This past Friday, the four of us were able to partner with a fellow ministry to bring Christmas to a group of 80+ Haitian children. During this time, we were able to spend time with the kids making crafts, decorating cookies, and playing dodgeball. Then we served them a pizza dinner and sat around while a fellow missionary shared how God sent His only son, Jesus, as the greatest gift of all and how Jesus wants to have a personal relationship with each and every one of us.
The evening ended with each child receiving their own gift for Christmas. Laughter and squeals of joy filled the air as children revealed their new toy cars, sports balls, art kits, baking sets, and many other items. An amazing time was had by all the children and the people serving them.
Our evening was a small snippet of the many ways that the Lord has blessed us during our time serving in Jarabacoa:
God is providing us the language needed to spread His word.
Language has been one of the harder aspects for us in terms of building relationships in the D.R. All four of us have dealt with the breakthroughs and frustrations of language acquisition over the last 17 months. So for Melissa and I, it was such a blessing to see our family, all with varying levels of conversational Spanish, engaging with the children there. It was nowhere near perfect, but it allowed us to share simple Gospel truths and ask if they had a relationship with Jesus.
Intentionality creates opportunities to model the love of Jesus
Even without perfect language, people can tell when you are genuine with your intentions and your desires to be in community with them. Even when the words were not there, smiles, hugs, high-fives and laughs have carved the initial pathways with many people for us. During the program, Brennan and Ava played soccer and dodgeball, I colored with boys while talking about their siblings and the fact that my name was the same as one of their “ugly horses.” Ha! Melissa spent time hanging out the girls and watching them enjoy their strawberry ice cream and brownies. Our hope was that these kids, with little to nothing, were able to experience a tiny taste of the endless love that Jesus perfectly modeled during His life on earth.
God uses all of us. We just need to listen to the call.
Our family got involved in this program through the invitation of other missionaries. One of the beautiful things that we have gotten to see is how ministries work with each other to benefit the work that the Lord is doing through each one. This particular evening there were missionaries who are affiliated with Doulos Discovery School, Young Life, Students International, Fight Ministries, Love Restored and other independent missionaries. Seeing everyone working together for a common cause is such a beautiful thing when it is bring lives closer to the Lord.
