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Hi dear ones,

It was a busy weekend in Haiti  for us at the Base Camp.  Sunday morning, we walked to church at 6 :55. That’s in the morning . Pastor Guy had told us to come at 7:00 AM, so we were there on time only to find  a couple hundred people already singing and joyfully praising the Lord. It’s funny, because they are meeting outside, and as you walk up,  the leader’s back is to you and  everybody can see you coming. The church had been there since 6AM! Here come the Americans-John, Debbie and Chad. I guess Pastor Guy told us 7:00 because he thought it would be too early for us. There is still a big cultural and language gap, even though we all love each other a lot.  People continued to arrive for the next 30 minutes in vehicles loaded down with more than capacity. The service was great. I’m still amazed at how clean and dressed up they look  given that many of them have no homes left and are living in tents. Pastor Guy told us that the culture here is that when people are together to hear God’s Word, they want to honor Him by looking their best. We could learn some things from the Haitians.

The youth meets on Sunday afternoon. We had no plans to go, but a couple of the teenage girls  came over and asked us to go. This group of teenagers have no musical instruments and no frills. They sit outside under the tin awning. Almost every one of them stood up at the podium and shared a scripture, a joke or a song. One young lady sang a solo that was beautiful. One read a story with an ethical and moral question posed to the rest of them about marriage, and they discussed it. They have a cheer that they  yell that says “plu wo, plu for, plu lwen”. It means ‘Push higher, push stronger and push farther’. They asked me to begin teaching them English tomorrow. Even though I have no curriculum, no classroom and almost no strength (there’s no electricity right now), I can’t resist teenagers who are hungry to learn. So, tomorrow our class begins at 4PM. Praise the Lord!

Today a disaster relief vehicle was purchased. Praise God again. We don’t have it yet because of banking technicalities, but we will by Wednesday. This truck will enable us to pick up relief food and medicines from agencies that want to work with us like Samaritan’s Purse, Jewish Renaissance Hospital, Food for the Hungry, and Convoy of Hope. Medical, construction and compassion teams can be picked up and delivered to the airport and a variety of other tasks can be done by the church for the community. This is a wonderful blessing.

John and Chad have  made a plan for a temporary structure for the church to meet in until it is rebuilt. It’s a large wood frame with metal roofing. There will be hooks on the sides to hang tarps to shield them from rain and sun. It will cost about $2500. The pastor, leaders, Haitian workers , John and Chad will work alongside each other to get it done. Pastor Guy is very excited about it. There’s a chance we will meet in it by Sunday!

I sat with our young  Haitian driver and interpreter today while the guys were on the church grounds  planning. Roberto is 23, a member of the church and married. I began asking him questions, and he told me that he had worked for Hotel Montana at the front desk.( That’s the hotel where so many Americans and foreigners died.) It was a very good job. He happened to not be on duty at the time of the earthquake. He told me about all the friends he had lost, and we both began to cry.  I felt so incredibly broken that a terrific man like this would face that kind of trauma and  heartache, and at such a young age. Then he told me that  he had one friend, not a Christian, whom he worked with, that always tried to get him to go out and “play”. He said this friend would ask him why he wanted to be married when he could have all the women he wanted. Roberto told his friend, “I am a Christian. I am married because I love my wife and this is what God wants for us.” He had many talks with his friend. Roberto carries within himself a regret that he did not do enough to bring his friend to Christ. I gently led him to that place of knowing that the guilt is not from His loving heavenly Father and affirming what he already knew. If you sinned in any way, Jesus has already paid for that. I count it a privilege to serve God’s people.

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. Acts 3:19

Love and Blessings from Haiti,

Debbie

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