Thursday, September 5, 2013

He is great, and mighty, and awesome...


Because the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you yourselves were sojourners in the land of Egypt.                                   Deuteronomy 10:17-19


Jonah asks me every day, "When's lunch? When's dinner? When are we going to eat?" I love answering him now with "Le Magdala ap di." or loosely "When Magdala says!" We are blessed with a wonderful cook, Magdala. She is beautiful and a gift to me. I also love that in Haiti we get to share all of our food. Dave jokes that I never liked leftovers to begin with, but isn't it better to share? I love having something to offer, so often I feel like it comes up short.

Today was our first day at the orphanage of Pastor Joseph. Our friend Jackie emailed and said simply, "Talk to Pastor Joseph. They could use a lot of help." We met Pastor Joseph yesterday and immediately felt the weight of his burden. He embodies James 1:27. When the earthquake hit thousands of children were made orphans in Haiti, adding to the already large number. Pastor Joseph and his wife saw with eyes the Lord has given them and opened their arms wide to children in need of refuge, a home.

These children are desperately in need, but they are very much loved. Pastor Joseph and Omuri (his lovely wife) have 6 children of their own. A topic of conversation that we bonded over, because even in Haiti it's not that common to have many children. People look at us all the time and say, "Kat!", which means "4!" Yep, 4. Their one month old baby Phoebe is about as precious as it gets!

What can we offer Pastor Joseph? I don't know. God will show us in time. So for now, we offer what we know. I asked Pastor Joseph, "Can we come play, once a week maybe? Maybe we can do more, but playing sounds like a good way to start." If I can only share a milligram of his burden, I will gladly take it. If anyone reading would like to help in even a small way, please let me know. Sometimes the children eat 3 meals a day, sometimes 2, but sometimes just once. Their electricity was cut off. This should not be. God showed me this verse today because he knows that I need to know in the deep reaches of my heart that God executes justice for the fatherless. He is not partial. He loves those precious children and is preparing hearts to help.




Manu, our faithful friend and manager of the guesthouse where we stay (and language coach extraordinaire!) asked me the other night while showing me the fruit trees,
          "How long will you be in Haiti?"    
           I answered him, "It's about 8 months."
          "Ah," He said, "you will know my Haiti, like I know my Haiti."
This was so dear to me. I have been shown great love in a very short time in Haiti. It is my turn to be the sojourner, to be the alien in a strange land. But I am not alone. None of us are. We are all simply sojourning our way through this life to the next, finding our way to the place God has prepared for us in advance. May we be the hands and feet that go and touch a world that hurts, with a Love that heals.

On the fun side of things...
Peterson taught Jonah how to eat fresh fish on the Caribbean Sea. We all enjoyed the salty, refreshing water. Zeke is particularly fond of plantain.






Dave brushes up on some survival skills lighting the stove to cook. Again, thank goodness for Magdala.


We might start just calling Jyeva "fi" since the Haitians are always asking to make sure she's a girl. I told her that maybe her wisest idea was not the haircut. However, Jyeva was also excited to find out that Haitians love Converse. It instantly bonded her to them.


 

No comments:

Post a Comment