Greetings beloved family and friends,
It’s Sunday morn and we are all preparing for the various churches that we will have the privilege of serving at. The two musicians, Justin and Tessa, along with yours truly went to a fairly large Baptist church farther down the mountain side. I’m guessing a crowd of 200-250 were present. The pastor said it was the fullest it’s been in a long time, I think due to the fact that it was Mother’s Day in Haiti on Sunday which is a pretty big deal.
It was a glorious service in which their Haitian choir started it all off by walking in from the very back of the sanctuary singing and swaying to the music until they line up in their assigned choir section in the front of the church. These folks could sing! Next came Justin and Tessa playing their instruments (guitar & violin) and singing in Creole which made for a great surprise that these Americans could sing in their language, all joined in heartfelt praise to the One True God. I had the privilege again in preaching the message. The saving good news was heard by one and all. After the service the church made us a lunch and guess what it was? . . . No, not chicken and rice . . . guess again! CHEESEBURGERS! Yes CHEESEBURGERS! This was an extremely caring show of love on their part.
Having been running on all 8 cylinders for 7 straight days we finally had some down time and headed to the top of the mountain to have supper at one of the most expensive restaurants by Haiti standards called “The Lodge.” The food was excellent. I had bourbon glazed salmon, potatoes, mixed vegetables with a strange edible flower and finished off with some cheesecake!
It was another incredible time in Haiti with some extremely poor but very rich in spirit people. They told us that unemployment in Haiti is over 60%. Please continue to pray for this nation. Many are still steeped in their cultic voodoo religion. Pray that Christ will set them free. The pastors at the conference believe that by next year it could even double in size as it almost did this time around. God sustained us in many ways and may He alone receive all the glory!!!
Haiti Highlights
Last night as we were preparing to get everything ready to leave, one of our team (Justin) decided he wanted a try at getting water from our well to fill up for our Haitian bucket baths in the morning and to flush our toilets. To get water from the well you throw a 5 gallon bucket attached to a long rope down into the deep well and then pull it up hopefully filled with water. There is a serious technique involved in getting water from the well – all the Haitian guys do a pretty good job at it. So Justin makes his first attempt and of course all the Haitian guys are watching intently. He throws the bucket down and pulls it up with a few inches on the bottom of the bucket, so he goes for attempt number two and pulls up the bucket with only again a few inches of water in the 5 gallon bucket. There is a little good humor laughter from the guys watching. So Justin goes for try number three hoping that number three will be the winner. We all watch with bated breath as he makes his 3rd and final attempt at bringing water up from the well. There is a hush from the attentive crowd as he gracefully tosses the bucket deep into the well. We hear the splash and our excitement mounts . . . I look at Justin, and he looks at me wide eyed with a bright red hue coming across his face. We suddenly notice that there is no rope attached to his hand, in shocked disbelief we all soon realize that Justin has thrown rope, bucket and all into the well. Oh noooo! How will we retrieve it? How will we all bathe and flush our toilets? What are we going to do? I’m starting to feel sorry for the people sitting next to us in the plane.
Most Random Awkward Moment on the Trip
Four of us on the mission team were visiting a very nice family, many in number, who were cooking a meal for us (rice and chicken, who would have thought that?). And because the house was crowded inside with people, we four on the missions team decided to move out and sit on their front porch. As we were sitting out on their front porch having a conversation and as I was part way through a sentence explaining something, a boy of about 11 years old came walking by holding a little baby boy around 1 years old. As he walks by me to go outside (we’re guessing to play), without a single word exchanged he suddenly hands off the little baby boy to sit on my lap and continues walking outside. We’re all staring at one another with confused looks. I start to slowly bounce the 1 year old on my knee while gently rubbing his back. But I can tell whatever I’m doing isn’t working, for the 1 year old’s lips start quivering and his bottom lip becomes a bigger and bigger pout. It’s only a matter of moments and I can tell that that this little one on my lap will soon reach his maximum comfort level with this strange looking white dude. If you could read his mind his cartoon bubble above his head would say, “Are you kidding me? Of all the foreigners in Haiti you put me on this weirdo’s lap. He looks Irish!” I’m thinking to myself is this some sort of Haitian test, of all the people in the room why choose me? Sure enough the 1 year old starts crying and it was just a matter of time until this little one’s tears and crying will soon reach their full strength. Thankfully the same kid who ditched him in the first place came back and picked him up off my lap. The moral of the story: I’m not opening a daycare in Haiti anytime soon.
Finally arrived home very early this morning and took my first hot shower in 8 days!!
Love you all
Making much of Jesus!!!
Pastor Gman