Prayer and Healed Relationships

So those of you who had followed my blog last time and heard my awesome horror stories from teaching...here's what happened this trip with my dear Richard. When I first arrived, the kids didn't know I was coming. They were at school as I was helping set up for our big soccer event against another school at the Ben's, our little play area. When they all filed in for the event, a lot of the kids ran up to me in surprise and gave me the biggest hugs ever. And then there was Richard. He saw me as he walked in. He sat down on a bench and just kept looking at me from afar and then looking away. I kind of giggled. I could only imagine what was going through his head. "Oh my gosh, please don't tell me she's going to be my teacher again!" I could see him thinking back to all the sentences I made him write as consequences for his bad behavior.

During half time I said hi to him. He said hi coldly, not even making eye contact. I asked who his teacher was now and he said it was Mr. Lucner. Now Mr. Lucner had him before I had Richard in the summer. I heard Richard was waaaay worse for him than me. He told me in the summer, "Richard was so bad all year. I tried everything with him and nothing worked." Anywho, all that was going through my mind was, "Poor Mr. Lucner has him again?!" I asked Richard, "Oh, you have Mr. Lucner? He's way nicer than me huh?" He quickly responded with a "yes" and a little sly smile. "I know, " I said. I asked Mr. Lucner, our Principal, Mr. Ivens, and Cindy, Richard's house mom how he had been doing. I was so pleased to hear that he was doing really well and that he had changed so much since the summer. Praise God! Man, if it took Richard having to endure my tough love and discipline and hating me to appreciate what he had, then so be it. I'll be hated for the greater good of everyone else and his maturity growth. I came to terms with being disliked again, and trusted that God would continue to do the good work he already began in Richard.

The first few days with him were a little weird. He would get the old look in him again and say over and over, "Sentences!" at me and try to get the other boys to gang up on me. The boys usually ignored him, well, except for Diene who I apparently traumatized when I was here in the summer too. Oh my, a little discipline and it's never forgotten. And I was so stubborn last year too, I would not let them get away with anything...talking back, disrespect, not listening...if it happened, I always had the last word. Anywho, when they got in angry mob mode, I just hung out with the girls.

Then, just like old times, Richard would surprise me with his sweetness. One day I was hanging out at the Ben's play area, watching the boys skateboard. Richard asked for my camera, laid his head down on my lap, and looked at my pictures. He told me stories of things that were happening recently. The most adorable, loveable kid in him shone through again. The next night I prayed with some of the little boys by their beds as they were about to sleep. At first I didn't get to pray over Richard, because another missionary had already prayed for him. As I was leaving, I could see Richard's big, mischievous eyes glaring at me. I walked over to him, kissed him on the head, and said goodnight. He just continued glaring at me. "Do you want me to pray for you?" I asked. *silence* "Orrrr, do you want me to leave? *silence* "Okay, for real Richard, do you want me to pray for you?" Pushing through his pride, he finally shook his head slowly, yes! And oh boy did my heart leap with joy. I prayed for him and was so thankful that God had healed this strained relationship. I was okay with being the enemy for the greater good of everyone else, but God in His grace, blessed me and Richard with a renewed Christ-like love for one another.

Way to Drop the Stink Bomb Estaline

I told Daphne, our 5 year old diva, that Estaline had a poopy diaper. I jokingly said, "Daphne, you change her. She stinks! I'm not doing it!" So she took Estaline by the hand and said, "Come Jess-see-ka, I will show you how I change her diaper." Estaline just looked back at me with a big smile as she walked into the house with Daphne. I just laughed it off, thinking Daphne would have just handed her off to Monise, their nanny. I walked into the hallway 2 minutes later and was hit like a brick with the stench of Estaline's poopy diaper. And the girls all had tissues over their noses!

Here's Bethaina, Daphne, and Katrina trying to change Estaline's diaper together.

Here's Estaline, as happy as can be. She was covered in baby powder!!! I asked them, why is that on your faces?! Check out the video...

Katrina's response in extreme annoyance: "Estaline poops and it smells! She always poops!"

Reliving Childhood

I love playing with the kids in Haiti! As I was sharing stories with friends and family about what I get to do while I'm there, I was kind of embarrassed at how excited I got about doing the some of the stuff we did. So I started contemplating about how MY childhood was spent. Up until I was about 6 or so, life was carefree and childhood was pretty normal. Then, one of my sisters, Leslie, was diagnosed with Leukemia when she was 8 years old. She relapsed again when she was 13, and again when she was 14, and was completely healed after she received a bone marrow transplant from yours truly. Soooo, a lot of my childhood was spent in the hospital when I was younger. I was on a year round schedule for school, so during my months off I'd typically be with one of my parents in Children's Hospital LA, hanging out with my sister. I occupied my time with word searches, running up and down the endless flights of stairs for no apparent reason other than to have something to do, I'd lay next to Leslie on her bed and watch the Disney channel or movies. Yup, that was a lot of my childhood. I guess in a way, I love being in Haiti because I somehow get to relive my childhood.

