(January 2, 2010)
This was the Haitian thanksgiving, so we woke up, ate pumpkin soup and then got ready for brunch! Dr. Rachel had invited us to have brunch at her house and, so after pumpkin soup breakfast we went over there. We were served plantains, of course, and the traditional rice and beans, chicken, vegetables, and mystery meat pizza. I'm sure that's not what its called, but that's what us interns named it. We had already had something very similar to this the past week. Basically it's some sort of meat with a jerky-like texture, somewhat spicy, and really dark—like jerky. But it doesn't taste like jerky and the Valcin girls told us they had no idea what was in it. So you have your mystery meat that is put between two pieces of pie crust type bread. I'm not really sure how to explain it. Previously, it had been mystery meat pillows, but this was more like a pizza or mystery meat pie. Very interesting…
From brunch we were given a ride to a church for a wedding. Gersan was asked to officiate a wedding between a girl that had grown up in his church and a man that came to Haiti as a missionary. I was really excited to see a Haitian wedding, but it was actually pretty traditional American. I don't know if all Haitian weddings are that way, or if it was that way because one of them was American. The service was simple, translated into both English and French, so that was cool. Afterwards we all went outside and had dinner under tents by candle light. Dinner was really good, but would come back to haunt us.
After the wedding Robert got to drive us all home. Driving is definitely an experience in Haiti. Its every man for himself, and honk your horn like there is no tomorrow! I've always wanted to drive there! But I don't know how to drive a standard transmission, so I wasn't able to… maybe next time!
That night Erin and I spent a lot of time talking to Betty about Voodoo and Satan's hold in Haiti. The stories she toldwere incredible… GOD's stories are incredible! Betty was telling Erin and I things about voodoo and spirits that were shocking! Things that I didn't think happened in the world anymore. Part of me wanted to be kind of freaked out and scared, but listening to her talk about the Lord and His goodness and power so matter-of-factly was really a testimony of faith! She wasn't scared, she wasn't even intimidated. It was something they all dealt with there and they trusted God and His power. I think that night, my view of God was broadened. I don't know how else to describe it. I learned things that night that I thought I knew, and would have told you that I knew. I thought I believed those things about God, but was still surprised to hear them. God really taught me a lot about himself and his POWER that night.
We were talking about 1 Peter 5:8 "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." Betty said, "Satan is such a deceiver and he does prowl like a lion, but he has no teeth because Jesus broke them at the cross." AMEN! Praise Christ! This woman is such a testimony of faith, she has been UP CLOSE and personal with real demons, had real CONVERSATIONS with evil spirits, and she has seen Christ's power prevail. I wish I had tape recorded this conversation for everyone to hear.
(January 3, 2010)
The next morning was interesting… I'm pretty sure that 4 out of us 5 interns were sick… and we found out later a lot of our Haitian friends that also attended the wedding were sick too…Now that's a good sign! We all had "Jwaye de Ayti" or "Haitian Happiness!", which in laymen's terms means "Diarrhea!"
We needed to finish getting everything ready for camp and for when the rest of the team from Frontier Camp came to do Jacob's Well. Most of this day was spent painting and loading the vehicle that would take our supplies over the mountains to camp in Limbe. I'll give you the story on camp later.
(January 4, 2010)
Sunday morning. We woke up at 5:30 and ate breakfast before church. Then we attended Gersan's church along with about 1,500 others. The service was in French, and I think I've mentioned this before, but it really gives me a picture of heaven to worship in another language!
That night Erin and I went up to the roof to watch the sunset. Erin is not a huge fan of heights so this was a big deal. The house is 3 stories tall and the roof is just a flat surface with no rails or anything. Also to get up there you have to take a ladder off the balcony hang out over 3 stories of nothingness and then climb the ladder to the roof. I'm not scared of heights, but I got a little dizzy looking down. So anyway, Erin and I decided to go and not tell the boys, so that way it was less intimidating. We could see all of Port Au Prince and even watched a few planes land at the airport.
Self-timered a few pictures…
You can't see very well from here, but the airport is on the right side of the picture and, you can kindof see the mountains in the background… that's close to where I was when things got exciting 8 days later.
Chatted with the cuties on the next roof. I'm sure they had no idea what those crazy 'Blancs' (White people) were doing on the roof dancing around and singing and taking pictures.
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