We have
arrived in Haiti!
We were welcomed by a fun band! After going through customs,
we had to fight our way through some Haitians that were trying to help us carry
our bags cause they needed money. We eventually found the man that was guiding
us to the place we would be staying. We had to walk a distance to get to the
"bus." The bus was basically a blue cage on wheels in which we crammed 20 people.
On our way to the compound we passed by shops, people,
damaged buildings, trash, trash, trash, and more trash. We stopped at the Capitol building (which is
like our white house) on the way. It had been destroyed by the earthquake, but
it was still beautiful in its brokenness. It's kind of like Haiti as a whole, even
though it is broken and trashed there is still this beauty that you can take
in.
We
arrived at the hospital (place we're staying) and we were shown our rooms. Then
we were given a tour of the whole compound. We visited the girls orphanage, the school that was destroyed, and the church.
After those, we entered a tent
city which is more like a city within a city. The people are resilient here. At
one point, they had made restaurants and movie theaters within the tent city,
but since more and more Haitians are moving out they don't really have them
anymore. Seeing how the children and how the people live was such a blessing. They
would say "hey you!" instead of hello and "photo!" when
they wanted a picture.
I went on the roof. The stars were as bright as ever, I could hear the people laughing and the breeze was wonderful.
That, my
friends, is a great way to end the night!
DAY 2
Today we
woke up at 6:00 am to get ready for a church service at 7. Well, a church
service usually lasts like an hour and a half, but this one went from 7am to
10am!
There were various people that spoke. One lady gave her
testimony about her daughter being healed. I don't know what else was said
because the translator was facing away from me (Faith) as he tried to translate to the
few around him.
Later on they called up the people who had birthdays in April, so I went up along with a lot of others with April
birthdays. They would sing, then stop, then sing, then talk, and it went on for
a good 7 minutes. It was great. After several different people spoke,
the pastor of the church finally gave his sermon. It was really hot in there and his sermon
sounded pretty intense. I could tell when he said something great by the
peoples responses!
After the
service was over, we went to the boys home. They were very playful and happy.
This one boy took my hand and held my arm guiding me with the group through
their home and the widows' home. He was sweet as all of them were. We ended up
playing soccer and basketball with them. They have some mad skills!! They took
photos with the cameras and were very photogenic!
Xana & Pastor Aaron making friends
Afterwards, we returned to the compound and practiced our skits for the next day followed by dinner. As I write this, we just finished with a very powerful devotion tonight. God does everything for a reason, and people in America don't really know how it is here. They see it on television and sometimes it can become fictional to them. What is happening here is real, and it is something you have to experience for yourself to understand it all. I can't wait to see what God has in store for the days ahead!
THE HAITI TEAM
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