Relieve…Recover…Rebuild

I opened my bag when unpacking my first night in Haiti. I came across a brown, bulky envelope that had a Cross adorning it. I opened it and pulled out a bunch of letters. The letters were written in the recognizable manuscript of young kids. The letters were from the Rock Solid and Pebbles groups of Palma Ceia United Methodist Church. The Pebbles (1st and 2nd graders) wished us well on our mission and told us they hope to go to Haiti when they got old enough. The Rock Solid kids (3rd thru 5th graders) wanted to be with us and charged us with helping the people of Haiti with all our heart.


My son Matthew, who is one of the leaders of the Rock Solid group (they call themselves “Top Rocks”) , printed out a neat flyer entitled Relieve…Recover…Rebuild with the US and Haitian flags.

They had worked together on these wonderful bead necklaces, one for each member of the mission trip. The beads were red and blue - the colors of the Haitian flag. They called our attention to the fact that the patterns they put into the beads were unique – just like each of the men on the trip – wonderfully different in our own way. Even though most of the guys weren’t used to wearing bead necklaces, the gesture talked to us. Each man helped adorn the other.

 
 
This tied in nicely to a Haitian proverb told to us by our host, Debbie. “Yon Sel Dwet Pa Manje Kalalou.” [“One finger alone cannot eat the gumbo.”] It reminds us that it takes a team to best make a difference.