Thursday, June 24th--Day 2

The hill above Prayer Rock

Today's Plans:
Start the day going up to Prayer Rock for devotions and prayers.
We spent the rest of the day visiting various places around the village--seeing the school, the kitchen (where we hoped to see Kids Against Hunger food being made), the clinic, walking around with children from the village, and bringing some of the KAH food down to the ocean to be delivered to needy families on a near island.

We soon found out that plans can change quickly around here.

As we left to deliver the KAH food, we took 2 trucks--one was the same one that picked us up at the airport, the other was a pick-up truck (some of us in the cab, some outside in the bed).
The road on this trek was also pretty nice--another surprise.
We arrived at the dock, unloaded the food, and headed back.
The big truck took a trip to the nearby ocean beach, to search for shells. The pick-up headed back home.

The beach where we looked for shells

As the pick-up drove up the main road to the village, we were stopped by some of the locals--a young woman was pregnant, ready to give birth. Not sure what to do, we just stepped aside, as they laid her in the back of the truck (yes the back, outside, not in the cab!), and we all hopped in--us, her husband, a voodoo priest, and her midwife. There was a clinic about 5 minutes away. About 2 minutes later she screamed to stop the truck--the baby was coming.
Don, our host, was a missionary nurse--he had delivered babies before. We hopped out, Don came back, the mother laid back, and in less than a minute the baby was born. We used a shoelace to tie the umbilical cord, and cut the cord with a razor blade. The mother was praising Jesus, the father was very proud, and we all just stood around in shock. It was one of the most amazing experiences we've ever been through. Jesus' spirit was all over this miraculous birth.

This was one of those times when plans change!

Later in the day, we walked through the village, seeing the houses and buildings and other parts of the property. As we stepped through the steps of the village, we were surrounded by children, each one pleading to hold our hands...just to hold our hands and feel a little piece of love and affection this day. They were incredibly kind and had the most beautiful smiles. We won't lie and say that a few also pleaded for help--shoes, money, jewelry, sunglasses, etc. But who can blame them? Wouldn't we do the same if we were in their place? This was both an incredibly fulfilling and challenging experience. Our comfort zones were stretched considerably! But, it is all part of our time here, and it was something we will never forget.


Day 2 ends with each of us feeling and wide array of emotions....what will tomorrow hold?