Haiti April 2, 2015

Report by Cat Leopard

Wednesday at 3 p.m. was the beginning of the Women’s Conference. It was supposed to begin on Tuesday; we praise God because the people so desperately needed the rain for their crops. We sang “Father Abraham” and “Jesus Loves Me” in the Creole language together as women. I loved seeing them truly worshiping God. We had over 20 women gathered together.

I had been praying about what to talk about with other women in Haiti that would be applicable to them. God placed it on my heart to talk about how to endure trials and have joy in the midst of difficult times. I asked different ladies to volunteer to read a scripture passage in their native tongue. I shared with the ladies that even though I am an American and they are Haitian, we have one God who understands what we are going through. Our trials may be different, but we worship one God who cares about even our smallest struggles.

One of the passages we read was Galatians 6:2: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” I had not planned to ask a question, but the Holy Spirit placed it on my heart to ask the ladies, “How do you bear each other’s burdens?” I didn’t know what to expect, but they responded with some wonderful thoughts. Then I asked the ladies if anyone wanted to share their burdens. Two ladies shared their burdens, and we held hands and prayed for them. The translator said that they are not used to sharing their struggles, but you could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. It was an amazing experience seeing God working in their lives. We are meeting another day for the Women’s Conference, and I am definitely looking forward to it. I want to spend more time with them.

When I held a lady’s hand to pray, I noticed that she had her wedding ring on. She had lost the only stone in her ring, yet she was still wearing the ring. How many of us in America would continue to wear our ring if it was missing the only stone? This was a simple yet challenging reminder to me that physical things don’t matter.