Saying goodbye is always hard, but today were some of the hardest goodbyes I have ever had. Today wrapped up our week of VBS with the kids, and personally, watching them all learn and grow in their faith throughout the week was beyond amazing. The way they learned the songs and versus so quickly was crazy! During the whole time at VBS today we could all tell that they were a little more rowdy than the other days, and we realized that they could tell we were leaving. At the end of Bible School this morning I cried for over an hour because I knew it was our last day. A little girl named Leandre was sitting on my lap everyday of VBS. During the final song this morning I was crying and Leandre kept wiping my tears and telling me something in Creole. I called a translator over and asked what she was telling me. The translator told me she kept saying, “It is going to be okay.” Then I just lost it. I said goodbye at the end of the morning and I was so upset. Later tonight we had a parent’s night with the VBS kids and once we got there all of the kids started cheering. It melted my heart. Right as we sat down, Leandre came up and sat in my lap. We sang all of the songs and reviewed what we did all week at VBS with the parents. At the end of the night when everyone was leaving every time I turned around I got a hug from either a parent or a child. I loved how loving and caring everyone was. It really warmed my heart. I have so many pictures of the children that I want to blow up and put them all over my wall. The love I have for these children is never ending and I will remember this trip forever.

~Emily White

Today was our last day of VBS. The kids learned the songs and verses so quickly and had so much energy while doing them. Today the kids were so enthusiastic about the songs, jumping, dancing, and singing. The craft today was a wordless book which taught them the gospel and how to walk through a relationship with God. Through all of this at the end of the VBS today we had about 20 kids who were saved. This made me so happy because it really showed me that we were helping the lives of these children. Later tonight we had a closing ceremony with the children and their parents. We summarized all of the lessons that were taught throughout the week. This showed the parents what the kids were learning this week and how to continue to encourage them even after we leave. When we were finished almost all the parents came up and hugged us which filled me with so much joy, knowing that they appreciated what we were doing all week. Overall the entire week at Haiti has been an amazing experience which has opened my eyes.

  ~Zach Smith

I have really enjoyed this week and have really grown a lot closer to the Lord this week. Coming into this week I really didn’t know what to expect and I wasn’t very spiritually prepared and was kind of in a valley.  On the first day, Sunday I really spent the day not only preparing the games for the VBS but also preparing my heart. It’s inconceivable what God can do in your heart when you come to him. My highlight of this week has to be the prayer walks. The first day we did it we meet a couple men and women and they a lot of them wanted to go to church but they felt they couldn’t because they didn’t have enough money to buy good enough church cloths. As we talked to more and more of them, especially the second time we prayer walked I could really tell that a lot of them believed that you had to be good enough to get into heaven, and on the second day my translator, James, got to share the gospel to a lady who believed in works based faith. I have also really enjoyed the VBS and got to play games with a lot of the kids. It was really hard for us (the game group) to come up with games that the Haitian kids could understand and play. It helped so much that one of the guys from the church, Jonas, jumped in and taught us some games they all knew how to play, like Tic Tock boom. Anyways this week is going by so fast but it has been such an awesome week, better than I imagined. Thank you for all those who are praying, we definitely need it. Shout out to my Family and of course Kerri! I miss you all J       

~ Andrew Weston