Sister Eli

March 4, 2010

Today a friend of Reggie's family took us to a location right in the center of Port au Prince where an order of Catholic nuns called the "Sisters of Salesiennes" were running an orphanage and a school. We were shown around and were able to see the school in action. Their chapel was totally destroyed in the earthquake and many of the other buildings were damaged. One of the great needs in Haiti is education. Approximately 70% of the population is illiterate. They normally housed about 65 orphans and school for those and others in the community who pay to go to school there. Because of the earthquake they were caring for up to 1000 families, helping them with food etc.

We then drove to another location and met with Sister Eli, a dear sister who ran the orphanage. She was a beautiful Haitian woman and I immediately felt a kinship and connection with this woman. She graciously took time out of her very busy schedule to visit with us and tell her story. She had been raised in the orphanage, then a benefactor paid for her to be educated in Canada and she had come back to her country to serve God at this place.

At one point she and Reggie were conversing in French and I just sensed that he needed to tell her what God had shown us about feeding His sheep and being an encouragement to those who were doing God's work in Haiti. As I started to tell him to share the story with her, I realized that is exactly what he was doing! Reggie confirmed this when I asked him.

It was so clear that we were to give her financial support, so we gave some of the money that had been donated by a few generous friends to help them feed all of the children that were being served here at the orphanage. Sister Eli was very moved by our spiritual support and also by the financial support,she was a precious sister in Christ and Ann said later that we had witnessed "true religion", as it says in James- to care for the fatherless and the widows.

This morning God spoke again through Oswald Chambers devotional. He reminded us that we should not count our lives as dear to us, or our acts of service. "Our ordinary and reasonable service to God may actually compete against our total surrender to Him". It is more important that we experience humility and recognize that it is God's work, not our own. As we felt somewhat useless God was saying "that is good". Oswald said, "never consider whether or not you are of use- but always consider that 'you are not your own'. 1 Corinthians 6:19."
I was reminded of this as
God allowed us to bring blessing and encouragement but not to physically "do" anything!