The first time I went to Haiti was the first time I ever met an orphan, and I met a whole lot of of them all at once.

The Bible says that we are to care for the widows and orphans, and I suppose that was one of the reasons why I wanted to go three years ago. I am a supporter of international missions, and I’d been to the Dominican Republic several years before, but I wanted a chance to see an orphanage firsthand, to know the kids that lived there and help them in some way.

Two of the trips I’ve gone on were work trips, where we would spend the mornings and some of the afternoon working on projects around the orphanage. One trip was a vacation Bible School. While the projects we do are helpful for the director of the orphanage and, in a way, helpful for the kids that live there, the time spent with the kids is the time best spent.

I enjoy getting to know them, hold them, let them teach me their language, play with them, and just be with them. I love that I have had the honor of loving these kids. They are so desperate for love and affection that they will take it from anyone who will give it, and I consider it a major blessing to know them.

After three trips, the kids are starting to remember me when I return. I’ve begun to build a certain level of rapport with them and have earned the trust of some.

I continue to go back because they have become family to me. I never want these kids to question if they are loved, and I know that what I can offer will never be enough for them, but I do know that the love Jesus has for them is more than enough – more than they or I could imagine. And I know that He can use me to share it with them.

The trips will never be about how much work we can accomplish, but how much love we can give.