A little more Haiti

Cara Bergthold took this picture as we drove through Port au Prince. And yes, those are houses made from available scraps. We also saw cinder block homes that seemed to be more "middle class."

This is a small portion of the Port au Prince "Wal-Mart" we passed on our way to the mission on Saturday (3/1/08).

Haitian security fence. The broken bottles are dried into the concrete. We saw several of these fences as we traveled both in the city and country.

Mike Wilson took this photo at the Leogane Christian church we attended Sunday (3/2/08). The church was almost 50% children and several of them came to sit on the benches with the visiting Americans.

Notice the tin roof and concrete window openings. I think I lost 3 inches during that service from sweating. However, the 45 minute ride to and from the church was cool and enjoyable. I rode in the back of a pick-up that had a bench on either side of the bed. What FUN!

We took part in the Lord's Supper at the church. Brent told us to participate and I understand the implications if we had rejected. Still, I was a little upset because the wine was real (and had a kick). I haven't had any alcohol in almost 19 years and didn't want to break that streak. The abstention from alcohol was a commitment I made to God when I was 22. However, I realized on this trip that I, unintentionally, had been holding on to my "alcohol free streak" more than the commitment itself.

Pride is so crafty. It sneaks its way into areas when we aren't paying attention. I haven't missed having alcohol in my life and am happy to use this as a opening to share part of my relationship with Christ. However, I can look back and see that in the last few years I began to feel proud of the fact that I had given something so completely to God.

Funny what God does with our pride. Thank you Lord for putting me in a situation that ruined my streak and put my focus back on You. And how fitting it was in a place that, while is now a church, was a rum factory in its former life.

Wednesday (3/5/08) we went to the New Mission High School. We held a chapel service for the the 7th - 9th grades. We sang a couple of songs in Creole and the students sang a song in English with us. It was quite enjoyable.

The students get one uniform a year. During our trip we cut enough fabric to distribute to about 1,400 students to take to a village seamstress. As each student left with their fabric we prayed over them in pockets on the porch of the school.

Another Cara Bergthold photo. This is of the children after receiving their bags of rice. They are trekking back up Mount Tibukon to their homes.

After the rice feeding Thursday (3/6/08) we had sponsored child day. I was able to eat lunch with Melissa Leaver's sponsored daughter Nadia. Nadia is beautiful and quite shy. Nadia's brother visited the mission with her but they weren't able to stay long. I hope Mel is able to meet Nadia in person someday.