On our way we started to play two truths and a lie. After explaining it to Jonas and Valery it turned into the game of what doesn't belong. It was hilarious and so much fun. Once we arrived we got out of the tap-tap and could see some kids beginning to gather by us. Their faces lit up when they saw everyone getting off and ran up and hugged some of the people that they recognized from previous mission trips. It was really amazing seeing how happy they were to see us all. Once we were ready to go we loaded up the tap-tap with our team, along with five kids from Grace Village, and we were on our way to visit the first elder.
We visited Pierre first and he was so sweet, he helped every person down the small hill and hugged people upon arrival. We washed his body, clipped his toenails, and massaged his back. Then he was ready to get up and dance. We played music and all sang along and danced with Pierre. It was so moving to see the pure joy he had just from spending time with us. Gaustf, Pierre's son, sang for us and had some really genuine words for us. He told us to not have pity for them because they are poor, but to instead pray for him and his family, and he hoped people would keep coming back to visit them. We also painted some of the little girls' nails and a little boy named Edwins painted my nails a lovely shade of pink.
After hugging Pierre and saying goodbye we got back on the tap-tap and were on our way to the next elder's place. The second elder we visited was Marie and she was 104 years old! There were many kids there because she loves children. She got her nails and toes painted, you could tell she loved being pampered. She was the happiest one hundred and four year old lady I've ever seen. ;)
After visiting with Marie we got back on the tap-tap and went back to Grace village for our tour. It was amazing getting to see what Healing Haiti does for these kids that wouldn't have a home if it weren't for them. We got to see where the girls live, the soon-to-be family houses, classrooms, feeding center, and aquaponics. Everything about Grace Village amazed me, the people, kids, even the great playground in the middle amazed me!
After the tour we went to another elders home and his name was Edmund. He loved everyone's company and smiled so much. Edmund had a lot of animals at his house, chickens, pigs, and dogs. There were also a lot of kids that came over to our team while we were there and they all just wanted us to love them. One little girl Kelly from our team was holding told her "Jesus loves you" in Creole and that really pulled at my heart strings. I don't know many little kids that would say that and it was so touching to see this little girl say that to her, she didn't want Kelly to let her go but we had to say our goodbyes and get back on the tap-tap.
Overall, the elder visits were so amazing and moving because we got to see all of the happiness they still have and that that joy doesn't come from material things or anything else, but that their joy comes from people, and relationships, and love that's shown towards them. That's real happiness. It's so hard to put into words what we saw today and it was so amazing that it can't simply be described in words. It was just such a spiritually moving day. ~ Molly
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