Looking back: Haiti -Day 6 - Jan. 4th 2010

January 4th
Monday

I could talk forever about this day. So much happened and it ran the gamut from absolutely amazing to downright painful. When I spoke at church the Sunday after we returned, I told the congregation that I had expected my emotions to go through a roller coaster, but that I hadn't expected them to ride the tilt-a-whirl, scrambler, bumper cars, & the zipper. It was intense.

The day started out with VBS. (I keep changing it from VBS to Kids Club, but I had the term VBS in my head for so long that it's still hard to switch to saying Kids Club. So, no matter what I say, know they are one in the same.) We got to the church about 10 minutes early. First of all, get the image of an American church out of your head. Churches in Haiti are often just one room. This one looked very much like the one I sent pictures of yesterday. Except it wasn't as big and it wasn't as open so it was kind of dark inside. We had to bring extra benches because people in Haiti don't sit on the ground. So, if we were going to let 200 kids in to VBS we had to make sure we had enough seats.

The hardest part at first of VBS was knowing we had to shut the door with kids still outside. We had craft supplies and snacks for 200 kids and that was it. We had to limit the number of kids we let in so there wouldn't be any fighting over the "stuff." One of the things Jan is working on with these kids is to say please and thank you and to not grab their gifts, but to accept them graciously. For the most part these kids did really well at this.

We started VBS with Jiffy leading songs. It was so cool to hear 200 kids sing "Jesus' Love is Bubbling Over" in Creole. We even taught them the wave. I'm not sure if they were laughing because they were having fun or just laughing at us being goofy. Either way, it was great. After songs I had them do a game. It was simple, but it still was a challenge to execute (after Monday I took the games out of the lesson plan. Missions work is all about being flexible). Anyway, the game was just passing a soccer ball to the person next to them and saying "Jesus loves you." Not sure how to spell it in creole, but phoenetically it's "Jeh-zee reme ooh." Now say it with a French accent and you'll be close.

Next, it was time for the lesson. Never in my life have I felt so sure that I was right where I was supposed to be doing exactly what I was supposed to do. Before we left for VBS I was praying over and over again, "God just let them hear you today. It may be my vocal chords, Lord, but let them hear your voice." God is AWESOME!!! He answered my prayer so clearly and powerfully. You know how when you have to stand up to give a speech you practice it before hand, and usually have note cards or something handy. Even when you're talking you're thinking of what you're going to say next. This was nothing like that. Words were out of my mouth before I even realized what I said. And I'm not talking about one of those "Oh crap!" moments where you wish you could take it back. I didn't write a single thing down before hand other than just journaling some thoughts. I didn't take a scrap of paper with me. Nothing I said was from memory and nothing was read from paper. It was ALL God! Do you get that??? Not a single word I said was my own. Every single thing that came out of my mouth was from him. Okay, for those of you reading this that aren't Christian, you probably think I'm crazy. Well, if I am, I want to be insane for the rest of my life and I pity those that will never experience what I was blessed to experience! For all the doubters that wonder how the Bible can be the word of God when it's written by human hands, I'm here to tell you first hand, I get it now! Just like God spoke through me to those kids, so he spoke to the authors of the books of the Bible. Those are God's words, just with their penmanship. I know I sound nuts. But I said it once, I'll say it again. I'd rather be an effective nut than and ineffective shell. This has got to be what the apostles felt like on that first day when they stood and spoke and saw thousands accept Christ as their savior. Personally, it's not even so much what God did through me as it is that he chose me. Did you hear that? God chose me! Me! Flawed, confused, screwed up me!

Okay, I'll stop with that now, but you get the idea. :) After the lesson (which lasted ten minutes or so) we handed out the craft. It was a puzzle that we were going to have them put together and then glue to a piece of paper. Good in theory, but I hadn't taken into account that many of these kids had never seen a puzzle let alone had a chance to work with one. (Keep in mind this was a 5 piece puzzle). At first they were confused so I had my helpers get down on the ground in front of their groups and show them what one looked like put together. As soon as the kids saw it they got excited and even sat down on the ground to work on them. Remember, Haitian kids don't like sitting on the ground! And when they got it they were so proud! They were grinning from ear to ear.

