When People Open Up
Written by Brena
Have you ever had expectations for something – and God took it and did more with it than you ever could have dreamed?
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us…” (Ephesians 3:20)
Trying to find the words to describe what God has done here – and specifically in the past two days – is incredibly difficult, but here it goes!
As mentioned before, we are here to encourage community here in Haiti, and for a short time to do life with the people that God has placed in our path. Not only have we had the opportunity to have conversations with people in the surrounding villages, but the kids living in the Village of Hope here at Mission of Hope are also learning to form their own community groups! Last night with them was so sweet: The girls and guys broke up into groups just to share what was going on in life and what God has done in all of our lives. The girls broke up into one-on-one conversations – and in debriefing with others, man did God move!! These girls opened up and shared things and allowed us to pray through things with them. To be honest, it is going to be hard to leave after forming these bonds.
This morning our sub-team split up, and some of us went into the village to finish a conversation with a woman we spoke with yesterday. She is Catholic but very open to the grace of God, which several of our team had the joy to talk about with her. 6 girls on the whole team stayed back and did life with the “mommies” of the Village of Hope kids, and we just got to brainstorm how to open the girls up more. (Teenagers, am I right??) Being a teacher myself allowed us to all relate with each other, as we see different things from kids day-in and day-out. After that, we got to do laundry and cook with them, and it was such a sweet morning. In the afternoon, we participated in our last Kids Club of the week, sharing the gospel with the children through jelly bean candies!
God is so good, and we have also been encouraged by the number of fellow believers we’ve met along the way. I can’t believe our week here is almost over, and I am beyond thankful for what He has revealed to us here, in and through the people of Haiti!