I slept good! I was surprised by that because I wasn't home and figured I would be over-tired. The rooms were nice. The only air conditioned rooms were the bedrooms. The rest of the house was pretty warm. We slept dorm style. We had clean beds, sheets, a towel, and a pillow. The pillow was quite flat. I have been told by Aaron I snore. I usually sleep on a wedge pillow along with an extra pillow to keep me raised up enough to prevent my snoring. I feared for my roommates. I would be the ONE. But, oh well, nothing I could do about it. They were very nice and did not mention it was a problem. Haitians' concept of time is very different than ours. I knew that but I still expect myself to be on time. Anyway, breakfast was scheduled for 7:00 a.m.. I was the last to rise. I am not a morning person. Candice quickly learned that when she threatened to tickle me if I didn't get up. I didn't react well to that, however I did get up. I hate being tickled. I did appreciate her reminder that I really did need to get up. It doesn't take me much time to get ready. By 7:40 we were still waiting on breakfast and visiting on the front porch.
Today is Sunday. So we planned to attend church, have lunch with the boys from the orphanage, and enjoy activities and visiting with them. Their service at Faith Lutheran Church begins with teaching at 7:00 a.m. and praise and worship at 8:30. Because we are American and would not understand a lick of their teaching/ preaching, we waited to join them at 8:30. They dress up for church. Women in nice dresses, children dressed in their best dresses and suits, and the men wore suits. The church is small, I knew that because we did vacation bible school there last summer. The choir sat up front facing sideways. We came in and were escorted to the front facing the choir. Pastor, Helen, and John were in the front row facing the pulpit. The pulpit was in the front and the musicians were up front too. They had a drummer, base player, keyboard, and singers. 3 men and 3 women. The worship leader had a voice that was so powerful! I didn't understand anything she said but I was moved to worship the one and only Living God. The congregation sat in the second half of this tiny church facing the front. I felt kind of awkward in the middle. It was packed. Music and prayer were done together. There were times when the worship leader sang verses in English letting us have a blessed time to worship together. Prayer times were longer than I have ever prayed. They prayed out loud there own prayers, some hummed along, one in particular was so moved he began shrieking. I felt weird because I was running out of things to pray for. Partly because I was distracted by such a different worship style. So I used the Lord's prayer and expanded on it as much as I could. We were told ahead of time we could take pictures and video. So, several of us did that too. Don't get me wrong I didn't really run out of things to pray for, that's not really possible, maybe I must have had prayer stage fright. We clapped when they clapped, swayed when they swayed, and prayed when they prayed . A little girl dresses in a pretty green dress and several green ribbons in her hair just came up to me and sat in my lap. A lot of the children are not really shy. I loved it! We had the blessing of joining them in communion. We were invited to begin and then they would follow in a line. First with the bread, which was made fresh every time and was delicious. Then when everyone had bread then we had wine. We all drank from the common cup. They were so joyful about communion it almost resembled a congo line. I was so blessed by their service. Here we are coming to serve a third world country yet, they had the most joy in worship I have ever seen! It was a sight to see and a service I will never forget. I saw the Holy Spirit move like never before! Pastor Dan said it was very similar to a Voodoo service only they/we were worshipping the One True God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
After church we went back to the guest house. The boys were already there waiting for us. We greeted each other and I hugged some of the boys I remembered. Candice got to meet the boys for the first time! After seeing their pictures for a year, she will finally meet and spend time with them. We prayed for the meal and quickly got the boys their plates. The adults sat inside while the kids sat outside with their care givers. Once we finished we got ready for a craft. Candice arranged a craft to be done that involved the school and the boys. Every student had their hand prints cut out and given to Candice. We painted the boys hands and after they dried cut them out. She made (I helped a little but this was her project) a wreath of all the hands. One set will be for the boys home and one set will be for the students at Shepherd of the Hills. It was great! The boys loved having their hands painted and she got a picture with them as she gave them this great wreath!!
After the craft, some of the girls that will be in the girls home came over. We got to meet them and spend time with them. They would be the ones the school plans to sponsor this year. Candice was eager to meet them and get pictures!
We handed out Frisbees to the boys and jump ropes to the girls. We caught the boys taking several, hiding it in their backpacks and then asking for another as if they didn't get one. This is something that they deal with everyday. They are afraid of not getting enough of anything so they hide what they have and ask for more. We called them on it and they got them out. We all had a great time with them. Pastor Dan purchased ice cream bars for them and it was a great hit. They were willing to share with me but I politely declined. I do not eat after anyone. Not even my own children. They loved the attention. Little ones wanted to be held, older ones practiced their English, they loved our cameras. They wanted their picture taken and wanted to play with our cameras. I gave them my tiny video camera. It's always interesting to see what children think is important to record. They enjoyed my phone. They even enjoyed taking 10 pictures of their shoes and somehow managed to try to get it on my instagram. I don't have a connection their but they tried. One boy said he loved me and asked for my phone number. How cute!! One little girl came to me and said "Georgia." I thought she was saying her name. I asked a translator to help me talk to her. She remembered Georgia from last summer!! I was impressed. Never underestimate the impact you will make in a child's life. And how neat it was that they had a connection. We got her on video saying hi to Georgia and telling her she missed her. That video is on Facebook and Instagram. All of the boys, and the girls will have this too, get 3 meals a day, medical care, schooling, and a safe place to live. They are well cared for by a gentleman named Lenz. He runs the home and has other young men that help take care of them. Some of the boys are new. When a boy is new he may still have bad habits to work on because they get used to living on the streets and doing whatever it takes to get by. Praise God for taking these children in.
Pastor Benoit is in charge of this ministry along with several others. He has a strong desire to share Christ with a community that needs it so bad. He has several children of his own and several he has adopted. All of the projects we worked on this last week are in partnership with him and his outreach to his church and community. He has a powerful testimony. I will try to recall as much as I can. His mother was a voodoo priestess. He was 13 and became a Christian. When he told his mother, she kicked him out on the streets. He was on the streets for 2 years. He had a long road ahead of him but one that would bless him and we would bless God in return. He later went to seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana and was ordained in Canada. He felt God was calling him back to Haiti to share the Gospel. Before his mother died, she became a Christian too. God had a huge plan for him. Voodoo had a hold on his family and God made an impact on him, his family, and his community. His story is much more detailed than this. I don't remember it all but his story is changing the world of the Haitians in his community and reaching out to surrounding communities.
More tomorrow, our missions we have planned begin and many missions God had planned that were not on our agenda!!!
As always, In the Name of Jesus Christ,
Amy
No comments:
Post a Comment