Good God, Good Day

Another day in Port-au-Prince well spent!

The morning began once more with half of the group involved in VBS prep, while the other half went to the church once more to work on the various construction projects at hand. Benches were stained, built and painted. Progress continued on the chicken coop roof, and walls were built to create rooms in the school on the churh property. In addition, she who love organizing spent several hours organizing the tool shed, making everybody's job a little bit easier. Even though we were not interacting with the Haitians, our morning devotion time reminded us how valuable every contribution is, no matter where it is.

In the mean time, the VBS group chose to tell the story of the Prodigal Son. Their over dramatic performance was well recieved by the children who laughed good-naturedly at our antics. And, today, instead of listening to all of our songs, we were blessed to have the Haitian children sing to us in creole! Some of the songs the team new in English, and the two languaeges bounced off each other between the children and the team. Father Abraham in particular was a huge hit.

The craft team also had a successful day. They led the children in folding and coloring paper hats. Despite attempts to have the children write their own names on their hats, they often wrote the names of the team members. One little girl in particularly continued to insist her name was Tabitha despite all suggestions otherwise.

When VBS had finished for the day, the entire team gathered together to reorganize. Jobs were reassigned as more people came in and some people left to help with the English classes in teh school building. Here, along with members from the Beaverton team, the Americans sat with the Haitians as they learned their directions, then led small groups of two in practicing their new vocabulary. Many of these Haitians came from outside the church community, and members of the team were able to turn a converstaion on "left" and "right" into a conversation of what it means to be a Christian. Isn't it amazing to see how God can work through anything?

We all returned to the base camp for dinner and worship. With the guitar constantly strumming in the background, our song turned into prayer for themembers of our group who had not been feeling well. God came and healed a head ache, changed life through a sore throat, and spoke to another through the various injuries he had in his body. Even pain in a wrist dissapeared, and we didn't even pray for that! Spiritual healing came as well, as team members grew bold enough to step into and share what God spoke in their lives. It is so awesome to see how God will work when the body of Christ chooses to dance in step with him. Even after our official prayer time had closed people gathered in groups of two and three to continue to pray for each other's lives. Tonight became a well spring of testimony for so many people who were healed. It was marvelous.

It is so good to see God work! I ask you to pray that this sense of unity in Christ will continue and that the energy felt at the beginning of the trip will continue. Also, pray for health and protection in the days to come so that we may be prepared for the days that are ahead.

God bless!

-The Haiti Team