This week has brought about many highs and lows. Our first short term missions’ team of the semester came last Saturday and leave today. It has been such a blessing to have Americans come to see the work our team is doing and are willing to serve alongside of us. Many late nights filled with dance parties, board games and laughter. The Global Bridge students were really put to the test this week as many of them spent a lot of their time attempting to translate Spanish for the visiting team. Having other Americans here this week has made me realize just how quickly we all have adapted to the way of life here. Things that were once foreign such as cows blocking the road, children on motorcycles and kids swimming in the nasty canal have become such an ordinary part of our lives. Visiting team members are often filled with questions regarding the culture, the language and the way of living here so it’s a joy to be able to be a small part of their experience.

But this week has also brought a lot of heartbreak.

Sunday afternoon we took the team to a local beach for the afternoon. On our way home that evening, our bus was driving through the streets of Quinigua (the community we live in) when we passed three police trucks. Seeing police authority in our community is quite rare so I sat up to look closer. It was dark but I could see it. One of the trucks had a bar-like cage over the bed of it. Inside contained many people. My heart sank because I knew.

We had heard news that because of the most recent chaos and increase in gang violence happening in Haiti, many of the Haitians that have immigrated over here (both legally and illegally) are being arrested and sent back to Haiti. But the authorities have mostly been in the city and have left our community alone. Our community is a very poor community and is heavily populated with Haitians. About 60% of the people we serve through the ministry sites end up being Haitian families. The ministry has established so many sweet relationships with these families and even provides work for many of them so that they are able to feed their families. These are families who thought they were somewhat safe here and could raise their families here in peace.

Knowing what had most likely happened that night, left me struggling to sleep. I awoke the next morning to the news. Because of a crime that had been committed by someone who lived in the community, it drew local authorities’ attention to the area in search of a man who had committed murder. In their search they discovered many of our Haitian families who have been living here illegally and arrested them all on the spot. They took many parents and left the kids behind for the rest of the community to take care of.

The events of that night caused many people who escaped the arrests to go into hiding. Entire families just missing. Some of the fathers were able to be released from the authorities if they paid the 8,000-peso ($150 US dollars) bail fee. But many of them are unable to afford that and have most likely been sent back to Haiti.

I drove through the Haitian communities that morning, saddened by the news. The streets, which usually contained children playing, the elderly sitting out by the road and mothers hanging their laundry out to dry were now strangely empty. All the houses closed up and barred. They were all gone.

I spent some time at the education site that afternoon. Many kids who were usuals at the school were missing. We had no idea where they were. Many of the parents were too afraid to send their kids to school. A couple of Haitian kids who were at the school had their parents taken from them the night before. The community has to absorb the responsibility of feeding the extra mouths. A woman, 8 months pregnant, comes to the school explaining that her husband was taken and that because she has no other source of income, she has no food.

At the medical site, there were no Haitians at the clinic. We knew that many of the patients who have to come weekly to be checked on and to receive medication were too afraid to come out.

Yes, this was a week of heartbreak. Of disappointment and loss.

But it also was a week of being reminded of God’s faithfulness. And of being reminded that there is simply nothing you can do to fix the actual problem. Some days it’s simply holding the child whose world has been flipped upside down until they fall asleep on you. It’s being reminded just how weak and incapable I am but being humbled by how strong and capable He is.

Restoration is coming. We can cling to that promise.

The righteous cry out and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

-Psalm 34: 17-18