We spent our first working day painting for MOH Cribs. The church offers repairs and painting to church members which the missionaries do while they serve. We painted the exterior pink.
We nearly finished the interior of the 16x16 home in the afternoon. It's a nice cream color. The neighborhood boys desperately wanted to help and we were advised not to let them paint, but how can you tell them no? So we decided letting them help would give them ownership and a sense of self worth. We didn't finish paint the interior room which was disappointing. We hope to have an opportunity to return and finish the job later in the week. The Lord gave us good weather from the Haiti heat - a cool breeze in the morning and overcast in the afternoon.
Cody took a break from painting to play with the kids. He played Tag where he was It the entire time and then wrestled. The kids are tough! They are all nearly barefoot running on the rocky terrain. The boy in the navy blue shirt is a doll. (He's the first picture at the start of this entry.) He looks absolutely sweet, but is a complete turd. He is so ornery. He literally pounded on Cody the entire time. Just look at his intense face!
How do you not want to take them all home in your suitcase? Just look at their darling faces. 
I do not know this boy's name, but I do know I will never forget his face. Ever. He gave me perspective on what it means to wash the hands and feet of the least of these.
In Haiti dogs are seen as pests; not pets like in America. The adults ignore the dogs and the children find fun in torturing them. At our site there was a small litter of pups. Of course we were swooning over them. Our Haitian translator, Maxim, thought it was hilarious how Americans feel about dogs. One pup stole Tina's heart. It was drinking paint being so thirsty. She felt terrible and gave it water. The same pup fell into the pink paint. Lisa and Cody poured water on the dog to wash it off. Cody said, "We can give water to the dogs, but not the people? Interesting." What's wrong with that picture? You tell me. Lisa later said she felt so convicted because here are all these children just so thirsty. How is clean water not available? Why is this country so far behind? Why aren't Haitians desiring to educate themselves about water purification or anything that would advance their country?
Another way we offered ownership to the children was when we started picking up trash surrounding the home. April was touched as the children started picking up trash and cleaning the area when normally things are just tossed aside.
We nearly finished the interior of the 16x16 home in the afternoon. It's a nice cream color. The neighborhood boys desperately wanted to help and we were advised not to let them paint, but how can you tell them no? So we decided letting them help would give them ownership and a sense of self worth. We didn't finish paint the interior room which was disappointing. We hope to have an opportunity to return and finish the job later in the week. The Lord gave us good weather from the Haiti heat - a cool breeze in the morning and overcast in the afternoon.Cody took a break from painting to play with the kids. He played Tag where he was It the entire time and then wrestled. The kids are tough! They are all nearly barefoot running on the rocky terrain. The boy in the navy blue shirt is a doll. (He's the first picture at the start of this entry.) He looks absolutely sweet, but is a complete turd. He is so ornery. He literally pounded on Cody the entire time. Just look at his intense face!How do you not want to take them all home in your suitcase? Just look at their darling faces. I do not know this boy's name, but I do know I will never forget his face. Ever. He gave me perspective on what it means to wash the hands and feet of the least of these.In Haiti dogs are seen as pests; not pets like in America. The adults ignore the dogs and the children find fun in torturing them. At our site there was a small litter of pups. Of course we were swooning over them. Our Haitian translator, Maxim, thought it was hilarious how Americans feel about dogs. One pup stole Tina's heart. It was drinking paint being so thirsty. She felt terrible and gave it water. The same pup fell into the pink paint. Lisa and Cody poured water on the dog to wash it off. Cody said, "We can give water to the dogs, but not the people? Interesting." What's wrong with that picture? You tell me. Lisa later said she felt so convicted because here are all these children just so thirsty. How is clean water not available? Why is this country so far behind? Why aren't Haitians desiring to educate themselves about water purification or anything that would advance their country?Another way we offered ownership to the children was when we started picking up trash surrounding the home. April was touched as the children started picking up trash and cleaning the area when normally things are just tossed aside. I spent a sweet moment today with a boy - whose name I do not know, but whose face I will never forget. He stopped me from painting to clean my splattered hands. I was literally covered from head to toe with pink paint. This boy had a wet wipe which he gently used to wash my hands, scrubbing off the paint. It really put meaning behind what Jesus did to the disciples at the Last Supper. This child would glance up every so often to see if I was please. I kept saying, 'Bien, bien', 'good, good'. Then I took the cloth from him, turned his hands over and cleaned them. He looked up at me and giggled. Soon I had several children cleaning me with napkins, wet wipes and their fingernails. They just wanted to take care of me since we were taking care of their home. "and poured water into a basin. Then He began to wash the disciples' feet, drying them with the towel around him...And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you." -John 3:5, 14-15
