Kelly's blog

          Today was the final day of VBS with the children at the church. As soon as we walked into church we were surrounded by all of the children who we were able to love on and develop relationships with throughout the week! I always love watching the children sing and dance, and today they so into the songs! Even when the songs were playing later when the children were waiting for lunch I saw so children dancing and singing on their own! Noel and Vanessa’s bible story today was about John the Baptist in prison. They used emojis to help tell the story and keep the children’s attention. Johny, the translator for the lesson did a great job in being expressive when he translated the lesson which also keeps the children engaged. Today the children were very attentive. The bottom line was if you don’t know what God says, ask.
          Small groups throughout the week have been an amazing way for us to connect to the children on the deeper level. When we finished our small group time I got a picture of my entire small group all together, and I know most, if not all of the other small group leaders also made sure to get a picture.  At the end of Bible school we got to give out all of the crafts that the children made throughout the week and each child received a Creole New Testament to take home with them. My children were so excited about their new Bible! I also had one child, who is the cutest child ever, Rolph, come up to me all worried speaking in Creole. I took him over to Crystal to translate what he was saying; she looked very confused and took me that he was asking me for his feet. We were both very confused, until I handed him his foot print craft from day 3 then his face lit up with his beautiful smile, which the team has been talking about all week. Then it all made sense. He was very worried that he wouldn’t get his foot print back and that is why he was asking me to give him his feet.
         Even though it was a very hot day today, no one cared about the heat when the children all came to hug us and kiss us before they left. We have made so many connections with the children this week that it was difficult to leave. All of the children here are so sweet you can’t help but love each and every one of them! We are never going to forget the connections we made with the children and people here in Haiti and a piece of my heart will always to be here in this beautiful country!

Kelly Martin