share with them my heart and love for Haiti as I served alongside them that week. I pray that more teams from UCC come to Haiti again!