A "Chance" Meeting with Enel

One of the last mornings my family and I were in Haiti, Aunt Jane offered to take us on a little sightseeing expedition to check out the local pottery industry.  We loaded up the van around 11:00 but various demands on Jane's time kept us from leaving immediately.  Once we got the van moving, it was to swing up toward the house so I could grab something I had forgotten.  On our way back down to the front gate, Jane noticed a young man standing in front of her house and asked if it would be OK to stop for just one more minute.  She knew he had come to pick up a book she had ordered for him and she wanted to get it in his hands without further delay.

A few minutes later, the young man was jumping into the van with us as he needed a lift into Cap Haitien.  Jane introduced him to us as Enel, a student of hers who was more like a son.  As we bumped down the road, we discovered that Enel and Dats (age 10) already had a connection...

In June 2010 as Melissa prepared for her first trip to Haiti, Dats came to her (with absolutely no prompting from either of his parents) and handed her $40.  He explained that he wanted his mom to give $20 each to two people in Haiti in need - whichever two she chose.  The money came from an iPod he had won at an Easter egg hunt several weeks earlier.  I had offered him $40 for it since I figured I would use it more often than he ever would and, after some deliberation, he took the money and gave me the iPod.  I figured that the money was destined to be spent on a Star Wars Lego set.

Now it's easy to think that just giving some money will solve a poor person's problems - or at least temporarily relieve them.  And it's even easier to believe that giving money WON'T solve a poor person's problems and they'll just waste the money anyway ... and thus excuse ourselves from even offering.  But I believe Dats' offering of $40 came from the purest of motives.  I believe he was simply responding to a prompt from the Holy Spirit and was being obedient.  (Before Dats was two years old - literally - when he led his first public prayer, I noticed he had a spiritual sensitivity that has often surprised and awed me as he has grown up.  See "The Rest of the Story - the iPod Miracle" below for just one example.)

So just a year later, Dats was stuffed into a steamy van with the rest of his family and Jane and a "complete stranger".  Melissa suddenly made the connection in her mind that she had met Enel before - that she had given Jane Dats' $20 bill during her previous trip to help Enel.  He had been experiencing some tough times - his phone had been stolen and he was out of work.  I doubt the $20 made a huge impact financially, but it probably lifted his spirits a bit.

When Enel realized who Dats was, he was so excited and so grateful.  Enel seems to have a really beautiful spirit.  Here are the two of them together:

Enel ended up sticking with us through the tour of the pottery factory - he helped us a lot by interpreting and explaining what the owner was trying to tell us.  I'll post a couple of pics from the factory in the next post because it was a really interesting process.

The Rest of the Story - the iPod Miracle

This is the "rest of the story" not in chronological order but rather in the sense that it demonstrates, I believe, the pleasure Dats' generosity brought to God the Father.

After I bought the iPod from Dats, he was in the habit, about once a week, of borrowing it, especially while he did chores around the house.  Several times I had to track it down when I wanted to use it while I ran.  I would find it on his bed or buried on his desk.  Each time he would borrow it, I'd say, "Make sure you put it back when you're done."  And each time, he'd forget.

So the week I was home with the kids alone while Melissa was in Haiti - just a week after Dats had given up the $40 - I was not completely surprised when I went to pull clean clothes out of the dryer, opened the dryer door and watched as that iPod dropped to my feet.  Not surprised ... but furious!  He had left the iPod in his pocket instead of putting it away and now it had gone through an entire hot water wash cycle followed by an entire high heat drying cycle. 

I stormed out to the pool where the kids were just getting ready to jump in for an afternoon swim and I held the iPod up for Dats to see and asked gruffly, "You didn't put MY iPod back when you finished with it the other day when you vacuumed the floors, did you?"

His eyes got wide and I scowled at him.  "It just fell out of the dryer.  It was in your pocket.  It's ruined.  It will never work now." 

He gave out an apology that was half words and half tears and ran inside the house.  I figured he was going in to pout and feel sorry for himself.  Then I softened a bit when I realized that I couldn't really make him pay to replace my iPod since he didn't have any money, having given it to the poor of Haiti!  But, I couldn't let him go unpunished either.  I decided I would make him pay for half of it, or work it off in unpaid chores.

Dats came back to swim a few minutes later and I decided not to say anything more about it for the time being.  Later he asked me if I had tried it to be sure it wasn't working.  I honestly didn't see any point in it, but I plugged my earphones in to see and ... nothing.  Then I plugged it in to the charger and let it sit for a few hours. 

Later, when I turned it on, the green light surprisingly glowed.  When I plugged in the earphones, the music played!  I was excited because it meant I wouldn't have to punish my son in any way.  I quickly found Dats and told him the good news:  "I charged it up and it works just fine.  It shouldn't be working, but it is."

His response?  "Oh, good!  That's what I prayed for when I went into the house."