my Sunday April 10 blog

Sunday April 10, 2016

 

Today our team attended church at the Port au Prince Fellowship Church. It was about an hour drive, and very well attended at the second service at 10:30. This is a English speaking congregation and several of the songs we sang are songs we sing regularly at the Saturday Evening Service! Their Praise Band included and keyboard/drums, guitar and 3 vocalists. They play the songs in a meringue style, very upbeat and everyone responds to the Spirit coming through the music. Pastor Dan Carl turned out to be from my hometown of Omaha NE! He has been in Haiti for 13 years. His 1.5 hour sermon was preached without notes, but it was easy to follow. We were served communion and then heard a member give witness to God's power in her life. Lunch at a restaurant and then back to the Hope House compound where half the team flew into construction and painting on the Hope House room addition, while the other half opted out of going to see the Earthquake Memorial (a long drive, and it isn't even finished yet), and instead sorted and counted thousands more pills for the Medical Field teams arriving in about 3 weeks.

 

The Haitian people have great senses of humor and smiles and we enjoyed making funny faces to evoke those smiles as we drove through town, and interacting with the street vendors but most especially with the children. There are no department stores in Haiti-everything is sold out of the sidewalk, and there are miles and miles of sidewalk vendors. The majority of Haitians have so little material wealth (over 70% of the population lives in poverty, over 50% in abject poverty, living on $400 a year) that they find joy in simple things and value relationships and experiences over achievements and accumulations. And they are a happy people. They do barter the prices, and is in an honor if you come to their "shop" and they like to talk with us and get a sense about us and try to learn what pleases us and then they will select as item that they think suits us. Even if we don't buy from them, they bless us and ask us to bless them in return. I decided that I was going to make some of these vendors' days by just accepting the first price they quoted. When I said "OK" to a price of $20, the vendor immediately told me, "No, no, now you make an offer." When I explained I didn't want to offend him, he told me, "You won't. It's OK." Then I said I didn't know what to offer so he suggested that I offer $10. So I did and then he countered $15 and we had a deal. I knew I still overpaid but I didn't care. His pride was intact and maybe he had a few extra dollars that day so I was happy and I thought he was too. We said our blessings and good bye and I went on to the next space but he ran after me with another item. I explained I didn't want to buy anything else but he said, "I want you to have this. You have a good heart."  Our shared experience was a loving and caring time.

 

Haitians have a tremendous sense of community, too, and they take care of 'the least of these" who live among them in the streets/slums. Even though they have very little for themselves (there are NO fat Haitians), they will joyfully share whatever they have. Their exemplify living as God's people everyday, and their spiritual connection is so honest and immediate. I am humbled and grateful for every moment I spend in Haiti!

Pam

....and a few more!

A Few More Pics

On Our Way Home

After a great week we're on our way home. Made it to Atlanta. Next on to LAX and finally Tucson.

Today we drove 2 hours through the center of Port au Prince on our way to a mountaintop Baptist Mission, established in 1946. The complex includes a farmers’ market where we purchased fresh blackberries for dessert tonight.  Josh gave us an assignment as we slowly snaked through downtown to write down the Bible verses or sayings that we spotted on the ubiquitous tap-taps. They all have sayings and decorations relating to God or Jesus. It was a fun exercise-Haitians seem very devout. Our hosts told us many of them have memorized the Psalms.

At the Mission, we visited the gift shop and museum, which is about the history, ecology and geology of Haiti. We ate lunch in their American-style café and then walked a bit on the beautiful grounds where we saw a number of animals and birds in a little zoo, and took a team photo at a magnificent overlook with mountains in the background and the valley below. It was a bit misty and cooler at 4700’ when we arrived, a welcome relief from the heat and humidity in town. We also shopped at a few sidewalk vendors outside the Mission. Nearly everything you could need or want to buy is sold on the sidewalks all throughout the town. Cattle, goats, pigs and dogs also wander the streets at will.

On our way back, which took 3 hours due to the traffic (Did I mention there are NO traffic signals in Haiti?), we tried another street vendor treat called “pistache,” a kind of honey roasted peanut that is so much better with ginger and other flavors. Due to the traffic, we arrived back at the compound almost too late to work on our Hope House project, but the team flew into action to make the most of the daylight and power they had left before the power cut off for the night. We are working on a room expansion for the co-director’s 13-yr old daughter, Grace, since their house has only one bedroom. Grace is currently sleeping on the living room floor.  We're looking forward to experiesncworship tomorrow morning and work back at Hope House in the afternoon.

