This was one of the most emotionally, humbling, joyous days of my trip.
We began the day by walking to Sherrie's school and orphanage. She gave us a tour of her place and it was spectacular to see how much has been done since 2009. Allyson's first trip to Haiti in 2009 was to work on getting Sherri's school built. Here's a picture from 2009:
And here's a picture from our trip:
Big difference, huh?
Sherrie shared her testimony of how God brought her to Haiti. There was a lot in that testimony that Allyson needed to hear. I wanted to look at her and say, "Oh my gosh, that's you!" but I was close to tears and figured she was too, so I didn't even look her way.
After that Sherri took us for a walk through the ravine - the poorest area of Port Au Prince. Words cannot describe the conditions. I'm posting a few pictures here, but even the pictures cannot truly share what walking through this was like:
After the ravine, Jim stopped by Elizabeth's house. Elizabeth is an elderly woman who lives between the ravine and Jim's house who is dying of cancer. He wanted to see if she felt like us coming in and singing to her. She did, so we all packed into her little one room cement home and sang "Amazing Grace" and "How Great Thou Art" to her and then we prayed for her. Jim asked if any of us wanted to pray for her and no one spoke up. It wasn't because we didn't want to, it's because we couldn't speak without pure sobbing.
It was so hot. I actually had sweat dripping off my face, and I don't sweat like that, but I wouldn't change the experience of this day for anything - AND - I'd go do it again tomorrow!
In the afternoon we went to Pastor Ceynor's orphanage and this is where the joyous part of the day came in. The kids sang and danced for us, and then little Benji (sp?) prayed over each one of us. And he took his praying seriously! A good lesson for us all. Pastor Ceynor said he was praying for wisdom and understanding for Pastor Randall. It sounded like he was praying the same thing over all of us, but I can't be sure.
Pastor Ceynor shared his testimony with us also. Voodoo is very prevalent in Haiti. Pastor Ceynor came from a Voodoo background, but his parents were introduced to Christ. His mother's faith in Christ remained strong even when his father's faith wavered. Pastor Ceynor decided early on that he wanted Christ! At the age of 16 God called him to be an evangelist and he hasn't stopped since! I know there is evil everywhere, and I know there are demons everywhere, but we here in the US do not recognize demons like the Haitians do. We would do well to remember they are just as powerful here.
Our day is not over yet!! Whew! After lunch and a nap, we went to the Phillipine UN embassy place in Haiti. A new group of military folks had just gotten to Haiti for a 6 - 9 month stay. We were able to lead a worship service for them. I sang again and Pastor Dan preached. The funny thing was that all the men wanted a picture with all of the ladies from our group. They let Pastor Dan in since he preached! Ha! Then we went outside and the girls wanted their picture taken, then one by one the Phillipino men wanted to jump into their picture. It was hilarious!
Who knows where these pictures will show up!
On the way to the UN location, a mother with her child stopped the van to ask Jim for medical assistance for her child. Jim told her her would contact someone and get a doctor to her. The child was far too sick for Jim and Debbie to help. Jim said she had worms.
We're waiting for an update about the outcome of this situation.
The night got better, as two Haitian ladies cooked us a traditional Haitian meal. We thought we were going to have goat, but there wasn't enough in the freezer, so we got beef. But it wasn't like anything I'd eaten before. It was really good!! We also had beet potato salad, pickley (sp?), rice, fried plantain . . . It was DELICIOUS!!! I liked it all!!
The challenge I took away from today is this: Seeing what I've seen and knowing what I now know, what am I going to do with it now that I'm back home?
- I'm challenged to grow in my faith and to know my Jesus better.
- I'm challenged to help Allyson in every way I can to get to Haiti.
- I'm challenged to love people more and to be intentional about it. This one is going to be more difficult for me. I'm shy, and I shy away from talking to people I don't know. I will go to the ATM at the bank because I don't have to deal with a person. I need to be intentional about going through the same check out line in the grocery store and getting to know the cashier. I need to be intentional about going into the bank and get to know the tellers. Whew! I have to psych my self up to do these kinds of things - you all just don't know! But I'm definitely challenged and will begin with baby steps. I'll get more sure on my feet, I know.
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