Day 7 | Mickey Skeens

What a glorious day God gave us. This morning we had devotions for the first time as an entire group with the Haitian workers today. There were about 50 in total and the Haitians opened with a song in French Creole and then we sang one song. Then Bill led in devotions and closed in prayer. The best part was that we sang the first verse of Amazing Grace and they sang along with us in their own language. It was beautiful. A little latter we all went to the house that we built this week for the house dedication. There were several firsts today for this, the Senior Pastor for the BHM came and spoke about the family and gave us a brief history on the family and how they were in the situation that they were in. The family has 3 children – Wesley who was 7, Jennifer who was 4, and Caroline who was 3 months old. While they were at church on a Sunday morning they received a call that their house was on fire. By the time they got there it was a total loss for them, the only thing they had were literally the clothes on their backs. The father was out of work and had no way to provide for his family and the church family took them in gave them clothing and shelter, the past month they have been living in 2 man pup tent. We were also told that we could give them gifts which have never been allowed before. After the pastor spoke Randy opened the dedication with a prayer for the family and their new home, then Shane lead devotion for the family. After this we presented the family with 4 quilts that were made by Linda Oney’s quilting group, 2 pillows, a mattress, a few bibles that were in French Creole, and a soccer ball, books, and Frisbee for the kids to play with. As a group everyone wanted to leave them a few dollars to help them get back on their feet. Everyone in the group gave five dollars and I got it exchanged into Haitian currency and with the current exchange rate we were able to give the family 1,060.00. We had to do this in private with them and I had the privilege to present it to them in their house, it was myself, the translator and the parents. We shared a few words and it became very emotional for each of us as they shared the love and appreciation that they had received. Once the dedication was over some of the group returned and got to meet the children that they have been sponsoring for the last 2 years and the rest of the group went to the market. The remainder of the day was spent on the street bartering with the locals for souvenirs to bring home.