Praising The Lord With Jerusalem Two Church

It was yet another wonderful day with the Lord! Today we hiked up to the Jerusalem Two Church. We left a little after 8:00 am and made it there in only two hours. That wasn’t too bad since it has taken us about three hours before. The Lord gave us a nice overcast day for the hike and we made sure we made plenty of rest stops. When we arrived at the church they were singing and praising the Lord.

You can see in the pictures that the church “building” is really just some tree branches serving as posts that hold up a roof of rice bags that are sewn together. Their thatched roof was blown away by Hurricane Noel. They have received tin for roofing and some 4×4’s that TEM help them purchase, but they have not had the time to put them up.

They blessed us with several singing groups and then I encouraged the church by telling them that their church may have blown away but that I was looking at the real church, because they are the church. Bro Will and Pastor Chuck also brought them some words of encouragement.

Afterwards the pastor of the church had a special treat for us, coconuts. We all drank the coconut milk and thanked the pastor, and then we began our walk back down the mountain. Along the way, we were given oranges.

We had planned on opening the clinic, back at the church, by 1:00 p.m. but we got back late so we opened it at 2:45. Kenny, Pat, Will and some of the others went back out hut-to-hut.

Pastor Wisney called me to the clinic and said that a woman wanted to see me. When I saw her I remembered seeing her from the day before. She had had a little girl who was about one year old, but had not developed very well. We had given her some vitamins and some food for malnourished children. Today she had a little girl about two years old with her that could not walk. When you saw the girl you could tell that something was wrong with her. The mother said the two girls had been born with sores on them. You could see the scars from the sores on this little girl. Dr Keenan said there was a good chance that the girls had syphilis and that the oldest child may be in the worst stages. It was so sad that it made you want to cry. This child’s name is Anita; please pray for her. I picked her up, held her in my arms and could not help but cry as I prayed for her. I believe that God will cure her through the use of medicines that she can get in Port-au-Prince, even though she is in the worst stages. We gave the mother some antibiotics but we told her she needed to be checked for syphilis and aids in Port. We are sending her and the two kids to Port to be checked tomorrow. Hopefully they will ride in with us.

The clinic closed later and we were given another treat, goat. Pastor Dorleon had a goat killed for us and had some Cokes brought in from down the mountain. Ginette prepared a typical Haitian meal for us; goat and rice with a red sauce. It was a great meal, topped of with some good old American chocolate pudding.

That night Pastor Chuck preached the last message of the revival. The congregation thanked us for coming, and we sang Amazing Grace for them. It was a good time but also a sad time because we won’t be seeing each other for a while. I am praying that the Lord will bring us back in February for a Pastor’s conference and a discipleship training class. We may even lay out the foundation for Jerusalem 2. Please pray that God will give us direction.

I truly believe that this valley will be predominately Christian one day, with many Voodoo Priests coming to the Lord. It will be a day of praise for what the Lord has done!

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November 9, 2007
November 7, 2007