Pam

Today, (Friday), we rose quite early and left the compound at 7am in order to travel the 1-hour drive to Village of Hope School.  The school serves kids from ages 3 to 19 or 20, grades pre-k to 13.  We arrived to the sight of 120 3, 4, & 5 year-olds singing (in English!) “This is the day that the Lord  has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it!”  This greeting was followed by another song and then greetings and introductions.  The children were all immaculately groomed in school uniforms, not a hair out of place.  Their behavior was respectful and gracious and their delightful smiles put the entire team on “cuteness overload.” Then the children practiced a choreographed “march” which they are learning for their end-of-year ceremonies. Then they were released in the play yard with jump ropes, tennis balls, Frisbees, and soccer balls.  We played hard with the children until it was time to go into the classrooms. 

There we presented our lesson and craft based on the Matthew verse to let your light shine before others.  We sang “This Little Light of Mine” and then with the help of the translators we brought with us, we showed the children how to make a picture of a candle, with glue sticks, and pre-cut candle holders, flames, candles, and the verse.  None of these children had ever seen a glue stick.  We ate lunch with the children in their lunch room (rice and beans) and noted that they ate on dollar store Frisbees for plates and that ever child’s meal was consumed entirely.  Nothing is wasted in Haiti!

Our drive back to Hope House compound was an adventure as driving anywhere in Port au Prince is.  The narrow, extremely rough, roads are filled with potholes and traffic is always snarled.  What should be a two-lane road is often filled with vehicles, tap taps (noisy colorful cut-out vans for public transportation – always wall-to-wall with people).  Motorcycles weaving in and out, and people darting in and out of traffic.  Street vendors hawk their wares from the curbs (where there ARE curbs) and we always stop to by papitas, thin-sliced plantains fried in oil.  Our entire team enjoy this treat!  Every time we arrive safely at our destination we thank God.  

Pam

Today our team visited the Little Children of Jesus Orphanage. Children range from 4 to almost 40 years of age and had a variety of disabilities. Upon our arrival we were greeted by happy faces welcoming us in. None of the children there were verbal and all needed assistance with feeding. This was our first task of the day! We then participated in changing beds and cribs, bathing, diapering, dressing, sweeping and mopping. During our visit we played and gave lots of affection which we received back tenfold. This was the most rewarding experience for our entire team. After returning to the compound for lunch we headed back out to explore a variety of metal shops.  Haiti is known for and takes lots of pride in their metal work. Here we exercised our bargaining skills and were pleased to come home with an array of artwork. At the Hope Houses we helped with small tasks such as painting and building a ceiling before dinner. Dinner included chicken, rice and beans, a Haitian squash dish, spicy coleslaw, and much more. We were excited to taste and experience authentic Haitian food. After dinner we had devotions and got the rundown for the next day. We are looking forward to tomorrow and the work that God is calling us to do while we are here in Haiti.

Kelsey, Grace, Mackenzie, and Pam 

Day 1 is in the books. We arrived in Haiti this afternoon, made it through customs, navigated the gauntlet of entrepreneurial individuals who were hoping to help us with our bags, and were able to connect with our hosts, Rob and Dave. We then drove through the streets of Port au Prince on our way to Hope House and were wide-eyed as we observed the many interesting people, the chaotic but functional traffic patterns, the smartly dressed children in their school uniforms, the goats, and the indefinitely under-construction buildings.  Dave purchased some fried plantains from a vendor that we all enjoyed. We met the rest of our hosts (Trish, Elizabeth, and Grace) at VOH and got right to work sorting supplies and worked our fingers to the bone counting and bagging vitamins for future mobile medical teams to distribute. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and gathered for our devotions where the passage we focused on was Micah 6:8:

He has shown all you people what is good.  And what does the LORD require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.  

We will hopefully be able to grow in our ability to live out these three imperatives in the coming week! 

First Leg Complete

Made it to Fort Lauderdale and connected with our 9th team member.  Had a bit of a delay getting out of Tucson but we were still able to make our connecting flight in Atlanta. Tomorrow, on to Haiti!

All Packed Up!

All packed up and ready for our 6am departure! Check back throughout the week for our updates, which should be coming daily.