This past spring break I was given the opportunity to visit the Haiti Comfort orphanage in La Chapelle, Haiti with my church, Messiah’s House. While there, I fell in love with 14 amazing kids. Almost every child there has AIDS and HIV, but you couldn’t even tell.

While at the orphanage, we would help with the children’s school, paint and the guys would help work on the house. In the afternoons, everyone would go out in front of the orphanage and do VBS with the village kids. Every day was filled with lots of laughter, a lot of running and playing.

After we got back, my youth pastor asked us to share at youth about what happened on the trip. Having forgotten that I was supposed to share, I came to my youth group unprepared so I ended up not sharing. As I sat listening to everyone share, I kept wondering if I just went and didn’t hear or listen to God. Pretty quickly, I knew what He had taught me. God taught me to be thankful.

Everyone pretty much knows that the conditions in Haiti are rough, and I would like to say that I was prepared. I wasn’t. At the orphanage, the toilet didn’t flush and reminded me of a Porta-Potty. They didn’t have a shower, so we bathed in a river, which was actually not that bad. The food … let’s just say that it was something else. Experiencing all of this taught me to be thankful. Not that I wasn’t thankful before, but that I don’t need to take things like a working toilet and a shower for granted.

God also taught me to smile, even if I am having a rough day, through a little boy named Christian. Christian is an 11-year-old boy, and the moment I saw him smile, he captured my heart.  As I said before, the orphanage isn’t in the greatest condition, but he manages to smile every day. One Monday morning at school after I returned, I started off the day by somehow tripping and falling. I managed to rip my pants at the knee and started bleeding. This ruined my mood for the entire day. I realized if Christian can manage to smile every day, then I have a reason to as well, even if I am having a rough day.

Throughout this trip, I experienced and learned a lot of things. These 14 kids will forever have a place in my heart. Each and every one of them has taught me the true meaning of joy. It was trip that I will always remember, and I will definitely be going back next year.