Greetings everyone!  Today, Thursday March 21, 2013, was another day in which we learned much about the "hope" of Believers despite their incredibly trying circumstances.  Yes, our group enjoyed another great breakfast together before shoving off to another day of activity.  We went to Grace Village and spent a long while with the children from their orphanage.   These activities included pushing them on Haiti's very, very rare swing-set, playing volleyball, and just sitting together and "talking" despite speaking a different language.  I'll never forget  (and i'm sure my spelling is wrong) Miko, Mikale, and Isak.  Unlike the kids from "City Solei" yesterday these kids feel at least cared for at Grace Village because they get fed, educated, and a nice bedroom to sleep in.  So, they weren't as desperate to be held and cuddled with. However, had we not experienced yesterday in "Solei" first we would have thought these kids were desperate for affection as well.  These kids still loved the individual hand holding and being cuddled with.  Izak had a coat hanger straightened out into as long of a stick as possible with just the "hook" on the other end.  With it he ran a circular disc along the ground but ran with it to keep the "wheel" along the sidewalk.  That's about as good as toys seem to get in Haiti!  Amazing how much more earthly hope these kids have because of the blessings they have been given through Grace Village's orphanage care-givers.  The best part of the day was visiting several very, very "senior" citizens in their own "homes" (most of them in a home no better than the best tent you've ever been in but with a dirt floor).  One of the women we visited was 103 years old!  But she so loved the Lord and because of it had great hope.  She said she had prayed we would visit soon and sure enough we came today as did another group from Healing Haiti yesterday!  We even went after we visited her to a water pumping station to bring her 10 gallons of fresh water.  She was very happy.  To see these people find joy in their circumstances demands of us to find joy in our circumstances as well.

Steve Parupsky


Bonswa from Haiti!

Today we all woke up extremely tired. It is pretty much mid-week and yesterday, water truck day was was exhausting! But then we all remembered what our mission was here and began again refreshed on a good note! We drove to Grace Village and were able to play with the amazing kids there. It was just so wonderful seeing how different they were from the kids yesterday, how nourished and healthy looking they were. They simply wanted you to just wrap your arms around them and be loved! Then we got a tour of the amazing construction that has been done there! We then rode and in the Tap Tap and sang our songs, Glory to God and 10000 Reasons! When visiting the elderly, we sang these songs to them after praying over them! It gave me shivers seeing how happy they all were to see us. God's light was really shining on them in these moments and I could feel the joyfulness everyone was feeling. It was overall a wonderful day to be spending the most blessed day with my friends! :)

-Anna