Haiti 2010: A day of work and a day of rest

It is still hot here, but God is good! Yesterday, was a great day in the community of Trousable. We arrived at the church expecting to be moving a mountain of dirt to the main road. However, the pastor decided that he wanted us to continue to help with the foundation of the church. So we formed more assembly lines to move buckets of cement and rocks to the workers. We worked non-stop and took few breaks and never became tired.

Looking back we realized that today was a day for relationship building with the Haitians. We began to realize how joyful the Haitians are. The church is located in the middle of a steep hill, and the mountain of debris is blocking most of the steps, so everyone that walks by has to pass the church entrance. I was encouraged by the people walking by and when we would say Bon Jour or Bonswa (good afternoon) people would smile and sometimes start conversations with us. One particular conversation happened when this man stopped me and asked if he could talk to me about the work we are doing. He asked if we were American and if we were Christian. I said yes to both. However, he wanted to know why we were not preaching and praying because all other Americans he has met only preached and prayed. I said we do preach and pray, but we also came here to join with the Haitians to rebuild their country. He said he liked that and wished more would come to work and not just preach and pray. However, I did ask if he was Christian and he was!
In the afternoon, we did our last childrens activity. We told the story of how Jesus loves little children and had the children draw houses and put themselves in the picture to show that they are part of God´s Kingdom. Afterwards, we prayed for each child individually and asked for specific prayer requests. Most of the children asked for a home for their family and others asked for healing from stomach aches and headaches. Others asked for intelligence in school so they can get good jobs. This was a powerful time because when the adults saw that we were praying for the children, they also received prayer.

At the end of the day, Pastor De Jesus gave a thank you speech to us. He said that we have helped them bring hope to their community that was deserted after the earthquake. He asked us to continue to pray for them and blessed us. It was sad to know that it was our last day in the community.

Later that evening , Pastor Gilliome, who is overseeing the STEM teams, came and spoke to us about the country of Haiti. He told us about the nation right after the earthquake happened. After the earthquake, the community of Trousable was empty. The people had moved to 3 tent cities that were at local schools. However, the government made the people leave but did not give them anywhere to go. They just wanted to reopen the schools. The people returned to their community and cleared very small areas, put up a tarp and called it home. The pastor hoped that the government would come and clear the debris, but after 6 months nothing had happened. They decided to start rebuilding the church. Once that began, the people starting smiling and finding hope. If the church can get rebuilt, so can their home. Us being there has been an encouragement to the people. This shows how God can use the smallest things to make change.

Today we went to church. Church in another country is always fun. It is in a different language, but you can still feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. We gave out the hygiene bags to the church members, sang a song for them and they taught us a song that is sang in both English and Creole. It was nice that they included us in their service and made us feel like part of their family.

We then went to the market place and bartered for our gifts to bring home. This is a hard experience because there are always people begging and asking for money and you just have to tell them no. I am not going to tell you what we bought. You will just have to wait and see.

The rest of our day was spent napping and fellowshipping at the guest house. Tomorrow…we go to the beach!
See you in two days!

The Haiti team!