26 Oct Canadians in Haiti: Day 7

A United Brethren work group from Canada traveled to Haiti on October 17 to conduct medical clinics in our churches. Joan Sider is sending daily reports for the team. She previously wrote about Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Here is her report for Sunday, October 23.

Joan Sider

On Sunday, we were up at 6:00 a.m. for breakfast–one hour earlier than usual. This was so we could attend 7:00 a.m. church–we were a little late.

The service at Delmas 33 is somewhat more formal than the other churches. I think Pastor Richard is patterning it more like his Paris church. This isn’t a criticism, just an observation. We enjoyed the service. Bob and Jordan shared their faith stories and Bob, Kelly, and Jordan sang. They were a blessing.

It was good to hear Pastor Richard preach on Nehemiah. He stressed that we need to be very concerned about the work of the Lord. You must put your whole heart into service. There is always opposition, but you persevere. All have something to contribute–attend church, visit people, pray for people, etc. He invited those who wanted to publicly demonstrate their willingness to work in greater ways for God. I think there were about 25 who indicated this by coming to the front.

Following church, we came home for a brief time, had lunch, and then set off for Mission of Hope. This is where Kara-Lynn was for 6 months and will remain for another week there. Rachel, the gal we see usually when we visit, was with us and together with Kara-Lynn, told us about this expanding ministry. They have about 50 orphans who are there all the time. Then on school days, 2000 children come. They are fed daily, too. About 1000 attend the church on Sundays.

They have a clinic which at some point will become a full service hospital. They have helped to build 3-room homes for people for some of their staff and for some of the displaced earthquake people. In a village nearby, many volunteers come to help build homes. One of the streets has been named ‘Fraser Way’ in memory of John Fraser who was so instrumental in bringing lots of teams to MOH to build.

Leaving MOH, we went on to a new church in Archaeia pastored by Masilllon Jean-Jacques. I first met him at the convention in August. He and his church have been on probation for the past year, and will soon be received into membership of the UB church family here in Haiti. He is a great young man–father of 3 children with another on the way. He is in his last year of law as well.

The service was fantastic. We enjoyed it so much. Kelly and Margie shared their faith journeys and two songs were sung by Bob, Kelly, and Jordan. The people knew them and sang along. It was so wonderful to hear.

Pastor Richard was the guest speaker, and he spoke on faith. With God, all things are possible when we have faith.

The people all wanted to greet us at the end–hugs, kisses, and handshakes. We were so excited about the warmth and response of these people. I’ve been coming for a long time, and I believe this is the first place where we have been made to feel so welcome. No one was in a hurry to get home, that’s for sure.

We felt it was a fitting conclusion to our ministry here this week. God has blessed. We are humbled and grateful that He uses us. But lest you think it is just us blessing the Haitians, it is a two way street–they really bless us. Their welcome, their powerful worship and earnest praying, give us reason to pause.

On the way home, our first time driving in the dark on this trip, we dropped Kara-Lynn back at MOH. We wanted her to stay with the team for as long as possible.

Please pray for Kara-Lynn as she continues to seek direction for her future–should she or should she not be at MOH.

When we got home, we had a late supper and then most soon went to bed.

Have I told you lately that this is a hot, hot, hot place! October is definitely not the time for a team to come. The humidity has been high with temperatures in the high 90s and even 100.