Melissa's Laugh

I’ve been kind of sick for a week now. I hate that. I’m not sick enough to miss work. Just sick enough to make the day seem like it will never end. I think its allergies. This is weird because I’ve never had allergies before. Of course, I’ve never lived in Haiti before either.  My throat hurts, my nose is stuffed up, and my eyes are dry. And let me just say that I’m not going to try and pretend like I’m some tough missionary chick that never complains about anything. When I’m sick I’m the biggest baby you’ve ever seen. These poor people living with me have had to put up with my whining for a while now. Hahaha. Oh well, it should be about over. I think it has about run its course.

I found out a couple days ago that I can’t come home now until the end of June. I wanted to come home for a week during my Easter break but I don’t think I can now. There is a team coming to stay with me that week and a couple of the people on the team are from my home church. Plus that week we are going to have a free clinic for one day at the property that Soul Harvest Church purchased. It’s going to be the first ministry we do on our land. I have to be here for that. At the end of June I can come back to WV for a couple months during my summer vacation. It’s going to be weird leaving everyone for that long but I’ll enjoy the little break. I can’t even imagine how hot it will be here in July and August. I’m sure it’s miserable. I know I’ll experience it eventually but for now I’m going to go home and hide in the air conditioning when the time comes. Ya I know. I’m a wimp!

My Creole is improving significantly. I’ve been praying that God would help me with it and he really has. Now it seems like I can remember words easier. Things are sticking in my brain. I can make sentence now but it still takes me a while to think of every word. I think now it’s just a matter of practicing. I have a teacher in town helping me with grammar 3 days a week. It’s helped a lot, but he’s expensive so I can’t go to him that much longer.  My monthly budget is only $150 and I give $50 of that away to whoever needs it.  Obviously I have to be really careful with how I spend my money. This tutoring thing is a good investment now, but I can’t do it forever. Eventually I’ll have to teach myself.

This is completely random but……The kids are outside my room playing right now. I can hear Melissa over top of all of them. She is about 8 years old. I fell in love with her from the very beginning. She has a big personality; aka, she has an attitude. She’s not rude, but she does let her opinions be known. She’s got a great laugh though. I wish I could record it and put it on here. I can always hear it over all the other children. I can be having the worst day in the world and hearing that laugh will always make me smile. I’m so glad I was obedient to the Lord even when I was afraid and unsure. If I wouldn’t have been I would have never got to hear something as precious as Melissa’s laugh.