Submitted by Kathy Roozeboom who is currently serving with PFH/HELP in Pignon, Haiti. This is Kathy’s first time to Haiti.

Today is Wednesday and we started the day with our devotions on the balcony with goat, chicken, duck, music and street noises of all kinds. This is our final day and we all have such mixed emotions. We all miss our loved ones and are so ready to reunite with them at home, but on the other hand, we feel so called to love those all here in Haiti, and continue to bring the love of Jesus to them. We had a wonderful breakfast with pancakes and the best homemade juice and boiled eggs and of course coffee.

Benches being delivered in truck.

We had the wonderful privilege of delivering 37 desks to different schools that we had made during the course of the time that we were here. Did we see a lot of excitement amongst the children?! We also handed out the Creole version of the Book of John and told them how much we loved them. We prayed with the teachers, students and the school. We were so touched when a class sung in the English language, “Today is the day that the Lord has made.” Tears of joy ran down our cheeks.

We came back and had lunch consisting of sweet potatoes, yum, coleslaw and rice and beans. Our cooks have been wonderful. We have been so blessed with our meals. In the afternoon, we shopped the local market on the side of the street. The locals were appreciative for our support, as this brings food to their tables. Their handiwork was beautiful.

Jean-Robert in the Five Loaves office.

We then left with Jean-Robert, who operates the Five Loaves center, and took us to the country side where the poverty is the worst of the worst. We had clothing and toys for the family. The tears of joy that we experienced in the morning became tears of great sadness. It is something that is unexplainable. Dirt floors to sleep on, very dirty clothing, water very difficult to get, starvation, and a home itself is in poorest conditions. But, as we prayed with each family, we could hear their weak voices responding to our prayers. Our heads hung low, as we sat in the back of our pickup. We cry to God and say, “Lord give us direction, show us how we can better ourselves to be the hands and feet of Jesus” and then our teenage interpreter was singing “My God is so good”.

Haitian home in the country side.

As we draw a close to the day, we again had a wonderful meal and discussed our day journey and what the day meant to us. We praise God for keeping us safe, as we rode in the back of the pickup all week on the worst bumpy roads and none of us fell out.  We praise God for keeping each of us healthy. We thank God for all the hymns that we heard for hours from area churches. We praise God for the beautiful creation in Haiti. The mountains proclaim the glory of God. We praise God for putting a few smiles on God’s children in Haiti. We praise God for giving us new visions. We praise God for the lows and highs of the week.

As I close this blog, I ask those reading this to continue to pray for the poverty in the world, and that God will touch each one of us in some way, so we can live fully to honor and praise God’s name in our walk.