Saturday - Shalom Orphanage & Visa Lodge

Today our team loaded up the tap tap and made our way to Shalom orphanage near Titanyen.  It was located closer to the ocean and near the big grain bins.  We brought 20 eggs to color with the children and share with them the story of Easter.  It was so fun!  It took a little while for these very well behaved children to engage and join in, but they quickly saw what we were doing and had a lot of fun coloring the eggs and designing them with beautiful designs with crayons and dying the eggs in several colors.  After the eggs were finished, Laura narrated the story of Jesus' death and resurrection with "resurrection eggs".  The kids were so well behaved and where captivated by the story and where able to interact with Laura's questions.  After the story, each child went up to show their egg and we all celebrated the beautiful eggs they colored.  They all showed so much pride in their eggs.  We gave them apple sauce and let them eat their eggs.  We had time to play games with them, so we played a pass the rock game and the person in the middle would have to guess who had the rock.  It took a little time for them to catch on, but with a little practice they were into the game.  We then sang some songs and did the "hokey pokey song" and the "Chicken dance"... I think they had a lot of fun.  They probably thought we were "ou foo" (you're crazy in creole)... Ha!  We were there til about noon and we decided leave to go pick up the transition kids at Grace Village and bring them back to Port Au Prince to the Visa Lodge to eat pizza and go swimming.  It was so much fun seeing these kids and bringing them to the Visa Lodge was a special outing for them.  These teenagers had so much fun and our teenagers on the trip were right in there doing there best to engage with them.  It seems like the common language is "futbol"...  so some played along side of the pool, while others joined in and swam.  I think some did not know how to swim, so they stayed close to the edge of the pool.  We ate our pizza and french fries and soda.  The Grace teenagers were so much fun when we made our way back to the guest house.  We sang a few songs and it seemed to open them up more and we could really see the smiles.  These kids have seen a lot of bad things in their lives and to see them smile and be joyful brought joy to my heart.  God is truly at work in each of these kids lives and it is our hope that they will continue to seek Jesus in this "awkward" stage of their lives.  They're still trying to figure life out and sometimes it's difficult.  I pray that the choices they make will be good ones and that they will learn from their mistakes.  It was a fun day...  We all ended up at the guest house pretty exhausted from the week.  It's tough to leave b/c there is so much love.  Our team has grown together and I'm so impressed by our teenagers.  They have a willingness to be open and honest and ask really good, hard questions.  My hope is that they will continue to ask these questions and seek God for how to respond.  James   Please see photos on tomorrows blog...