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| (Mackenson is on the right) |
As I was
packing up my things and moving out of my dorm I found a homemade bracelet. Some
might say that a misplaced bracelet is not that big of a deal, but this
bracelet was. This bracelet was a bracelet that I had made summer after my
sophomore year in high school. I made the bracelet on my first trip to Haiti
with a boy named Mackenson. Mackenson was a boy that was part of an orphanage,
and had survived the devastating earthquake. I met Mackenson on the last day of
our trip, and he stuck with me over the following year. The next summer I went
to Haiti again and we served at the same orphanage. The first day we were
welcomed with a song by the adorable kids and when they were finished the
little kids ran and latched on to a member of our team. I was not one of the
people that had a super cute kid running to greet them, but that was okay with
me. I had been anticipating seeing Mackenson again and I was on the search to
find him! I found him on the top floor of the boy’s orphanage playing “football”
(soccer) and said, “Hey what’s up dude!” He looked at me for a second kind of
funny, then his eyes lit up and he said, “Hey I remember you!” in the sweetest
broken English possible. We continued to hangout the rest of the week, which is
something I will never forget. I went on two mission trips and Mackenson made
an impact on my life that he will never understand. I haven’t seen or been able
to contact Mackenson since that trip, but I pray and think of him all of the
time. I was so happy to find my bracelet because it was my reminder that this
world is bigger than just me. God has a big world full of wonderful children
that he loves unconditionally. Lately I have looked back on all the people I have
met my freshman year. Jesus calls us to show love to everyone. (Leviticus
19:18) Sometimes I fail at that. I let pettiness get in the way of loving people.
But no Christian is perfect and this is why we have Christ to grow and mold
ourselves to be more like Him. Because of this, I have started to be real with
myself and make goals to become a better lover of people.
