8th grade mission trip to Caraballo!

"El que no sirve, no sirve." (He who does not serve, does not serve)

This was the saying which our weekend long mission trip with the 8th graders revolved around. Our leader and one of the Directors at ANIJA, Rebeca, posted it around the house and it sort of stuck. One person would say "El que no sirve", and the other followed with "no sirve". Appropriately, it was usually a leader that would start the saying and one of the kids that finished. It is an incredibly simple phrase, and at first we all chuckled when she said it ... sort of like 'duh, if you aren't serving, you aren't serving.'

But if you give it just a moment more of thought, it's a beautiful reminder just to serve, wherever you are, whoever you are with. And if you aren't, then you aren't doing what you should be doing.

We had a nice, safe weekend up on the North Shore of the D.R., serving at the Kids Alive site Caraballo, which is placed in an absolute breathtaking part of the country and surrounded by Haitian villages, which define the word poverty. Most of the students that attend this care center are from those villages. I was very excited and encouraged to be a part of this trip, and to serve as a leader. While on my mission trip with Kids Alive in Peru in 2010, I remember hearing that some of the kids at the residential homes, who we had just finished serving for a week, were going on a mission trip themselves the following week. I could not believe it. These kids, who have been abandoned, abused, and/or orphaned are going out into the world to spread the love of Christ and serve others? How neat is that. Now just a couple of years later, I got to be a part of the same type of experience. Though not all of these children are from a residential home with KAI, the majority live in impoverished areas of Jarabacoa.

We spent all day Friday helping with the OANSA program at Caraballo, which the 8th graders attend every week at ANIJA as well. They play team games, have small group time where they memorize Bible verses, sing praises, and have a short sermon time. I think this was a crucial day for our kids. It seems that lately at ANIJA, the kids have not seemed as enthusiastic about OANSA, mostly I believe due to fatigue after a long morning at school, and who knows how much sleep the night before. These children at Caraballo were ecstatic about OANSA though, and it was apparent from beginning to end. There was a game in which they had to search for Bible verses and these kids could find the verses within about 5 seconds. We had a sharing time on Saturday night and this is something that almost every 8th grader said impacted and impressed them. I believe God really used this time with OANSA at Caraballo to encourage the ANIJA kids a bit and expose them to a place that is really benefiting from the program.

Friday night was a huge night. We went to the house of a couple from Argentina, who are Rebeca's friends, for dinner. The food was delicious, but what followed I don't think I'll ever forget. Both hosts gave their testimony of how they came to know Christ and how He has moved in their lives. Then they showed a clip of what it means to be a Christian and how accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour is the only way to break the divide that exists between God and sinful man, and to live with Him in eternity. Afterward they gave the kids the opportunity to do just that while all of our heads were down - they just simply needed to say a prayer to themselves and then raise their hand if they did so. I had my head down so I wasn't sure who raised their hand, but apparently 6 out of about 16 kids accepted Christ as their Saviour that night. Hallelujah - praise be to God the Father and His only Son Jesus Christ.

Saturday was a challenging day of construction - or challenging for me at least. We were basically helping to continue the work of new classrooms that are being built on the second floor. I have not done hard labor like that since my one and only time during my mission trip in Peru. This work was even tougher and thank goodness God gave me the verse, "Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men" - Ephesians 6:7. What a great reminder of who I am truly serving, or should be serving, every day of my life. That verse is powerful because if you love God, it makes you want to do what you are doing well, and to keep perservering.

We had a good day though, and though it started with quite a few complaints, I believe we ended strongly, all working together and seeing the importance of our work. It also helped to know that we were headed to the beach for a bit at the end of the day, which was a blast. We went Saturday and Sunday and I had such a good time playing in the ocean with the kids. I've never been with the majority outside of the library, and it felt great to cut loose and be playful.

As I mentioned briefly, we had a time of sharing on Saturday night, and though I was a bit nervous because Spanish is not my "heart language" and I had to share as well, I loved hearing what everyone else had to say. Most of the kids said they were impacted by the children's desire and enthusiasm for OANSA, the tough work they endured and how they had to work as a team on Saturday, and by their exposure of the poor Haitian homes and the children that have even less than they do, and whose opportunities are very minimal. In this culture, or atleast in my experience at ANIJA, the children are very loud. They are fun, playful almost always, but it seems like the majority are just loud, hyper, and can be quite disobedient. This was such a sweet time to stop and hear them share their heart and feelings a bit. And when one of the boys confessed that he had raised his hand to accept Christ the night before, I had to hold back from yelling a little "woohoo". His life will never be the same from that night on, and that is something to yell about.

Until next time ... Romans 8:38-39 - For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.