Hope for New Jerusalem 🫶🏻

As I look around our meeting room I see a mom with her young baby in her arms, gently wiping her face. I see a father so tenderly holding his 4-year-old son and I feel this wave of gratitude that I am here to be blessed by this amazing community and be part of these tender moments. 
 
Because we have a mixture of Haitians and Dominicans in our group, we were able today to do double translation, Spanish and Creole. We noticed an increased level of engagement today with all
the participants. It’s hard to believe what this community accomplished in one day and how everyone came together. Especially when the news stories of home speak of conflict between the two groups. We now have 3 groups each working on a key issue that they had identified and a coordinator to bring the groups together. We have 3 members from the ministry of health, a first visit ever for this community and the first time that we have experienced this kind of support. One of the inspectors from the ministry said when introducing himself, “I’m here to serve you (New Jerusalem) until my last breath!” (Could you imagine someone from our provincial health saying that?) Each of the three representatives from the health ministry joined one of the focus groups and connections were made with offers of supportincluding a planned immunization clinic.
 
Our planned home visits were cancelled due to torrential rain and unsafe road conditions, hopefully we will have time to complete them tomorrow. I go to sleep after writing this full of gratitude for the richness of this day.