8/1/10
Bonjour to a day of worship! I woke up really excited for today because I absolutely love listening to people worship in another language. Ruby and I woke up, washed our hair, and put on our beautiful church clothes. Even up on a mountain with little access to anything modern the Haitians still manage to dress extra special on Sundays with ironed shirts, colorful skirts, and even high heels, so we decided to look our absolute best. Then for breakfast we had this oatmeal stuff with cinnamon sticks in it, and it was really tasty. After breakfast we gathered on the side of the hill to take a group picture while we were all dressed up. It was cool to capture the closeness our group had achieved in a photo, though anything from this trip is hard to actually capture in just a picture. Sunday school started at nine, but we took that hour to pray, practice our special, and prepare our hearts for the service. And the service is indescribable.. but I’ll do my best. It started with singing, which just melts my heart at how good and genuine and just full of passion their singing is. There were prayers and scripture reading interspersed with the music, which to my delight lasted quite a while. When Kesnel introduced my dad, as the preacher, he in turn introduced us to the congregation. Then we had the opportunity to sing for them. We sang a trio, my mom, Sarah, and I (Hosanna), and then another with the whole group (Hallelujah). From up front I could tell how much worshipping God meant to these people. Even though they probably understood very little if any of our songs, they were so attentive and passionate and loving of the fact that we would prepare a worship song for them. The Haitians then sang two specials for us. The women sang first about “I was lost, but Jesus found me and carried me,” which is really significant because the women here always carry everything on their heads. Anything they move or take up and down the mountain or need to transport gets carried by the women. So when they get up and sing about how their Lord saved them and carried them, they really know what it takes to carry something. It hit home for them and they chose to share that exciting truth with us. Then the men sang an incredible song. It was acapella and filled the church. The bass was strong and the tenor grooved.. it can’t be duplicated in the US, the culture and soul behind it was too strong. This song was about how sometimes life is hard and you have so many troubles that you forget that there is a God. But instead you must take your troubles to God when you slip and fall and he will hold you up and give you strength for life. As they walked down the aisle still singing softer and softer I just sat in my seat thinking “Wow. God is so great that he is praised everywhere by every culture with passion and love and lives that are changed because of his grace.” My dad got to give the message which was totally cool. He talked from 1 Corinthians 12 about the body of Christ. He used a demonstration to illustrate the main concept and got the kids involved. He took two Haitian boys and told them that they were feet, and all they could do was what feet do. He took another boy and told him to be a hand. And lastly took a Haitian girl to be the mouth. He then described what was going to happen. The feet would have to carry the hand over to a table to pick up a cup of water. Then carry the hand back to where the mouth was, and the hand would give the mouth a drink from the cup. The kids, and also the whole audience, loved it. It was humorous and perfectly fitting. Without having to worry about translating, the picture was sent home. Then he opened the Bible and dove into more detail about how the body works together and God designed each part for its purpose specifically. Joe translated for him and it was wonderful. After church we had a long time of mingling where we got to just talk to all the people and meet them and enjoy being with them for their church service. Then we headed off for a visitation hike. We went about halfway down the mountain and wove around visiting a ton of people’s houses. It was really cool to see not only where they live, but also how they live and the real Haitian environment. Everyone was so hospitable and the minute we got there, every chair in their house came out for us to sit on. They kept giving us gifts of fruit and things to show their appreciation for us not only coming to help out, but taking time to visit their home. I loved it. Plus it was a hike so it was super fun. When we got back dinner was waiting for us, so we ate and chilled out for a while. Joe, Olivia, Jacob, Levi and I played some more President. It was really fun. When we finished playing and I went back outside, I looked up and saw clear blue skies. Only the second clear night in two weeks (and probably longer but that was as long as the Roos’s had been there), and it was the first time we had a clear night since we had been here! It was so beautiful.. no menacing dark clouds bringing rain, no fog, nothing but brilliant blue and gorgeous mountain views. When it got dark we all gathered together and had a worship service that was more powerful than can be described. We all felt God’s spirit moving and had so much love pouring over we couldn’t hold it in. Each night we had to deal with rain, so we never got the chance to meet together and praise God and talk about what we were experiencing, which made this time of testimony long over due and extremely heart-felt. I’m so thankful for each member of this group and all that they bring. We were placed together by God’s hand and are working for his glory. Kesnel said it best when he said that although he’ll be sad when we leave, he knows that our spirits and hearts will never stop working together on God’s plan to reach the world with his message. He encouraged us to keep serving and praising God because that’s all we can offer him anyway. He was dead on. All we can give God is our lives and our worship. It was a perfect evening end as I walked to my tent under the bright shining stars.
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