Water Truck Day

7:15 am….alarm goes off. It’s time to start our day! Our day in Haiti! We were all welcomed to a delicious breakfast of eggs, oatmeal, fresh fruit and pancakes! And the coffee here is amazing!

Once we all finished breakfast, we all met outside of the house and prayed for our group and our travels for the day. We loaded up the back of the tap-tap (box-style truck, enclosed with a  grate type of covering, and as we traveled from each location we were all very grateful for the nice breeze that flowed through the back bed of the truck!) We arrived at the water filling station and waited for the water truck to load up! As we left the filling station and headed towards the first stop to deliver water, my heart was filled with excitement and curiosity.  I have seen pictures of what we were about to experience, but I knew seeing it with my own eyes in person would not compare. And I was right. We pulled up and as the “Healing Haiti” truck came into sight all of the children came running! Very few were fully clothed, many were half-way dressed and some were naked. As I stepped off the back of the tap-tap I felt as if I were stepping into one of the videos I’ve seen while sitting at church. The children were so joyful to see us! Their little eyes would find one of us and BOOM! That was it. We were theirs for the remainder of the time that we were there. The adults and older children were very focused on filling their buckets with the fresh water, but the little ones didn’t even notice the water. All they wanted was our love. Our time.  Our affection. Our hands in their hands. They wanted to snuggle and cuddle. They were bursting at the seams with the attention we were giving them. I don’t know how to explain it in words, but they were in love with us and we were in love with them.

It quickly reminded me of the love that our Heavenly Father has for us and what He really wants- our time, our love, our compassion and our hands and feet. Just like these beautiful children.

He wants our time to be spent on Him and His word. He wants our love and compassion to be shown to all of His people. And he wants our hands and feet to be that of Jesus. He doesn’t care about the rest. He doesn’t care about whether or not we spend our lives checking off our to-do lists. When we wake up every morning, he wants us to live like we did as we stepped off of that truck, with our arms wide open, ready and willing to love the least of these. Matthew 25:40 “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

We made 3 total water truck deliveries today. All 3 were the same; children and adults both gathering what they needed to survive. The children were gathering and collecting our hearts, as the adults were gathering their daily water. We were filling buckets and hearts! (If that isn’t currently a line in a country song, it should be!)

Once we delivered all of the water for day, we stopped to play soccer with a group of local children. And they were really good! It was a great way to end the day. I felt happy for these children playing soccer. They had structure, a coach and a team. They had each other. I feel like the children of Haiti are so lonely. So to see some of them with the luxury of playing on a team felt hopeful.

We gathered for devotion time tonight and all said what our “word of the day” was. Mine was “raw”. Feeling so vulnerable and raw during this day and all that belonged to it. We are all so thankful and feel so privileged to have served our neighbors today. I heard an interesting fact last night. Haiti is a mere 90-minute plane ride from the U.S. The richest and most privileged country literally just 90 minutes away from the most poverty stricken country; I don’t believe this was by accident. God places people in our lives every day for a reason, for a purpose. Isn’t it possible that God can place a country right in front of us as well?

I would ask for continued prayer. God has already laid our day tomorrow before us. He knows the steps that we will take. He always knows. But He still asks for our prayers. Pray for our hearts to be prepared for another emotional day. Pray that we can all be pushed to see God in all that we do. And please pray for our safety. Satan does not want us here, fulfilling God’s plan for us, but pushing through the darkness to the other side makes the journey worth it!  Darkness does not like the light. However, even the brightest stars need a little darkness to shine.

Love to you all.

Nikki