On Sunday we started the day by going to the church service. It was incredible. The passion, honesty, and purity that the men, women, and children put into their worship was so encouraging. I definitely hav a few things to learn from them in that area. They sang their hearts out. You couldn't hear the worship leaders singing because the congregation gave it all they had. The word that Pastor David gave was about thankfulness. I feel like that is becoming the constant theme of my trip.
After the church service Pastor David told us a bit about his experience with the earthquake. He was in the United States at the time (he lives there during parts of the year) but his wife and family were all in Haiti during the earthquake. He talked about how just a few minutes before the earthquake his wife had woken up from a nap and left her bedroom. When they examined all the damage to the house they found that a huge wooden wardrobe that was in the bedroom flew across the room, landed on the bed, and completely broke the bed. His house still stands and there was very little damage done to his house. He also told us how if the earthquake would have happened earlier, the children of Haiti would have been in school and most would have died because many schools collapsed. The school near his house use to have 1,500 students. It collapsed in the earthquake. All of those children could have died but are safe. The point to his stories were that they need to be thankful. Thank God because when we are weak, He is strong. THANKFULNESS!
Today we went shopping to get the food and supplies we need for when the team arrives tomorrow. Sophia worked with the pastors to figure out a schedule for the week and then in the afternoon we went to a home for children. This home is for children that have parents but are not in the best situation because their parents are ill (physically or mentally), they are abused, or their they simply aren't being cared for, just to name a few. There are 23 children that live there in total and the home is run by an elderly woman, her daughter and husband, and her god-daughter. As Sophia discussed with the elderly woman and her daughter how the home is run it began to sound very much like foster care minus the government funding. The children sang a few songs for us and we gave them some candy. We are hoping to go back on Friday. Something I talked to Sophia about after was how it is so hard to go into a home like this and only be there for a little while. I feel like I can barely have any impact and what do the children think of us white folks that come in to see them. The children are asked by the owner of the home to sing to us but it feels so forced. I know that they are being hospitable but it is so difficult for me to feel ok with it all. Their smiles feel forced and I wish that their was a way for them and I to be on the same level as them. I am going to continue to pray about this and ask God to use the small amount of time that we have with them in an impactful way.
I just want to thank everyone who has been praying for me while I am here. I can feel the power of the prayers. I do have a few prayer requests: my stomach has been hurting a bit so please pray that it would go away completely. Please pray for energy because starting tomorrow we will be very busy doing ministry. And finally, pray that we will have great team unity and that as a whole our team with be able to be the biggest blessing and light to the Haitian people that we possibly can be.
If you are on facebook and would like to see some photos of my trip check out this link: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150759274160188.735180.517960187&type=1
God bless you!
Jennelle
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