Haiti Journal, July 2, 2008

Once again I got up early to sit by the sea and see the sunrise. Phillip usually beats me to the pavilion. As I walked up he told me I had just missed a double rainbow. I would have enjoyed seeing such a sight.

I sat a while with my Bible study and prayed. About half an hour had passed and I decided to walk past the gate, onto the beach. As I walked across the field I looked up talked to God. Sounding much like a little girl asking her daddy for a prize I asked aloud, "God, may I have a rainbow too?"

Sixty seconds later...

God is so cool. I like Him so much.

Back to ConCrab for day two of VBS.

This morning as we finished our morning devotion under the mango tree, Mike asked for everyone going to ConCrab to gather together. He then had the rest of the group surround us and pray over us in light of the disturbance that happened yesterday afternoon regarding the rice tickets. I wasn't nervous to go back to ConCrab after that incident, especially then, standing together as Heaven was being poured down on us by our friends.

VBS was pretty much the same except today I got the pastor to do the Chicken Dance with us and the kids LOVED it. He was such a good sport. And I had so much fun with Nika. We laughed a lot. She is such a lovely girl.

We completed Bible school without any issues. But then I didn't expect any.

We ate tuna salad sandwiches on fresh baked rolls for lunch. Since I'm a big fan of tuna salad I was quite happy. Unfortunately we didn't have plain Lay's potato chips to go with the sandwiches so it wasn't the same as home. Then again, we don't have fresh, homemade rolls at home. I'd call that a fair trade.

Today is "Friend's Kids Day!" That means you get to meet with your friend's sponsored child. After lunch I took a very quick shower to wash off as much Chicken Dance and Macarena sweat as possible. Then I went to the Mission office to visit with Nadia. (Note: Melissa Leaver is the Women's Ministry Director at TRBC and she is Nadia sponsor.) Unfortunately Nadia didn't come. I waited until the last person was gone. Even though she was scheduled for today I hope she shows up tomorrow on "Sponsored Kids" day. I would really like to see her again.

Later that afternoon we went to shops. I like shops but I also dislike it a great deal. It's fun looking for little treasures to take back to folks at home while blessing a Haitian family at the same time. However, it is impossible to bless each family. When I go to shops I feel torn between wanting to bless a family and feeling like a fat, rich American.

Kim MacDonald and I ordered 5 machetes from Sonny (our friend from LaSalle who told us about the preemies). However I think we were too cheap with our money for what we asked. We decided that if he is able to get the machetes for the money we gave him then we will give him an additional sum for his troubles. If he is unable we will offer the extra amount and ask him to try again.

There was another situation at shops today that I don't feel as if I handled it as well as I could. It was with a vendor selling a short, fat machete. I feel as if I should have given him another dollar. Lord, if I offended that man to the point of causing a roadblock to You, please forgive me. It's utterly amazing what $1 can mean here.

It didn't occur to me to pray over going to shops today. Silly me. No wonder I lacked the wisdom I needed.

Tomorrow we will pack family gifts and conduct the rice feeding at Bord Mer. I pray the feeding goes well and there aren't any incidents.

Oh! I almost forgot! We went to church at Bord Mer tonight. I sat with our interpreter Cindy and a bunch of munchkins who wanted to sit with a blan. It was SO much fun to worship there again. Church here is so free. We laughed. We danced. We cried. We WORSHIPED. Father God, I truly pray You will let me return to Haiti to continue with the relationships I've begun.

(This is one of my beautiful, little church buddies.)

I missed the opportunity to get a picture of the beautiful sunset because of the service and yet I'm just fine with that. After all, church was more than worth it and He did give me a rainbow this morning.

This was the first night the sky wasn't socked in with clouds. I hope I have an opportunity to capture another Haitian sunset before I leave. If I know my God, He'll have plenty more painting to do before we go.