A True Blessing

All the girls ready to go into La Sirena.

Today started very normal like every other day before. I arrived at the school at 7:20am and prepared myself for classes. I soon began to find what looked like an easy day become very stressful. I only had one class today because of final tests, but I also have to complete all my grades before I leave on Wednesday. I found myself with my head stuck in a pile of papers, tests, notebooks, and my grade book for 5 straight hours (30 min lunch break in there). I finished my day 45 minutes early with my head hurting and my eyes burning. All of those numbers and the math on the report cards were not a good combination. All I wanted to do was go home and rest before continuing to work on grades and finals, but I had one more thing to do.

The group looking at all the flavors of ice cream.

Today was the Christmas party for the Haitian school that my ministry sponsors. There are 33 students in the school and 23 of them were ready for their party. Donations were given in order to buy each student a present and give them a treat. The plan was to take them to La Sirena (comparable to super Walmart) and get them some ice cream. Many of them have never been to La Sirena before. It is only a 15 minute drive to the other side of town. After La Sirena we were going to stop and buy each student a gift. Something so simple began to be so very special for me.

The students praying for their ice cream.

We arrived at the school to pick up the students and found them dressed in their best clothes. They were going on a field trip across town and were not going to look bad. Many of the girls were in the cutest little dresses. We arrived at La Sirena and gave the kids time to look around the store. The entire group of students stayed together as they walked around. When they were done in the toy section we moved to the deserts. They picked out a chocolate and strawberry ice cream (with no arguing) and sat down in the cafeteria. Debbie and I began to serve the ice cream for each student. We would put a scoop of strawberry and a scoop of chocolate in each cup. We also thought that some of the kids may not want two flavors so we made some cups with just one flavor. The teachers gave the cups back to us like we made a terrible mistake and forgot the other flavor! haha. I guess we do things a little different. It amazed me that as we served each student an ice cream not one student began to eat. They waited, without a single taste, until every student had received their ice cream and prayed. We talked, laughed, took pictures, and then loaded back up into the van.

One of the students with her presents.

The next stop was the toy store. Each student began to look around to see what they were going to get with their $200 pesos (US$5). One girl picked out a doll and a few other things only to realize that it was only $100 pesos!! She was so happy that she could keep looking. She returned 5 minutes later with about 5 more items that put her over the limit. haha. She was happy to return a few things a leave with exactly what she wanted. Many of the girls left with tea sets, cooking sets, dolls, sunglasses, and jump ropes. The guys chose video games, chess sets, basketballs, and yo-yos. They kids were so excited for the little things that we were able to provide. Their day was filled with joy from an ice cream trip and a small toy. It really showed me what true happiness is. What is it that brings joy and happiness to my life? It truly was a blessing to be with those students today. God bless them and God bless you all!