Holy Spirit, You are welcome here...

Day 3: Another early morning... Pastor Guercy said he would pick us up at 7am as we had a lot on our agenda today. (He was unfortunately late to pick us up because he had a flat tire on the way... This is apparently a very common occurrence in Haiti - as the roads are terrible.) When we were finally on our way, our 1st stop was his brother's church. It was a Thursday morning - & the church was packed! As we listened to the Creole service, we were getting some of the sweetest smiles from the children on the front row. Then, one little girl comes over & pops herself onto my lap! What a sweet joy to hold this precious, loving child! Pastor Guercy then served as our interpreter while his brother introduced us to his congregation. He asked each of us to say a few words.

Pastor Guercy's brother's church in Gonaives 

We were met with such affection & gratitude. A woman came up from her seat and asked if she could pray for US. We couldn't understand her words, but she was loud & passionate - and the walls shook with the "amens" from the crowd... There was little doubt that the Holy Spirit had been called unto this place! I was moved to tears! The lyrics to the song "Holy Spirit" kept running through my mind...

"Holy Spirit, You are welcome here. Come flood this place & fill the atmosphere. Your glory God is what our hearts long for. To be overcome by Your presence Lord."

When the church service ended, we were suddenly crowded by the children and adults - they were touching us, smiling, hugging... speaking to us (even though we didn't completely understand them). Many of the young women also crowded around... Michael! (We later determined that he was so very popular with the young Haitian women because to them he is "exotic"!) ;) They were begging him to sing...one young woman accompanied Michael - a cappella - in a rendition of "I Surrender All". Their love for God transcends any language barrier!

Michael & his many admirers!

I Surrender All

After visiting the church, we drove to Pastor Guercy's sister's house. The orphanage in Gonaives was recently closed (due to lack of funding). Pastor Guercy moved as many children as he could to other orphanages - but he couldn't find space for 14 orphans. So his sister took them in! (This entire family is so filled with doing God's work!)

All the kids wanted to try on my sunglasses & have their picture taken!

Our next stop was to Gressier (a sort of "suburb" to Port au Prince... to see a plot of land where Pastor Guercy wants to build a church & orphanage. (FYI - Gonaives is about 95 miles north of Port au Prince - and Gressier is about 13 miles west of Port au Prince... so another day of a LOT of miles spent in the car). Jason was "itching" to get behind the wheel of the car (probably to go a bit faster than we had traveled yesterday & get to our destination quicker... we wanted to get to Gressier before sundown so we could see!) Despite my initial reservations, he turned out to be a pro as a Haitian driver! (Dou Dou would be proud!!!) He was zipping along, passing & honking like he'd lived here all his life! We were about 30 minutes into our journey, when we had a blowout... (remember comment about this being a regular occurrence?) Jason navigated us to the side of the road so we could change the tire (the SAME tire that had been "fixed" earlier in the day...) We stopped in an area without heavy traffic, yet 6 or 7 Haitians came running to our aid. (My daughter & I experienced a flat tire at a mall in Austin, TX last year & in the 1 hour it took us to change our tire - NOT ONE PERSON stopped to help us!)

After this "pit stop", we now have to stop in Saint Marc to get a new tire... Even buying a tire is a "haggling" experience... we stopped at several locations before finding a "fair" one... & then they put a different sized tire on our car than we had requested! ...so more haggling - now at a place across the street... This stop is seriously eating into our travel time - we are beginning to wonder if we will get to see Gressier while the sun is still up. We decided to use the time here to have lunch (rather than stopping again in Port au Prince). About a couple of hours later, we are finally back on the road!

We get to Gressier literally minutes before the sun goes down, but we are able to see the plot of land. It is pretty cleared of trees already & the ocean is not far. This could be a great place to build & help some of Port au Prince's neediest.

After a bit of stretching our legs in Gressier, we get back in the car toward Port au Prince. Pastor Guercy has arranged for us to stay tonight at his in-laws' home. They live way up in the mountains - a beautiful, scenic drive with a lot of narrow, winding roads. Our hosts are so generous!!! Dinner is waiting for us & they have offered to boil buckets of water so we can have hot baths. We gratefully accepted dinner & politely declined the hot water - the gesture seemed too extravagant to accept (we've been taking cold showers the entire time we've been here - what's one more night!) They have a beautiful 2nd floor porch that we used for our "rooftop" time. Again, Michael leads us in a couple of songs & now it's my turn to lead us in devotion & prayer. (I wasn't the least bit intimidated about leading devotion for my pastor & our worship leader! Yeah - sure I wasn't!) ;) When I finally "forgot" that I was talking to them, but rather talking to God, my fears calmed...AND them being the kind & Godly men they are - it went well. Our last bead ceremony... we "cheat" a bit & create new colors (red & white beads for pink- "risky service, red & blue beads for purple- "love"...) We love & encourage each other but with a lot of laughter! It's been a good trip! I can't believe we are going back home tomorrow...

Renmen ak benediksyon!
~Laura