{"id":3030,"date":"2015-02-19T09:07:02","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T15:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/?p=3030"},"modified":"2015-02-19T19:29:30","modified_gmt":"2015-02-20T01:29:30","slug":"the-kentucky-teams-saga-part-i-occ-gift-distribution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/?p=3030","title":{"rendered":"The Kentucky Team’s Saga – Part I – OCC Gift Distribution"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The team coming in on the taxi boat<\/p><\/div>\n

The Kentucky team arrived late afternoon of Jan. 9th, exhausted and soaked! \u00a0It had been a rough ride across 7 miles of ocean in a taxi boat! \u00a0Kim March wrote the following about the experience\u00a0and conditions at the base on Ile a Vache.<\/p>\n

“After surviving what seemed like a possible near death drowning on the way to the island, and being exhausted, I doubted my decision <\/em>(to come to Haiti). But then remembered why I was there and that was the last time I allowed myself to pout.\u00a0 Turns out, we had a toilet! We had to fill it with ocean water to flush, but I could deal with that! We also had a \u201cshower\u201d of sorts available to us everyday.\u00a0 It was really a spigot and a 5 gallon bucket, but hey!\u00a0 I got clean!\u00a0 I even got an offer\u00a0to have water boiled for me to make it nicer.\u00a0 This I refused.\u00a0 I was trying to die to my pampered American butt still!\u00a0 I also had a bed in a room offered to me.\u00a0 So I did take that! \ud83d\ude42 \u00a0I prefer a little privacy, so us 4 girls slept in a small room. 2 on the floor. 2 on a bed.\u00a0 And you know what? I don\u2019t feel bad about it! \ud83d\ude42 \u00a0Our room didn\u2019t have any electricity, so I could NEVER find anything at night, and it was always hot and sticky. \u00a0(I did have a personal battery operated fan that helped) \u00a0I slept in a mosquito net, but still got bit by Noseeums.\u00a0 Stinking boogers are so tiny they fit through the holes! They were the worst part of the trip!\u00a0 Nothing seemed to help the itching or the biting of them.\u00a0 Not sure how much sleep we got, but I slept good most of the time. \u00a03 days we woke up to praise and worship music that Bill played.\u00a0 That was an awesome way to start the day!\u00a0 Loved it!”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The truck tap-tap<\/p><\/div>\n

Previous updates have told the story of the clothes distribution and the “Christmas dinner” for the folks. We\u00a0also got to distribute Operation Christmas Child boxes that week. The team was really excited to get to do this\u00a0as most of them are very active in packing boxes back in the states. \u00a0The KY team rode from PAP to the coast in a truck tap-tap that also brought the OCC gifts.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Later that week, we took the gifts out to the boat on the dinghy and then around the island to the village of Grande Sab where they were to be distributed at the school there. \u00a0After ferrying the gifts to shore, students\u00a0came to take them to the school. \u00a0We were concerned because we did not have enough gifts for all the children enrolled at the school. \u00a0Hannah\u00a0March tells the tale.<\/p>\n
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The Kentucky team and translators on the beach with Operation Christmas Child boxes<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“We could hear the\u00a0teachers yelling their lessons. There are 180 students enrolled in the school and we had only brought 150 boxes. We were all praying for guidance in choosing who got a box and who did not.<\/em><\/div>\n
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We found out that a lot of students had not shown up for school because of the rainstorm the night before. That meant we had more than enough boxes for every child! Isn’t Jesus great?<\/em><\/div>\n
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Hannah March giving an Operation Christmas Child gift to a child.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0First we went to the youngest class. I’d say they were preschool\/kindergarten age. They all lined up and we gave them each a Christmas box one by one. To each child we said “Jesi reme ou” as we gave them their gift which means “Jesus loves you”. I expected chaos and smiles and laughter as the kids opened their gifts but they were mostly silent. Not even a smile. They were even super hesitant to open anything in there. \u00a0\u00a0<\/em>(The children did smile before we left the room.)<\/div>\n
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Kindergarten girls with their gift boxes<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Later Rebekah and I talked about why and we realized that these kids have never gotten a present before in their lives! They had no idea what to do with it. Bill later told us that we just blessed them immensely and later is when they will be excited like crazy.<\/em> It was still such an amazing feeling to give these precious kids their first present EVER! \u00a0It was even better because each class we went to we told them about Jesus and what He did for us and that people in America who love them and love God \u00a0made these just for them to show them how much Jesus loves them.” \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n
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We talked with the teachers, leaving The Greatest Journey course with them to be taught over the next few weeks. \u00a0It was a such blessing for us all to get to share with these children ….and the week was only half over. \u00a0(….to be continued) \u00a0(Scroll down for additional pictures.)<\/div>\n
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Kim March giving an OCC gift to a child, something she has always wanted to do since she packs them in the U.S.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Rebekah Lindsey and her new little friend<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Kentucky team listening to Hannah tell the class about Jesus.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Children excited about their gifts<\/p><\/div>\n


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Bill helping a little girl with her box<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Kentucky team arrived late afternoon of Jan. 9th, exhausted and soaked! \u00a0It had been a rough ride across 7 miles of ocean in a taxi boat! \u00a0Kim March wrote the following about the experience\u00a0and conditions at the base on Ile a Vache. “After surviving what seemed like a possible …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","has-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3030"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3084,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3030\/revisions\/3084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}