Haiti June 3, 2012

Last night church started about 9 p.m. – imagine that! How many Americans would go to church at 9 p.m.? I’m usually going to bed about that time. The RBCS group sang some songs, which the Haitian people loved, and Clint Downing presented the message. Afterward, at the mission house, Ginette had a surprise – popcorn! – for everyone and, before we knew it, it was 11 p.m. and time for bed.

Today was a sleep-in day, so instead of getting up around 6 a.m., everyone slept till about 7:30, except for Chuck G and myself. Every morning we have about 45 minutes of quiet time where everyone reads their devotions and spends time with the Lord. If every Believer did this every day, their days would be so much better, but most Christians grab their cup of coffee and are out the door to face the world alone. We need to grab Jesus and leave the coffee!

After quiet time, we had pancakes for breakfast. I have no idea how many Ginette prepared, but it was a lot. It looked like the International House of Pancakes on our serving line. When we finished with breakfast, everyone was just sitting around talking, thinking we had plenty of time before church. It was about 9:30. We were told last night (or we thought we were told–could it be a lack of communication?, no, that couldn’t be) that church would start at 11 a.m. Here it is 9:30, and we are being told that church is starting. The good news is that they sing for at least two hours sometimes before the sermon starts. We hurried around and everyone was in the church by 10:10, which I thought was great. After listening to some Haitian groups singing, the RBCS group got up and sang two songs, and then Will Tiller presented the message.

After Will ended his message, the RBCS presented a drama called “Set Me Free.” The Haitian people love dramas, and this one was more than powerful. This drama needed no language. It involved a man surrounded by Death (student dressed in black with black hood) and by demons (RBCS group wearing t-shirts with different types of sin written in Creol on them). They had chains on him and were pulling him back and forth and throwing him to the ground. He was trying to escape, but there was no escape until Jesus showed up and cast the demons and death aside and set him free. In the end, the demons and death submitted to Jesus. It was so awesome that it was all I could do to keep my video camera steady as tears rolled down my face. You see, that was me just 16 years ago.

After church we came down to the mission house and had lunch. Today is a day of rest for the team; they worked really hard yesterday. Most are playing games, some are outside playing with the Haitian kids, and some are taking a hike to see more of the valley.

I am always amazed by how God touches the hearts of everyone here differently. Most of these young adults are beginning to realize how blessed they are after seeing real poverty. But in all this poverty, they still see the joy of the Lord in the people who have nothing according to our standards.