Acts 20:35

Acts 20:35 - "In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

I know... It's been about 2 months since we returned from our Haiti trip & I've not yet blogged about it... Sorry... But life has been fast-paced since we returned AND there was so much to say about our trip... It's been hard to find an appropriate block of time to get my thoughts/ journal notes onto my blog... We couldn't have made this trip without your support (both spiritually & financially!) & I want to thank all of you who helped us.

Our trip was fantastic! We accomplished far more than we thought we could & we furthered some great relationships with our Haitian friends. We were truly blessed more than anything we gave/did! Our team is already making plans to return next summer!

We left on Saturday, July 27. Our trip to Miami & then on to Port au Prince was fairly uneventful. All of our 18 bags successfully made it to Haiti. The tiny airport in Port au Prince is crazy! So many people, so many "helpers" trying to get to our bags to "assist" us (hold them hostage for a couple of bucks per bag!) We were prepared for this (in theory) but still ended up paying some guys $40 to carry our bags about 20 feet. (We need to get better at this next time!) Pastor Guercy was awaiting us with a mini bus to transport us to Gonaives, about 3 hours away. 

Awaiting our bus transport to Gonaives.

Loading up the bus... See Jason crawling up the back?

After our long travel day, we ate dinner, unpacked & then headed upstairs for our Rooftop Devotional time. This is our special time to praise God through song & prayers for all He has done for us, to share our thoughts from the day & to plan for the next. We also have a special time together with our "bead ceremony". Here we each take turns giving a bead to someone in the group for leadership (blue), risk (red), compassion (green) & service (white). Our team has already, quickly bonded & this special time serves to bring us even closer! The view from the roof is incredible! There's usually a gentle breeze cooling us off from the heat of the day. (Several nights we are treated to a magnificent lightning show across the skies.) We enjoyed listening to a church preacher right across the street- who preached, LOUDLY, every single night. We could also hear the people at a nearby club rocking to some loud music, some neighborhood kids playing basketball at a nearby park and the cheers of the townspeople when the electricity comes back on (it goes out almost every night for a while...) What a perfect way to unwind from our day & reflect on God's many blessings! 

view from the hotel rooftop 

We are staying at Hotel La Planete (owned by one of Guercy's cousins). Since this hotel is still under construction, we are the only ones there. Eight rooms have been completely finished with furniture, water & electricity, just for our comfort.

We have a guard, Peterson, that is with us at all times, a driver who transports us between the hotel & our church work site & Guercy's three sisters, who come twice a day to prepare (authentic Haitian) breakfasts & dinners for us. Over the course of the week, our breakfasts consist of eggs & sometimes pasta (a spicy spaghetti dish with hard boiled eggs); for dinners we are served chicken, kabrit (goat) & fish along with beans & rice, fried plantains & other Haitian sides. (Our favorite dinner was the fried chicken with the spicy mac & cheese!)

Sunday morning - we dress for church, have breakfast at the hotel & load into our personal "tap-tap"to head over to Tabernacle of Christ Methodist Church.

A "tap-tap" is a Haitian form of mass transportation... it is a small truck that is crammed full of people inside & hanging on to the outside!

Guercy's brother, Wilfred, is the pastor here at Tabernacle of Christ Methodist Church. We tried to quietly enter, since church had already started by the time we arrived, but things came to a temporary halt as we are all seated up on the altar.

It was great walking in & seeing some familiar faces (from our previous trip in February). Through Guercy as our interpreter, Jason delivers a sermon & then helps dedicate three children to the church. Several groups shared their talents by singing & then Michael and Alyssa are invited to sing. 

Church is about a 3 hour affair! I am amazed at all the little children - sitting in the front pews - who are not only so very well behaved, but they are listening to the preaching & singing with the choirs (& sending us shy, sweet smiles).

When church is over we are greeted / reconnected with friends. We see Joseline, Natascha & Adeline from our last trip here. There are lots of hugs and trying to talk to each other - in halting language as we attempt to communicate in their Haitian Creole. 

After mingling for a bit,  we go back to the hotel for lunch & change into work clothes. We go back to the church to scope out our VBS & work project areas. We will need to use the backyard of the church for VBS so we spend some time clearing it of trash & debris.

There are some low / poor drainage areas in the yard that we need to fill with sand. (These are large, muddy, septic "ponds" that act like quicksand if you are unfortunate enough to step into it). Rylee was just the 1st to get sucked into what we lovingly called "Dookie Pond". We have come to serve the people of Tabernacle of Christ Methodist Church, but they are working with us, side by side... many of them are still in their nice church clothes, yet they are helping us pick up trash, tree branches & conch shells. One of the most beautiful acts of service I saw this week, happened that afternoon when Shannon became the next casualty of "Dookie Pond". She was so busy working, she didn't see how close she was getting to the swamp until all of a sudden she was sucked into it with 1 leg - all the way up to her knee! As she manages to pull her leg out, she sees that her shoe stayed buried in the mess. There's NO WAY she was going in after it!!! But, before she can do anything, Adeline (one of the young women of the church, probably around Shannon's age) reaches into the swampy mess - with her BARE HANDS- & retrieves Shannon's shoe. She takes Shannon over to a spot in the yard & pours clean water over her leg to clean her up. THEN Adeline takes the shoes off her own feet & puts them on Shannon, so that Shannon won't be left barefooted as Adeline then takes the disgusting shoe & cleans it up. She used their clean (in short supply) water to gently scrub Shannon's shoe until it looked as good as new. We had traveled all the way to Haiti to serve these people, who have so little... but who exactly was serving whom? It was such a beautiful gesture - it reminded me of Jesus washing His' disciples feet... It still makes me teary to remember it!

Colin, Natascha, Shannon & Adeline

Tomorrow we start VBS & our work project. Guercy has told us to expect anywhere from 100-175 kids! My excitement for tomorrow makes it hard to go to sleep... 

More on our trip soon...

Renmen ak benediksyon!
~Laura