Marcia Smith's Story (Renney & Renol)

Thank you to Marcia Smith from North Point Community Church for sharing part of her story from a recent trip to Alex's House!!

This past week, I and four other Haiti Mission Team Members, from North Point Community Church, had the privilege of visiting Alex’s House Orphanage. Our trip coincided with Alex’s House second anniversary. Upon arriving in Damien, we joined in the celebration of hope and new life. The children danced, sang and we all enjoyed a delicious meal together. Little did we know, we would experience a powerful transformation first hand that week.

We were expecting to spend Monday working at the new orphanage site in Kaliko, but during breakfast, Jimmy received a call from a brother of two young boys, asking for help….the same young boys that Bill, Patrick and Jimmy had met at a mass grave just a week earlier. That day, we witnessed the welcoming of two children, Renney and Renol, into Alex’s House. The brothers shared a tired, hopeless and scared look on their faces. When we arrived at Alex’s House, the other children welcomed them with a song and handshakes. They were shown how to brush their teeth, flush the toilet, they bathed, were given new clothes, and a meal. Slowly and cautiously, they started to play with the other children.

On Friday, we returned to Alex’s House, after being in Kaliko most of the week. The look of fear in Renney and Renol’s eyes were gone. Renol now smiled from ear to ear and played without hesitation. We couldn’t help but think about the parallels to our spiritual walk. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says “therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come”. These children were left alone to tend to goats, unsupervised and without food or water for 8-10 hours a day. They were hungry, unsheltered, helpless and hopeless. They weren’t allowed to be kids. Upon accepting Christ, we are a new creation, with hope that doesn’t disappoint. These children’s fears were replaced, and they were given hope and an opportunity for a better future. Now they will have an opportunity to be kids, to play, to have three meals a day, to go to school!

Our eyes are so full! We can’t un-see what we have seen! This experience has changed all of our lives and even our view of the world. We have come back with a “Yes, Lord” mentality! We want to be the hands and feet of Jesus to a broken and hurting world…. from Columbia, South Carolina, to Haiti, to the ends of the earth!