The kids smell like gasoline

delmas 32-feeding program-3399
Originally uploaded by LucasTheExperience

Last night I was looking at pictures of some of the kids here at the orphanage when they were on the street. It is amazing to see the change that has happened in five years both physically and spiritually. The lady who was showing me (Lauren) the pictures was talking about how she was going tomorrow with one of the boys (Junior) to minister to street kids. I am all for that, and told her I wanted to come and take pictures.

So at about noon today Markenson, Junior, Lauren and I piled into the car. It was full of presents for the kids and my legs barely fit in the front seat. Our first stop was Church on the Rock which is a really large Haitian church. After unloading some gifts we waited for the main worship pastor who was coming with us. As we were waiting, the noon service started. The worship was amazing and after awhile they started singing something like "We worship you God"... People were roaming the aisles, hands lifted high. I noticed I was probably the one white person standing around in that room out of hundreds of Haitians. This seems to happen a lot and I am kind of becoming used to being in the minority. One lady who was worshiping then looked at me, stopped and gave me a handshake. I really don't know what the message communicated between us was, but I found it somewhat humorous. Anyways they kept singing the same thing for about ten minutes and I thought I could just stay here all day and listen to this.

Then, it was time to go. As I left I could still hear them in the street singing that same song... I walked with Markenson and the worship pastor through a market, up some stairs and into a small crowded room where a Haitian man was preaching to some kids. There was a belt on the table in case someone got out of hand. When that man was finished, Markenson gave a passionate message little of which I could understand. Junior did the same. As I was standing there and the room kept filling up more and more I noticed the smell of gasoline as the kids moved around. Lauren told me she had tried to wash their clothes, and wash them well and it still wouldn't rid their clothes of the stench of street life. Pastor Gary tells me many of these kids struggle with drugs. For many of them, it seems like there is little or no hope... But then you can look at Markenson and Junior. Preaching to these kids who are in the place they were 5 years ago. Amazing. Then the message was finished. Lauren tells the children their only hope is Jesus... They don't have to pray to Jesus to get a Christmas gift or food, only if they will truly and want to accept Him. Many kids prayed, please pray for them that their faith would be authentic. We then hand out gifts which - with so many kids crammed into this little room it could have easily been much more chaotic than it was. Food is served. It's time to go home.

Time for the feeding program and then a birthday celebration for one of the kids who came from the place I was just at...  Many of the kids at the orphanage lived lives like the kids I saw today, some of them are even from that same street I was on.  Running through the streets, begging, malnourished.  Until God rescued them.

It's hard for me to think where those kids I saw today are right now at 10pm. Are they dodging traffic? Doing drugs? Kids like this only have one hope.