Photographic evidence of a great time.

Psalms 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Psalms 104:8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them.

Psalm 145:19 He fulfills the the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry for help and saves them. 

James 1:27 Pure and undefined religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep them unstained by the world. 

Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a difficult time. 

Psalm 105:4-5 Remember the wonderful works He has done, His miracles, and the judgements He has pronounced. 

I wish there were a verse for being a rad nursing team! I love Kristen! Haha

Psalms 98:4 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!

I hope that you enjoy these pictures! Didn't want to say too much this week, just wanted to show you some of the wonderful things that have occurred on my trip. 

The lady that cleans the rooms.

Rosie. Her name is Rosie. Just so we're clear. 

I'll get to my love for her shortly. I want to tell all of you how much I covet your prayers. This week has been the most trying week I've had since being in country. I couldn't have made it through without my God, my parents, Ellen, Alex, Kristin, Jen, and Kate. I'm eternally grateful for the different things you have been to me this week. Oh, and Scott for the ridiculous music in the car on Wednesday. You helped me forget about my troubles, even if it did remind me that I could use some help in the dance moves department. 

Okay, back to Rosie. 

As I write this from the floor in room #2, she has taken off her shoes and slid around on a towel drying the floor. Our A/C has been on the fritz lately. It's all Ellen's fault. Rosie has graciously agreed to do the two bags of laundry that I handed her and asked in my best Creole if she wouldn't mind. By the time I was awake, which was 9 today, Rosie had already visited each unit. (Yea, I slept in. Miss Chantal will be wondering why I wasn't at breakfast today.) Rosie makes a point to visit each patient and sing for the unit and pray over them. I only know "petit petit Kreyol", but I can pick out some words and get the idea of what she is praying for. Rosie is a fervent prayer warrior. She prays with passion. She believes that God can heal these people and is always serving with a smile. 

That's another thing I love about her, she always smiles. Always. I have become accustomed to not seeing a lot of smiling faces here, but she never lets me down. She is a picture of God's faithfulness. She is steady, never yielding. I can depend on her to greet me with a "bonjou Jessica" every morning. 

By now, I hope you love Rosie as much as I do. I hope I've portrayed her adequately. I'll leave you with a verse that reminds me of the type of woman she is.

 

25 Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.

26 She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

27 She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Proverbs 31:25-27

It's all about the little things.

With so many things going on and so much to say, I guess I will mention a few of the little things I've noticed. I will let you see the significance. To me, each of these things is equally important, although they are small. 

• A family fervently prayed over their child and the leaps and bounds he is making in improvement
• The way I find that not many people I make eye contact with will smile with me. I feel that this is mostly because they know great loss here. GREAT LOSS. They have most likely lost multiple family members, quite tragically, by the time they are my age. 
• The lady that cleans the rooms, Rosie, smiles every time I see her. Every time. 
• That Rosie goes to each unit in the morning, before beginning her work, to see the patients and sing and pray over them. 
• Ricardo, the oxygen tech, has made it his mission to teach me a new word/phrase of Creole every day. 
• An orphan that every volunteer fell in love with is now in a safe place with people who love him. It may only be an orphanage, but the staff made sure he went to a place that would take care of him. 
• I am normally always the cold one at home, but somehow I manage to be hot at night when I am working. It is even funnier when I work with Julien. She is always cold and I always hot, but we just laugh about it and do our best to adjust the A/C as to not make the other miserable. 
• On Saturday, I wanted to purchase a Haitian cell phone, to better communicate with some friends here running an orphanage. The security guard changed into a t-shirt and out of his uniform shirt, went into the street with the money I had given him, and purchased the phone for me. He didn't have to.
• Although I missed connecting with the friends from the orphanage, they brought me chocolate chip cookies! SO sweet! It is amazing what you will cherish. I think there were 6 in the bowl and there are still 4 of them left. I will eat them sparingly. 
• I love the storms here. They are majestic and strong. The lightning puts on a show almost every night. With the city power being off almost completely by 7 PM, it makes viewing such things even more riveting. 

I'm sure if I sat here and thought for another couple of hours, I could write a hundred things. These are just a small piece of what graces every day that I spend here. I hope I have given you an adequate picture of some of the things I experience. I will leave you with a verse that I feel is appropriate for these experiences. 

Colossians 1:16,17 - For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.