For the record, I did just get out of my second shower here
in Haiti. So I guess the intense desire to get off the days’ worth of dust,
grime and sweat overcame the trauma of this morning.
Speaking of bugs, tarantula searching is quite the game over
here on campus. Kevin got a video on his phone the other night of a large hairy
fellow. It was gross.
We had breakfast this morning in the same dome half tube
area as we had last night’s worship service. There was some cereal, peanut
butter and jelly sandwiches on extremely stale white bread, and I heard the
pineapple getting rave reviews.
Dave Verville was not at breakfast this morning and did not
make it to church. He had a severe migraine but luckily, Ed prayed for him and
by the time lunch came around, Dave was back up and running. Amazing what a
little bit of prayer can do!
Prior to his return, the rest of us attended church MOH
style. The church is completely Haitian-run, and it showed throughout the
service. The preachers were boisterous and outgoing in the yell “Praise Jesus!”
kind of way. Watching the Haitians respond back to him with just as much vigor
was incredible. There was no fear in them when it came to simply throwing
themselves on their knees and praying out loud during the sermon. They sang
with their hands raised, feet tapping and during one song, even a dance was
required. It was beautiful and amazing to watch.
Macy was sitting a couple rows behind me, and when I turned
to scan the crowd, I saw her with a little boy passed out in her lap. He didn’t
appear to leave once during the service and whenever I would look back, he was
always playing with her face. The best part was the joy on her face though. The
smile reminded me of how we think that we come here to help them, but in all
reality, they give us so much more than we could ever give to them.
Speaking of joy on her face, Geary mentioned to me that he
was astounded by the same emotion displayed on the faces of so many others during the service.
Even on the people you wouldn’t expect it from. He was particularly awed by an
older gentleman with no teeth that just shown of happiness the entire time he
was there.
One cool random fact: one of the preachers today was
actually one of the very owner of MOH’s gardener prior to his current
profession. He just walked up to him one day and told him that God was calling
for him to do this. A bit of preacher schooling later, he stands before a
church that can fit 1,500 people every weekend. Pretty amazing, right?
Following the church service, which was all in creole -
apart from a few of the song lyrics - we went up the hill to the central
gathering area for missions groups on the main MOH campus to have lunch. Lunch
consisted of salad, shredded chicken and more peanut butter and jelly
sandwiches! This time there were also chocolate cookie sandwiches and Pringles
to add to the menu.
Before lunch, a few of us got the opportunity to go and
check out the orphanage. It was amazing. We were at the baby house which basically
houses the children ages 2 and under. One little girl stayed in Danni’s arms
for a long while, playing with the clip on her water bottle. Another heavy
little boy fell asleep in Emi’s arms, with his head against her shoulder. He
was so heavy that she had to pass him on to me before her arms gave out. I had
to sit on the front door step with the little chunker so I could keep holding
him. I wanted to take the little guy home he was so cute! As I sat on the porch
with him, I was able to watch two twin little brothers run around. They were
light skinned and had curly brown hair. Unbelievably adorable. Me and the
chunker also got the pleasure of watching a little girl with braids direct into
formation and then conduct a group of our group’s adults in a Haitian rendition
of a classic children’s song. Basically this consisted of the Americans
clapping along while the little girl sang loudly in creole. She was not shy,
that’s for sure.
After lunch and some gap time, it was 1:15 and time for our
tour of the MOH campus! This was awesome and a disaster. Well, it was only a
disaster for me… But I’ll get to that.
One of the very first buildings we walked past was bright
pink and called Maggie’s Kitchen. Maggie was a 12-year-old little Haitian girl
who was severely underfed and beaten when MOH brought her in. However, once inside, she
discovered a passion. She loved to cook for all the other children. By cook, I
mean she used to make popcorn for the others in that very building. It was
where the kids could come to watch movies. Sadly, Maggie died of what they
believe was leukemia a while back, and so the pink building was dubbed in her
name.
We also checked out the clinic on campus. We were told about
how they make all these prosthetic arms and legs for all the people that had
limbs severed to save their lives after the earthquake. They get them here for
free, and have to come in every six months to get refitted.
