Love from Mamba!

Hey guys!!!! This is Victoria Jacox. Let me start off with how I feel I am way beyond blessed to have had been able to go on this mission! It has been such an amazing experience and I am sooooo glad that I was able to experience it myself, and with lots of wonderful people by my side. Before I forget Christian- my asthma is doing just great! Yolanda- if you want the rooster I would gladly have given it to you at any point this week!!!!!!!!! Now about my experiences it has been a crazy week with so much going on and not always knowing what we were going to do but Ally and Crystal did an extraordinary job keeping calm, keeping everyone else calm, and keeping us safe.  So we got to Haiti about 5 Saturday night and we had an awesome dinner (it was soooooo good)!! Saturday night was a little rough. Yolanda’s lovely rooster friend just wouldn’t stop talking to us all night long. When we got up and were getting ready for church Sunday morning we had a good breakfast and loaded the bus up. The church service was so cool! The songs were so up-beat and cool. It was cool to see all the Haitian people so passionate in their service and being so joyful to worship their, OUR amazing god! After we had lunch we went over to the  Center and did all sorts of things to clean up and make it look awesome. Sunday night was also a little rough because not only did the rooster talk all night but some other weird bird thing. Monday we worked in the Center in the morning had lunch and headed over to the orphanage. On our “slightly” bumpy bus ride over there I was getting really nervous about if they were going to like me what to do with them when we got there. We got there and put our stuff upstairs and went down to meet the girls. I would smile and say hello and they would smile and run away because some were shy. I played a little hand game with one girl for a while and we sat and made a bracelet together and I tried to talk to her but I only know how to say hi and what’s your am in Creole so it was a lot of smiling. When we gathered up all the children for bible school the class I was helping with was the biggest group! Our biggest number of kids that we had in class was about 30. We made flip fops in crafts and I helped the cutest little girl tie her fabric on and she was just so smiley and happy I was helping. The learning center and class went awesome as well and they sang so loud and beautifully. We got back to our base and had another amazing meal did debrief and went to bed. It was another sleepless night with lots of tossing and turning. Tuesday morning we ate and painted and picked up some trash. We had lunch ad headed back over to the orphanage and did and awesome craft and all the girls would tap me to show me and were so proud of their amazing hard work! During learning center I was hanging with this sweet little girl that had some special needs. She was just the sweetest girl ever at first she was kind of just quiet and didn’t want to talk or be with anyone but later in the class she came up to me and held so tight onto my hand and it was just so amazing. Another girl came up and was hugging my and just holding onto me and also playing with some of my fat lol. When I had to go and make sure kids weren’t escaping our room those two girls just wouldn’t let go. When we got back to the base we had just another amazing meal (seriously guys I wish I could just take these cooks home). Tuesday night was the worse of sleep but the morning was so amazing. Myself and a few others went on a prayer walk. We talked to a guy and met one of our translators student that he teaches English to and they had some very good prayers. This man asked us to go to his house to pray with his daughter. His house was up the mountain and oh man was that a hike. When we got to the house I was sweating so much it was like a rain cloud above my head but he had some very serious prayers for his daughter. It was definitely very emotional but I am so beyond glad that I had that experience.  We got back had lunch and went to the orphanage and the girls wouldn’t let go of me that day either. Thursday morning after breakfast we headed to the orphanage for our last day with the girls. We introduced silly string to the kids and they thought it was soooo cool and had so much fun with it. We made a lot of bracelets before classes. The time seemed to just fly by. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye and tried to keep it together and not cry in front of them because I didn’t want them to see. I couldn’t help it though. I hugged the little girl that was attached to my side and told her I loved her and she told me she loved me and I just couldn’t help but cry. My heart was breaking I wanted more time with the girls but I know next year will come fast and I will be able to see them again.  Finally Thursday night I slept so well!! Thursday after lunch we went to this place and toured and got some of their stuff because it helps parents have jobs to support their family and they use cereal boxes for some jewelry and it was a very awesome cool place! Today, Friday was awesome! We did some more work in the center and it looks so good. We had lunch and headed to this place that hand makes bowls and they were so beautiful. After that we headed to this nice beach and it was so relaxing and just so nice! I almost forgot! We went to this overlook to pray and think and it was just so amazing and beautiful. I am sad this trip is coming to an end but I am so excited to see my family in Bellevue! This trip has just been beyond amazing and I am so happy I went on it. God is truly amazing. I love and miss you all! In love Victoria. Ps (sorry this was so long).