What a beautiful day we had today in Haiti. The best word to describe today is
gratitude. We started the morning off
with another visit to Church on the Rock.
The service today was done in English and in Creole. Shortly after we arrived, the time of worship
began. We were surrounded by voices
singing praise songs in both Creole and English. Hands and hearts were lifted to God in
thanksgiving for all He does for us, all He has done for us, and all He will do
for us. The best description for worship
in Haiti is leaving everything at the door and truly surrendering to
Christ. The presence of God was felt
several times today. The Holy Spirit was
moving! People were pacing and hands
were lifted worshipping. I want to
challenge those of you stateside to truly surrender to God as you attend
worship on Sunday. Give Him all you
have! Don’t hold anything back. Thank Him for everything – food, sun, clouds,
flowers, friends, and families…..absolutely everything. Everything we have comes from Him! Give Him praise for all. Surrender to Him and allow His Spirit to work
in and around you.
After Church on the Rock, we came back to the guesthouse and
ate breakfast and prepared for the day.
I am so thankful for the amazing Haitian staff that cooks and cleans for
us. Breakfast each morning is a feast! They work hard and give of their time to not
only cook, but also to develop relationships with us. They teach us creole and we teach them
English. We smile and laugh
together.
Next,
we headed back into Cite Soleil for our ½ day of water truck. I was blessed beyond measure today by the smiles
of the Haitians whom I carried water for as well as the children when we
interacted with them. It was such a
blessing to be reminded of the necessity of putting an effort into what God
gives us. Blessings do show up, but many
times, we have to have open hearts to receive and have willing hands and feet
to do what He asks. We were blessed by
seeing children be children. They played
soccer on the street with an empty metal can that had been filled with tomato. We, as a team, worked side by side the
Haitian children and adults to help them get their water buckets closer to
their houses. Have you ever noticed how
many times it seems you are blessed when you bless? It is similar to when you give love, you
receive so much more love in return.
While I was carrying buckets down the street to our stopping point
(sometimes even on my own head), I noticed a baby sitting on an elderly man’s
lap. I finally stopped and asked him in
Creole if the baby was his grandson. He
smiled and said yes. I smiled at the
baby and looked into his eyes and then went back to carrying buckets. A few trips later, the momma was standing in the
doorway with the baby. She came to me,
grabbed me, and handed me her baby boy.
He couldn’t have been much more than 6 months old. I stood right there and held this precious
baby for several minutes. Whenever his
momma would speak, he would cry. I
turned him to see his momma and he would settle back down. It was such a blessing for that grandfather
to find his daughter and tell her about me and allow me the opportunity to love
on him. Blessings abounded today in Cite
Soleil. The stories above are just a
couple of examples. Many more happened
today.
After water truck, we headed back to the guest house to
regroup for a few moments. We then
headed to Papillion (The Apparent Project) and saw what they are doing for the
people of Haiti. It was such a blessing
to hear the story of this organization.
Many women are now able to care for their children by being employed here. The biggest blessing is the fact that there
is a daycare on site to care for the little ones while the mommas and papas are
working. The smiles on the faces of the
men and women we saw working during the tour gave many of us hope. Such a blessing to see many different
organizations working together as well.
We ended our day with some amazing pizza at Pizza
Amore. This was a wonderful time of
enjoying each other’s company over a meal away from the guesthouse. Laughter.
Such a blessing! The week gets
heavy with all that we see. However,
tonight, we were all able to joke and laugh – a lot! I know that my stomach muscles hurt from so
much laughter. This laughter carried through
to our team devotion tonight. We are
blessed to see how far our group has come from being individuals to now working
as a team! We are so much closer
tonight. We were able to truly share our
hearts and encourage and support each other.
The real blessing is that this all happened in less than a week!
God is so good! To
all of us! Look at your day and see how
many blessings you can count! Our list
is super long tonight. How long is
yours? Write your blessings out and
watch Satan be pushed back! So grateful!
Blessings to all of you,
Austin and Stephanie
