The Happy Crappy Edition

Recently, the staff has started doing boy and girl small groups twice a week.  It’s been a really great way for us to get together and talk about how we’ve been feeling and what we’ve been doing since we often go a long time without seeing each other.  One thing we do during girls small group has been what we lovingly refer to as “Happy Crappies.”  AKA: Our highs and lows for the week.  Thus, I will be giving you my Happy Crappies for the past few days.  (Crappies are first so I can end on a Happy note. J )

Crappies

1) So I totally got sick again.  Crappy.  I’ll spare you the details, but I was definitely quarantined for a day because everyone keeps getting sick so they didn’t want me to spread my germs.  Blah.

2) Remember that whole Neighbors Project in Mayette thing and “You have no idea how stoked I am!” comment?  Yeah, well, guess what days I was sick… Sigh.  Story of my life.

3) And for the cherry on top of my Crappies, whatever horrible antibiotic they gave me to fight the sickness was almost as bad as malaria pills.  Same gross taste.  Same chalky yuckness.  Just a little bit smaller (hence the “almost as bad.”)  Long story short, I was supposed to take them for three days… yeah.  I feel fit as a fiddle now, so forget that mess.

Happies

1) "I feel fit as a fiddle now” = Happy #1  It was so nice to finally be able to do something productive.  I also have two Sub-Happies.  The first was when someone (I didn’t find out until later who) randomly brought down Vanessa, my teddy bear, to where I was quarantined so I could have her to make me feel better.  The second was having some random short-term tripper be my temporary over-protective mother and take care of me while I was sick.

2) Sometime before I got sick, I had a chance to hang out with the Nutritional Program, where malnourished kids can come to eat.  I grabbed a friend of mine who translates, and we went down to talk to the moms of the children.  One little girl jumped in my arms and would not let go, so I ended up talking to her mother.  When I asked her if she went to church, she said she didn’t, so I asked why.  She told me that her and her kids didn’t have good shoes to wear.  Well, fancy that.  We had boxes of TOMS shoes that we were about to bring down in 15 minutes.  Seriously.  After I told her, I asked her if I would see her on Sunday and if I could sit with her.  She smiled and said yes.  It was pretty awesome.

3) A couple of weeks ago, I met a boy named Fridson.  We were walking to the waterfall and just talking—as much as we could with my limited Creole.  I asked him about his family, and he said that his parents dies in the earthquake and he was living with a friend.  I was so sad for him, but happy that he had someone who had taken him in.  A week or so later, I heard the interns talking about a 13-year-old boy living on the streets that they wanted to try and get into the orphanage in Salines Mayette.  I found out that Fridson was kicked out of the home he was living in—apparently they couldn’t afford to take care of him along with the rest of the family.  Well, after asking and calling and trying to figure out who to talk to, we found out this week that Fridson might possibly be able to enter our orphanage at La Baie!  It’s not for sure yet, but it’s a Happy anyway.  Please be praying for Fridson.  He’s an amazing kid.

4) Tonight we played soccer with Miriam Center kids.  Half of them walked or ran around and half of them were in wheelchairs, but ALL of them were laughing and kicking and having a blast.  Try to picture it, if you can.  It was too dark for video.

Creole lesson: “Se anpil dlo ki lave kay tè.”

      “It takes a lot of water to wash a mud hut.”

“We must not become tired of doing good.  We will receive our harvest of eternal life at the right time if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9

Sometimes it’s overwhelming.  What can I do?  This is such a big country with so many big problems.  I’m just a young girl.  But I have great heart.  And I will not tire of doing good.