Day 4 – May 22nd

Day 4: Early in the morning Pastor Andre, Whikindy (the child with the tumor) his family, and a group from the mission team took off for Milot. Hopes were high that the tumor could be removed.  As for me, Day 4 started off very similar to Day 3.  A group of us went back down to the orphanage for another day of painting and cleaning.  By this point the beds were starting to look fantastic.  Cameron & Sarah King had started writing the kids names on their bed.

Halfway through the day, I looked out in front of one of the dorms and saw my sponsor kid, Marc-Elie, playing marbles with one of his friends.  I walked over to watch them play but was quickly pulled into the game.  Let me just say that game rules don’t seem to translate well in to other countries and cultures!  Pretty soon Marc-Elie and I were playing one-on-one.  We didn’t have a full set of marbles, but as well played other children from the orphanage kept running over giving us more marbles and beads to play with.  All of a sudden Marc-Elie grabbed Ben, the house parents youngest son, and made him start playing with.  Then Marc-Elie ran off.  I thought maybe Marc-Elie had grown tired of playing, especially since I think he might have ADD! Haha So Ben and I kept on going.  About two minutes later Marc-Elie ran back over grabbed my hand, pulling me to another area of the yard.  He started trying to teach me a brand new game involving marbles.  While I still have no clue what the rules were, it was awesome to see him excited to hang out with me and teach me the games he plays.  This had a pretty big impact on me.  I could tell he was starting to feel more comfortable around me.  This was awesome!  For the past year or so that I have sponsored him I had been so worried of what he would think of me.  Would he like me?  Would he want to hangout with me?  Would he care that I was there?  I had no clue, but I knew that I cared deeply for him as one of my own family members, and hoped that one day he would feel the same way.  On this day, those worries were wiped away.

A few hours later a group of us “Americans” started playing a game of soccer with some of the Haitian children.  Fifteen minutes in to the game a heavy rain started to pour down.  None of the kids ran away to stay dry, so neither did we.  For the next half an hour we played a crazy game of soccer as the rains showered over us.  It’s easy to forget how much fun things were when I was a kid, but in that moment it all came back.  It had been years since I had ran around in the rain.  It was amazing and well worth the soggy shoes and socks!

Right before dinner I heard the news that I had been hoping for all day. Whikindy had successfully been operated on and he his football sized tumor had been removed.  The doctors said the tumor weighed 15 pounds.  Just stop for a second and find an object around you that weighs fifteen pounds.  Now hold that object and imagine it hanging off the side of your body for over a year.  WOW!  What a life-changing day for Whikindy.  When all hope had been lost, when no one thought this surgery could happen in Haiti, God stepped in.  If you could here Annette Crislip tell the crazy story of how everything fell in to place in a matter of days you would be shocked.  God was moving.

The whole group came together that night to worship and celebrate the craziness of the day. We ended that night singing the two songs I mentioned from day 2, “Doxology” & “Glory To God Forever.”

And so I want to end this in the same way, with the opening words of the Doxology:

“Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow.”

Here is Wanderlove by his bed...Def. wins coolest name award in my book...This is just one of many awesome pictures from Colleen Kings collection...

Marc-Elie & I playing marbles...

Hanging out with Marc-Elie...Look at that smile...

Whikindy with his grandmother...You can see on his back where the tumor has been removed...Amazing... This is an amazing photo from Lee Wilkers

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