March 24, 2011: Day Six

I’m fairly sure everyone hit their wall today. It was funny. But aside from the humor of that, today was an emotional day for sure. This morning, after FINISHING THE PAVERS, we walked over to Jonas’ school, which is in a tent city. Wow. You hear about it, but until you see it, you don’t realize it’s magnitude. There are literally thousands of tents. Different animals roam the area (goats, dogs) and where there weren’t tents, it seemed like there was garbage. Just like everything else here, it reminded me of how much I have to be thankful for and it humbled me immensely. Thought pause: I’m listening to music as I write this and the song currently playing is “Hosana.” The bridge is so applicable to this moment/this journal entry/this week, so I’m writing it down: “Heal my heart and make it clean/Open up my eyes to the things unseen/Show me how to love like You have loved me/Break my heart for what breaks Yours/Everything I am for Your kingdom’s cause/As I walk from Earth into eternity.” Those middle lines are so true right now. Okay, unpause. After we left the school, a few of us went to John and Debbie’s to paint the bakery. After we lunch, we watered and sanded the paths, with a little socializing in between. A small group of women from our team went to teach a women’s English class. Oh my gosh. That was amazing. Those women were so fearfully and wonderfully made. I felt like I left that place with five more mothers. They sang “Because He Lives” in Creole. Major goosebumps. They sang without a care. They gave their everything in their voices and hands. They had a conviction like I’ve never seen and I fell in love with each of them. Debbie told me that tomorrow, they would be going out to evangelize and bring people to a special service on Friday and Saturday. Wow. What an incredible thing. I have loved so much this week watching just how much God’s hand has been in everything. Literally EVERYTHING. Tonight was just a weird night because everyone is just done. The guys spent all day outside, on our hottest day yet, building a shed for Jonas’ school. Words can’t express how much I love this team. The guys are wonderful men of faith, and the women are of purest heart. We’ve bonded so strongly and there has never been a moment of conflict (that I know of). Again, the hand of God was on and in this. I’m so sad that our time here is almost up. I feel like I’ve learned and grown so much and I pray that I am able to maintain this as I go home. Two words: PRAISE GOD.