August Update

The month of August flew by. I was blessed to have my family and friends come in for 2 weeks. It was lots of fun having them experience life and serve alongside us. They hosted a beach day for the orphanage kids, helped to facilitate baptisms at the prison, hosted a staff party for our employees, facilitated a teacher’s seminar, and spent time out in the community.

After the team left, we started to prepare for the youth retreat.  The youth group traveled to Cap Haitien for a week. Minus a few vehicle breakdowns, it was a great week.  The students spent time alongside the youth group of the church we stayed at. We had guest speakers throughout the week on various topics regarding youth.  The hosting church was holding a revival so our students helped to lead or with music each night. Last Saturday, we woke up super early to hike to the Citadelle.  It was quite an intense hike (completely uphill on a mountain path!) but it was an important time of bonding for the students. Each one helped another out as they could. They encouraged each other, they laughed, they sang insanely loud, they cried, and they learned.  While exploring the Citadelle, we ran into a popular Haitian rap artist. He had written a song several years ago about the youth and young generation rising up.  It was neat that in the middle of such important history, he took the time to explain why he wrote those lyrics and what he hoped each of students would do to better their community. The week was filled with much joy, so much joy that the boys made up a ridiculous song—the only words being “everywhere joy”.

The youth retreat ended up being a good time of bonding, growing, and learning.  Our travels back put a slight damper on the mood. We broke down for several hours, not too far out from Port de Paix.  As it started to get dark, we had the kids all return to the bus and one of the leaders led some songs and a time of prayer.  It started to pour rain (which we haven’t had in months).  At this point, everyone’s tired and wet, but still singing.  Around midnight, three smaller vehicles came to pick us up. All of them were open so we knew we were all going to get soaked and there was no avoiding it.  We got back to St. Louis around 1:30am. It was too late for the students to go home so we grabbed mattresses and carpets, threw them down, and everyone rested until morning. As we were unloading supplies and trying to get things out of the rain, one young boy walked over, hugged me, and said I really just need to thank you all because this has been the best week of my life. It’s pretty safe to say, in that moment, all of our doubts as to what the students thought of the week were erased.  We're looking forward to seeing how the group continues to mesh and grow together.