Happy 4th of July!!!

Bonswa from Haiti! Today was another beautiful day of worship and hanging out with the girls. Many of us started off the day at 5:00 am (a new experience for some) and went to church at 9:00. We joined the girls in their Sunday School class where we were immediately surrounded and had them fighting over our limited lap space. After listening to them repeat words back to their teacher, they all went up front and sang a couple of songs for us. It was incredible! Those little girls were louder than our whole congregation at home… and they sang beautifully. I kept thinking of Mom (Bonnie) and how much she would give to have a children’s choir like this! After the two group songs a few of them went up alone to do solos (which seems to be common to their church services – they did it later in the day at the Youth (young adult) Service we went to at 3:00). Then there was a time of more group singing and a lesson. Rod closed the time in prayer.


Around 10:00 we joined the adults in the regular service where Marie interrupted the service to introduce us to them. We each had to introduce ourselves while Andy interpreted for us. The sermon was very exciting and passionate… even if we couldn’t understand it. It was about Jesus’ second coming. Every once in a while Andy would squeeze in a few words of interpretation for us.

After church we went home for a lunch of crackers and summer sausage, tuna and pistachios. We hung out for a while with Andy and his friends Stevenson and Johnson who help with the English Youth Service at 3:00. At the service, we once again had to introduce ourselves to everyone, and Sharon and Mae and I led the singing, I prayed, and Angela read Psalm 150. After church we got to play with the girls again and also presented the completed painting they worked on a couple days ago.

When we got back to Marie’s, Shannon, Hannah, Angela, Maria and I taught Andy, Stevenson and Johnson how to play UNO. It was a fun time… and Angela and I have mastered a few more Creole phrases: “Se tou paou” = “It’s your turn” and “Se tou mwen” = “It’s my turn”. We also learned some numbers and colors. The Haitians are much better at picking up English than we are at picking up Creole… we blame the American education system :P For dinner, Ethan and Toni made tortellini and garlic bread. Andy, Stevenson and Johnson joined us for dinner after some persuading by us.

This whole trip has been amazing as far as experiencing unity as brothers and sisters in Christ. Praying and worshipping together with our Haitian brothers and sisters has proven that the message of the Gospel of Jesus transcends races, nations, cultures, and languages. It is extremely humbling to hear them pray for us, speaking of how we have given up and left behind everything we have to come here… when in reality it is nothing for us to come here. We will quickly return to all of the comforts and excesses of home and life in America. They will remain here, where even in the midst of unbelievable poverty and tragedy, they are still full of joy and love for their Savior. We can learn so much from them… more than they will ever learn from us. I think each one of us will be sad to leave… it is easy to fall in love with Haiti. Especially those precious little girls. It’s hard to believe we will have to go in just two days! It’s amazing how fast the week has gone by when the days seem to float lazily by. Thank you all so much for your prayers… please continue to pray for our team, that we will be aware of and obedient to God’s will for us in the next two days, and that the love of Christ will guide all of our interactions.

Tomorrow we go for our tour of Port au Prince and the Hospital. For now, it’s time to wind down and get ready for bed at this late hour of 8:30 pm :)

Orevwa!

Love,

Joanna and the Team