She has been around Mercy International for a long time and is a great friend of the organization. Her house got damaged in the last earthquake in August of 2021, and she needed help to put it back together. During my last trip, we had planned to go to her house to see how we could help her. When we got there, she was extremely grateful for us to be there. We told her that we were going to help repair her home!
I have seen people excited about things before, but I have never seen anyone as excited as this lady about to get the help she needed for her house. She was dancing with joy! It reminds me of David when he was dancing with joy when the Lord provided for him or protected him from his enemies. She was overwhelmed! She kept repeating, “The Lord has been good to me. I have been praying for someone to come help me and the Lord has sent help. See, therefore we pray to the Lord. He listens to our needs.” After she was jumping up and down, she said, “I don’t have money to give you, but what I do have are my prayers. I may not have things to give, but when I get in front of my Lord, I can pray for anything and anyone. I always pray for you; I pray for your safety and protection. I always have my prayers!” We left her house to go see where her sister lives, and when we were done seeing her sister’s house, I saw her running down the street with something in her hand. So, I took out my phone to take a video. I saw her with a bag in her hand and she was smiling! When she got to the car, our driver told me she had run to get us some beans. I was shocked because this is the same woman who said she had nothing to give us. But now, she probably gave us the last amount of food she may have left in her house. The thing is, we had to take it from her because if we did not, it is a sign of disrespect in Haiti. Especially in the provinces, they don’t take that lightly.
Serving the people of Haiti has been such a blessing for me and my family. The many blessings I have received is beyond my understanding. Money cannot buy the connection that I have with the people in Haiti. My family is also on the receiving end because I get to go home and share these amazing stories with my wife and my baby girl. The gratefulness of the Haitian people continues to teach my family how to be humble, how to cherish everything that we have, and most importantly, how God always answers the prayers of his children.
“But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you; this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” Mark 12: 42-44
