Humility

Today we got up and went to Titanyen; our first stop, Grace Village. It's about an hour drive in the back of a pick up, but the view was breath taking! We drove next to the mountains and past the ocean enjoying every second. We toured Grace Village and you could just feel the power that it holds. It's made tons of progress, yet still has so far to go. As we were touring the area a little boy came up to me and out of the blue gave me this incredibly beautiful bracelet that says Jesus on it, I kept trying to explain to him that I didn't have any money but he insisted that it was a gift. It was incredibly humbling knowing that the bracelet could be sold and used to buy food, yet he just wanted to give it away as a free gift. It's so beautiful I had a hard time taking it, yet I know that was God putting that little boy in my path to teach me a lesson on humility. So I will now treasure it forever.

Our next stop, Jean Gerry's School. We passed out boxes of Valentines candy hearts to all the kids and had a blast getting them all riled up! I personally got a chance to talk to one of the older student and learn a lot about life down here that you can't be taught in any other way. It's amazing how simple conversations are what each of us holds most dear.

Finally, we went to Guilliams. It was an orphanage that we went to and did crafts and played games with the kids. They were all incredibly thankful to have people come and do something with them. Sarah F. brought a soccer ball which was a big hit! One little boy even started to cry when he found out that we had to stop playing "baul". We also made zany balloon people by taking peices of paper shaped like feet so that they could color them like feet then blew up balloons and drew faces on them. We connected them and made it so the balloons could stand up. They loved them! They would play "don't touch the ground" laughing and giggling the entire time. Then we made braclets and you could just see the pride that they each had in what they'd made. It was sort of complicated so teaching them without using words was quite a challenge, but it was totally worth it. A few of the kids spoke english but not many. One was like my little translator, when I was trying to explain something to one of the kids, or they were trying to tell me something he would be our middle man. But by the end we were all very attatched to each of the kids. I looked around and everyone was extremely sad to leave them knowing that there is a chance you won't be able to see them again. My "translator", Noah, came up to me right before we were about to leave and he said, "Kayla, when are you coming back?". And it just broke my heart because I wanted to do something more than just hang out with them for the day. I was holding back tears as I told him I might would be able to come back in a year and watching the look on his face just drop.

Overall I think I can speak for everyone that we are creating alot of very special bonds that we won't be able to ever forget. It's heart breaking knowing that we can't do everything, yet still longing to do more for these beautiful people.