Falling in Love

Gwyneth Paltrow's character in the movie Country Strong gives the following advice: “Don't be afraid to fall in love, It's the only thing that matters in life. Fall in love with as many things as possible.” Indeed, love is truly what life is all about. It is what God created us for. In Haiti, I fall in love everyday, and I hope I never stop falling in love.

I will share one such story. On Saturday, I brought a team to the house of a woman named Sofilia. Sofilia is a middle-aged Haitian woman who attends the church at the mission. Every Saturday, about fifty children from the village of Titanyen cram into Sofilia's tiny dirt yard for a simple children's ministry. They sing songs, play games, and learn about Jesus. Sofilia also distributes clothes and shoes to the children in greatest need. These are shoes and clothes that have been donated to the Mission of Hope. One thing that I love about the vision of MOH is that they want the Haitian church to be the hands and feet of Christ in Haiti, and so we feed the Haitian-led initiatives and ministries that in turn serve the local people.

I took a seat on Sofilia's front stoop and watched our teenage Haitian translator, Jean Marc, leading the children in song. I felt two slender arms wrap around my waist, and looked down to see probably the greatest smile I have seen in my life. That, I know, is a bold claim since this is a country full of countless beautiful smiles, but it was true. I have no doubt that this child had nothing but pure love and joy coming from that smile. A little boy had sidled up next to me and given me a hug, flashing some gorgeous white teeth. His name is Samuel, and he is about four or five years old. We played some games together and made funny faces at each other and exchanged about a dozen hugs.

Then, I decided to ask him about his family. I asked him if he had any brothers, but when he looked confused, I blamed it on my poor Kreyol and asked again. Sofilia stopped me however and told me that Samuel does have brothers, but he does not know them and his mother died so Samuel has been living with Sofilia for one month. Samuel's eyes looked big and round for a moment and his smile shrunk and disappeared. I smiled at him and hugged him, and suddenly that beautiful smile was back. It's hard to describe what an incredible thing it is to fall in love in such a short time, but I could see that Samuel is truly a special gift from God to the world and I paused and said a silent prayer for the people he would touch in his lifetime and a prayer that we would see each other again.