We've experienced many losses. One of our workers, Idalia, passed away one of our elderly orphans, Israel, died. And a baby that was born in the birthing center, Isaac passed away at just 1 day old. That all happened in 1 week. And there have been countless events in between that have shaken us to the core.
It was so difficult watching Idalia's 5 children become orphans in front of our eyes. Fedline (18), Mishelda (16), Ester (13), Jose (7), Chernider (6). Not only did their mother die but their father told them that he wanted nothing to do with them and that he was leaving after the funeral to start another family. I can't imagine the difficulty of such an event and to witness a close friend go through it was difficult for me. I've built some amazing relationships out of that loss though. Idalia's daughter, Ester, 13, has become so close to me. I knew her before and we joked plenty but after we mother died we really bonded. I went with her and her sisters to drop her brothers off at the orphanage. We drove out there and the boys were pretty upset, the older girls were trying to keep a brave face and pretend everything was normal, and Ester was just sitting, a little shocked and a little lost. When we got to our La Baie campus and took all the boy orphans out there to the beach. Idalia's family came with us too. Ester had the time of her life with her siblings and the other boys. We played in the water and just had a blast. She would just hang onto me te whole time and just love on me. Which felt strange because she was the one who needed to be loved on. She had pure joy even in the midst of a trial.
Ester then decided to push me and Caitlin, a fellow staff member, to run every morning from on top of the hill where the mission is to the edge of the city and all the way back up. It's not fun but we turned it into a ministry. Some of the orphanage girls have started running with us. We call ourselves The Bouke Club. Bouke means "tired or exhausted from exercise or physical labor" in Creole. We ran a couple mornings and then started a Bible study after our run. The girls are working on memorizing scripture.
1 Timothy 4:12
"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young but set and example for all believers in speech, life , love, faith, and purity."
I'm excited to see where these ministry opportunities lead. It's kinda scary to think that the summer is almost over. Only 1 more team and then it will be time to head home. But I'm enjoying these last few weeks and loving every second I'm here.
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