But the coolest story came with the ambulance parked
outside. So apparently there was a man in northern America who had this
ambulance that he felt convicted to give to the MOH cause. So he called up the
founder and told him about it. At that time, however, they didn’t do emergency
help in Haiti in that way, so the founder thanked him, but politely turned down
his offer. Not long after, there was a follow-up call in which the man told the
founder that he couldn’t ignore the call from God to give the ambulance to
Mission of Hope. So Brad finally took it, although he didn’t know what God’s
plan was for it. Soon after the ambulance arrived, a paramedic decided he
wanted to move his family to Haiti to help the MOH. Once again, Brad didn’t
really see the use, since there wasn’t exactly a strong demand for a paramedic
on the campus, but he couldn’t turn down God’s will, so once again, he
accepted. About a month later, the earthquake hit. MOH had one of the two
serviced ambulances in all of Haiti AND a paramedic. I’m sure you’re as amazed
by God’s sovereignty as we were. He’s amazing, isn’t He?
Okay, now I think it’s time for a little tragedy. So we’re
walking down this steep hill, and there’s a sidewalk on the left and an unpaved
danger slide of rocks and gravel on the right. Well Kevin was walking along the
road, so I figured I’d follow him to try to keep up. He kept getting farther
though, so I picked up my pace. The smooth moves of grace and elegance that I
carry as one of the world’s largest clutzes is quite incredible, I’ll tell you…
I knew I was going down (and keep in mind, there was another group along with
ours) so I decided to make it as epic as possible. My right leg went straight
out, my left leg bent at the knee and I went down on my knee with a lovely arm
in the air. Oh, so graceful.
Long story short, I was a bloody mess who, with the help of
Tami, Kevin, and a woman from the other team, got quickly cleaned up. It was
super embarrassing, but I think I made it look pretty awesome. Let’s just pray
that it doesn’t get infected.
After our tour of MOH, we got back on the bus, well… it’s
not really a bus. It’s this vehicle called King of the Roads. It’s a beast, and
when we’re going too fast on the roads, the metal side start to vibrate and
this really loud hum explodes in the ears of everyone catching a ride. But it’s
fun! As a matter of fact, we hit a bump today that sent many airborne. And yes,
I mean literally. I flew up that it legitimately hurt my butt bones when I came
crashing back down. Tammie got so much air that she almost smashed her head on
the roof! It looks like army transport vehicle/safari car...
We endured this ride for a chance to visit L’eveque. This is
another Haitian village, one in which there is a strong focus on the deaf community. As
we were driving through, many of us noticed that there were many children
without pants on. Imagine that… literally, having nothing, not even clothes to
cover yourself.
The church at the top of a very high hill that we got to check out was just recently opened, and was filled with children.
Some were playing tag, observing the “white people,” and some were even on the
ground with another missionary team’s young men, having arm wrestling
tournaments. A little boy came up to me and jumped into my lap as I sat in a
pew. He ended up wearing my sunglasses and comparing my facial structure to his
own, touching first my lips, and then his, my eyebrows, and then his, as if he
obviously recognized the differences, but was excited about our similarities as
well. It was truly inspiring. And then, just before I left, I taught him how to
fist pound and then “blow it up.” It was such a memorable moment for me. Saying
goodbye to him was probably the hardest thing I did all day.
The rest of the day was spent back at Bercy (the name of our
campus, pronounced bear-see) playing cards and exploring. Dinner was pretty awesome though. We got
take-out! Haitian take-out. I’m not gunna lie, I was kind of unsure about this.
I’m a really picky eater, so eating here at all has been kind of a challenge
for me. But the really questionable chicken leg in my container was amazing,
most liked the pasta salad, and I thought the rice and beans was to die for. Even
more exciting was the delicacy known as ice cream! Haitian ice cream is much
thicker and richer than ours. It was interesting. The weird thing was that I
couldn’t even finish mine. There’s just something about heat that makes me
unable to eat a lot, which is too bad, because it was good ice cream!
We closed out the night with team time. This was spent
praying together, sharing stories and basically talking about what God was
doing in us throughout the day. At the end, Geary told us to get into groups of
two or three (making sure that you were with the same gender) to pray. I don’t
know about everyone else’s experience, but mine was… there aren’t words. I got
the honor of praying with Tami and I don’t think I have ever had anyone pray
for me like she did. The closeness that she has with the Lord was palpable and
was so spiritually uplifting. I’m not going to play the fraud, so I’ll just be
frank and state that being “religious” is extremely hard for me. Prayer has
always seemed awkward. But tonight was different. I was getting all choked up
while Tami was speaking, and when it was my turn, the words seemed to flow
effortlessly. It was incredible. God is definitely working in each and every
one of us here, even in the smallest of ways.
-Katie Coming to You from Haiti
-Katie Coming to You from Haiti
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