Love A Lot

Blog Post By: Jenny Neely

Monday morning:
We started out with a devotion from one of the youth from The Refuge church in Murfreesboro, Steven. He is a very vivacious, lively guy who has made many Haitian children laugh already!  He read from Proverbs 3:5-8 and gave testimony on how the Lord called him to go on this trip. There were times when he wasn’t sure God was confirming the call due to the cost of the trip, but Steven trusted anyway and the Lord provided the way!  This was a great devotion for us, because we tried our best not to have any expectations as we would start our VBS that morning. We truly wanted God to lead and not have any agendas.

When we arrived at the orphanage, many children were eagerly awaiting our arrival. Dou Dou yelled at them from inside our truck to move out of the way as the bus came through.  We started out with praise and worship, not knowing if we would have electrical power. Praise the Lord we did!  We sang “Peace, Love, & Worship,” the theme song from last year’s kids’ camp. It is a favorite with the Haitian kids, too!  We then sang two songs that we had interpreted 2 years ago: “Allelu/Praise Ye the Lord” and “This Little Light of Mine.” The kids that have been here since the beginning remembered both songs! In fact, when I arrived Saturday, some of the kids greeted me by singing “This Little Light of Mine” which made made my day!

After singing the two songs in Haitian Creole, we introduced “Experience You,” this year’s kids’ camp theme song and theme to our VBS curriculum. We will teach the kids how God speaks to them through His Word, prayer, and through others.

“Experience You”
Oh Lord I’ll pray. Oh, yes I’ll pray,
And I will read the words You say.
And I will go where You are, too.
Oh, God I want to experience You
Oh, God I want to experience You.

Trevis led the Bible lesson,which was from Hebrews 4:12a, “The word of God is living and active.  It is sharper than any sword that has two edges.”

The kids enjoyed a craft of scratch pads, writing the verse with a stylus. Afterwars, they enjoyed a snack of granola bars, also known as “bon bons.”

After lunch, we headed to the local church close to the guest house where we taught VBS to the local village children. We had about 50 show up!  But my favorite part in that was that our older orphans who sang in the Bondye Bel video were driven to the site to meet us!  I was encouraged to ask a couple of the girls to help lead music.  I picked Cherline and Merline.  They were nervous at first but warmed up quickly! This was specifically to give them a chance at leadership.  After we sang our VBS songs, the rest of the kids from the orphanage came up to sing Bondye Bel and a couple other songs they learned.  They did a fabulous job, and actually put on their Sunday church clothes for the occasion.  We were so proud of them!

Trevis taught the lesson, and we had plenty scratch pads for them to enjoy a craft. Afterward, we put some praise music on, got out the frisbees and soccer balls and enjoyed some recreation!

Later that evening, we returned to the orphanage to watch “The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” The kids had seen the first two movies and were eager to see the third one!  We watched the movie on one of the side walls of the church, and the kids did all the work moving the pews to get ready. The smaller children clung to our sides, sat in laps, and many of them fell asleep!  (We started rather late!). The kids would identify a character all at once by saying the names, but an appearance by Aslan brought on applause every time!  It was a GREAT day in Jeremie! Praise the Lord!