We walked to church this morning. It was probably 15 minutes down into town. The church was packed, maybe 200-300 people, all dressed up of course. Thank you, Lord, for the comfy seats in our church compared to Dess., with hard wooden benches and one slat wood board to lean back on; for the 1 hour & 15 min. long service in North Branch compared to the 8:30-11:00 in Dess.; in English compared to Haitian Creole & French mixed in; AC when needed compared to bringing an old washcloth to wipe the sweat, but we had a nice wicker fan held by Chris & moving constantly; for written words to the songs compared to none in our Haitian church; -- and thank You, Lord, for the power, joy and presence of Your Spirit at our church AND here in Haiti. The same Jesus, the same Spirit, united together in the Hope of the resurrection!
Our afternoon adventures - the doctors took a hike up to a fort this afternoon. We.did.not. We are hikers and walkers, but not in this intense heat. We will attempt the hike next weekend in the cool of the morning as the roosters are crowing. We all went to the Peavey orphanage. This orphanage has been around since 1970. The Peaveys are originally from Coldwater and Reading, MI and came here all those years ago. Our driver, Jacqlin, is one of their earlier Haitian orphans, all grown up. It was quite an amazing experience. On our way there, we ran into many RA-RA bands out in the town. We had to skirt in and around them and finally got caught in one and had to drive through it. They are crazy. Drinking, angry,…what can we say? Sounds like the devil's work, doesn't it? We have a video of a RA-RA band, but will have to wait to post until we get home. We have posted a photo, however. The orphans - 60 of them - were adorable. The women of our group came home absolutely filthy. These little kids aren't potty-trained in the way we are used to, if you catch our drift. (Just pee where you are….you'll eventually learn.) This added bit from Chris - I will now mention why the men didn't come home as filthy. They had to see all the orphanage "stuff" - the Sun Oven which bakes their bread, the Tilapia fish tanks, the gym, the church, the machines and tons of solar power, including the wells.
We worshiped the Lord this morning AND tonight. The hospital staff came to the compound for a sing-around time. We are disobeying the rules and posting an amazing video of the group that blessed us. We need to do a little work on it before we post it. They just "sing together." They don't really perform anywhere. We told them we're posting them on YouTube and they'll get a million hits. The Haiti Hospital Earthquake Quintet. The pharmacist, Sydney, who lost the 16 family members, is in the group, as well as Dr. Junior Noel (a physician intern), Sydney's girlfriend, Rolande, and then Rooben (lab tech) and Nelson (an RN).
About the music we hear at night: last night, we heard LOUD Caribbean music, blaring until 4am. We were told it was the open air disco, right next to the compound. Right now we're hearing the crazy RA-RA - devil music. Come, Easter, come.
See the last photo...
About the electrical situation: city electricity operates 4 out of 7 days a week and you never know which days. It used to be PAP would use up all the electricity and Dess would get none or what's leftover. Since the earthquake, PAP is using less and Dess is getting more. The mission does not have an issue with it as our power comes from the hospital which is running a diesel generator when it's not hooked up to the city grid. It runs a gallon an hour which does not seem much to me (Greg) and may not be correct because we were told it was the hospital's biggest expense.
Palm Sunday, truly a great day here in Haiti, but most of all that FIRST Palm Sunday, when Jesus came to Jerusalem in His own parade, hearing the people say, "Hosanna to the King." Truly He is the King.
Greg has plans tomorrow having contracted with a welder for some work at the hospital and getting a residence established for hospital interns in an abandoned house close to the hospital. The other maintenance guy, Fred (Canadian who speaks Creole and French), has been sick for 36 hours so Greg will be winging it with his 10 words of Creole and his small bit of French. Pray for him, please.
First baby at the orphanage - what a reaction to the blanc lady!
The doctors and Greg, busy holding the babies at the orphanage.
The Ra-Ra Band
Wow you guys. I'm not quite sure what it was about this post, but my heart physically hurt for Haiti...mainly the people there. I had an image come to mind when I saw the RA-RA band photo-it was almost as if there was a dark cloud covering that area...and it stretched across Haiti...except for those few and far between glimpses of light. Mom & Dad-you are one of those glimpses! May the Holy Spirit continue to shine through you as you serve Haitians, the hospital staff, & the visiting doctor's.
ReplyDeleteLove you so much,
C & J
Your descriptions are AMAZING and very visual for me. I have been thinking and praying for you both daily for safety and guidance. What is RA-RA? I'm just not getting it. I understand it is a group of some sort (I think?). What would you say has the most impact on you? I am so blessed to have friends who are able to do the Lords work with grace. Thank you for what you and the others are doing to help Haiti:o) Denine
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