::SINGING IN THE RAIN::

In the summer, when it was pouring down rain, the teachers and I went to hang out with the boys at their house. Suddenly the hallway connecting their front yard with their backyard was full of water. Some rain had flooded it while some of the boys began to fill up buckets of water from a broken pipe streaming from the roof and started dumping it all over me and the other teachers in the hallway. They said it was to get us back for all the punishment we gave them at school. We didn't mind, but laughed hysterically while joining the kids in sliding along the wet floors and wrestling, trying to get each other to stand under the broken pipe pouring down water. It reminded me of when my sisters and I would slip and slide in our garage. Our washer would always leak water, so we'd throw some soap on it and have our own ghetto slip and slide! Oh cheap thrills! :)

::WE'RE GONNA LIMBO LIKE IT'S YO BIRTHDAY::

When I went to Haiti this December, it was one of the older girl's (Katiana) birthday. The other missionaries and I were so excited to present her with her birthday cake and gifts. We even made plans to have a dance party afterwards. However, the birthday girl and the other older girls were so not interested. They retreated to gathering around the TV screen. Oh well, the little girls were game so me, Erta, Brooke, Kaitlyn, and the little ones blasted some tunes from Kaitlyn's ipod, turned the lights off, and used my head lamp as a strobe light. The girls wanted to play Limbo so I just put my arm out like a limbo stick and they went at it. It was hilarious watching them cheat, run into each other, lift my arm up, groove to the music as they went under. Tina, their night time nanny, was sitting to the side watching and laughing at us. "These crazy Americans!" she must have been thinking. I have an eye for the quiet ones and have a way of persuasion. So I yelled over the music, "Tina! Danse!" She shook her head shyly...but I knew she really wanted to. So the little girls and I kept pushing her to dance. She finally got up and shook her booty a little as we all chanted, "Go Tina! Go Tina!" Then everyone screamed in shock and delight that she was actually dancing. Tina retreated to her room, a little embarrassed, but I think she enjoyed herself. I would have pictures to post if I wasn't so preoccupied dancing and having fun.

::BOOTY BOARDING::

Lastly, I got to spend almost all afternoon with the little boys one day. Skateboarding has become the new thing for them. They kept trying to convince me to get on one and try to skate. Oh my goodness, if they only knew how unathletic I am! Emmanuel convinced me to sit on the skateboard as he pushed me around. Uhhhhh, he reached speeds I was a little uncomfortable going, and didn't slow down as we approached walls, people, or other objects obstructing our path. It was so much fun though....extremely scary....but so much fun too. I let him get a little taste of danger too as I took over the driver's seat. Enjoy the video below and my shrieks to go along with it! Video courtesy of little Davidson.



Here's a cheers to reliving childhood. Thanks for the memories kids! :)

God, Raise Up a Josiah!

Late Tuesday, the 7th of December, Haiti announced it's top two presidential candidates from the first round of voting. Jude Celestin, the son in law of the current president, was one of the top, just barely squeezing out runner up and crowd favorite, Michel Martelly. Martelly supporters, which is the majority of the country, suspect corruption with the polling results. Since Celestin is extremely unpopular, they believe it is impossible that he could have made the top two or even beat out Martelly. As of right now, Jude Celestin and Mirlande Manigat are the candidates who are running against each other in the final presidential elections. However, a recount has been in order for the top three candidates. Now how this is going to change the outcome? If there had already been ballot box stuffing before polling places opened on voting day as well as a number of people who couldn't vote because their name was not on the registered list, how does this filter through corruption?

Since the results there have been intense rioting the past 3 days...tires have been burned creating road blocks, violent protests and rock throwing, attacks on employees of polling places, airport closure and flights canceled. Nobody has wanted to be out on the main roads, especially us here at Maison de Lumiere. My flight on Saturday has been canceled and I'm kind of relieved. I wasn't looking forward to trying to maneuver through this chaos to get to the airport. I heard that when our school Principal was in a police car and then on a motorcycle on Wednesday, he got rocks pelted at him. Now if he, a Haitian man, was still getting attacked by the mobs, I didn't want to experience what they would do to a female foreigner. Here's a link I recently posted on my facebook to give you an idea of what it's like at the moment: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1337127/Haiti-elections-UN-armoured-cars-rubble-strewn-streets.html

In the last 200 years, Haiti has never had a President serve full term without them getting assassinated or run out of the country, until this last president, Preval (or that's what I've heard). This country has had corrupt president after corrupt president, leaving the country in extreme poverty, riddled with violence. Every 5 years during elections, violent protests have always erupted. It breaks my heart. As if the devastation of the earthquake and the cholera outbreak weren't enough heartbreaks to deal with. People are feeling hopeless and fearful.

As I read my Bible this morning, I read about King Manasseh in 2 Kings 21, who is recorded to be the most wicked king of all time. He rebuilt the places for idol worship, which his father had destroyed, he sacrificed his children in fire as an offering, he practiced witchcraft, he shed innocent blood, and he encouraged the Israelites to do more evil than the nations they had destroyed. Even when warned by the Lord that He would bring calamity on the people in judgment of their unrighteous deeds, Manasseh continued in evil work for 55 years. His son, Amon was his predecessor and continued in the evil deeds his father did and forsook the Lord. He was killed by his own servants and then the people of the land killed his murderers. Now, when his son, Josiah, only 8 years old took reign, he walked righteously, forsaking the ways of his fathers. When Huldah, a prophetess, told Josiah that God was going to judge the nation and bring forth His wrath on a land that has forsaken Him, Josiah made a covenant with the Lord and extreme reform in the nation happened:

"The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to to keep His commandments and His testimonies and statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into this covenant." (2 Kings 23: 3)

Yes God, even though Haiti has a had a history of Manassehs and Amons who have turned and forsaken you, who have practiced evil and voodoo, who have shed innocent blood, have spurred the people on to follow in their evil deeds, that You would raise up a Josiah. God set Your Spirit upon the next president of Haiti, that they may be a man or woman that loves you with all their heart and soul and would be faithful to follow your commandments and encourage the people of Haiti to follow likewise. Bring extreme reform to this nation, just as you did in the times of Josiah. And may it not just be a season of fruitful growth and turning to You God. May the presidents that proceed love you and follow after you with all their heart, that this country wouldn't be stuck in a cycle of revival and rebellion. God redeem and do a work in Haiti!!! In Jesus name, Amen.