The last thing we did was hand out snacks. It was just a package of cheese sandwich crackers. Sadly, many of them didn't eat theirs. The reason being that they were expected to take it home to their family. We had fathers outside the church windows yelling at the kids to bring their crackers to them. And the kids did. It was frustrating, but there wasn't much we could do about it. When everyone had a chance to eat we dismissed them. I had several kids say, "Merci Nah-omi!" as they left. I had only said my name two times! And they remembered! And they thanked me! That is huge - they were thanking us without being reminded to do so!

We went back to Jan's for lunch and a recap of what worked and didn't work at VBS. I was just so pumped at how God had pulled things together (remember me bawling the night before because I didn't want to screw it up???). After lunch me, Angie, and her daughter Morgan went with Jan's daughter, Amanda, and two of the translators (Lucson & Woobens) to market. We were having my adoptive family over for dinner and Jan had hired a Haitian woman to cook them food. So, we picked her up then headed to market. For the most part market was okay, but we definitely stuck out. It had been raining off and on for the past couple of days so the street was really muddy. (streets aren't paved). Haitian dirt is weird. It doesn't soak in the moisture so the top two-three inches of dirt were a really slick mud and under that was dry ground. By the time we were done my shoes smelled like a cattle yard. I just kept telling myself what I was walking in was mud... it's just mud... really, it's just mud... nothing else in there... just mud.

There was one area of the market where as soon as I stepped foot there I knew I was not welcome. It felt kind of like Bor Kanal the day before. We were walking in single file - one man in the front and one in the back with the Haitian woman leading the way. At one point in this area a man stepped in front of Morgan (13 years old). We don't know what he said, but you could tell by his gesture what he meant. Amanda who was behind me stepped in front of Morgan and said something to the guy (she's fluent in Creole). He said something back, then she said something. The whole time she just motioned for us to keep walking. As we walked away I very clearly heard him say in English "$&%# You!" No translation needed there. Thankfully, God kept Angie from hearing any of that and she didn't even know about it until we got home. From that point on I felt very uncomfortable. There were people yelling things at the guys with us. I don't know what they said, but you could tell it was upsetting them. There were people laughing at us. Angie made the mistake of asking Lucson what they were saying. So he translated everything they said from there on out. :) They were saying we were fat, our feet were big and they were laughing that we didn't want to walk in the mud and then that we did walk in the mud. The only word I heard over and over again that I understood was "blanc" - pronounced blah. It means white. I think I got a very small glimpse of what African Americans must have felt like not too long ago.

So then at 4:00 some of us went with Jan to the women's Bible study held in Bor Kanal. This was only her 3rd week (as was Kids Club) to have study there so it is a very new ministry. The week before she had about 40 women. The day we were there she had about 80! They were rowdy. You could tell some of them were only there to see what free stuff the white missionary had brought. Jan opened her message with this, "I don't know if you're here today because you want to learn about God," some women nodded their heads, "or if you're here just to get the stuff I've brought," several women shouted AMEN! AMEN! AMEN! Jan didn't miss a beat, she just kept on going. "That's okay. Someday I hope you come here not just for the stuff, but because you want to know God." She continued to teach and those that were there just for the stuff continued to be rowdy and disrespectful, but there were also several that were really listening to what she said.

Jan had us split up and go around the room praying with the women individually. Many were receptive to it. Again, those that just wanted the stuff just laughed or were rude, but we prayed with them anyway. I came to one woman who very adamantly pointed at her belly and reached out took my hand it put it on her belly. I thought maybe she wanted me to pray for her baby or something. Lucson came over to translate for me. He said that she wanted me to pray that she would be able to conceive. I was taken aback. I've never been asked to pray like that before. Yes, I've been asked to pray for people, but not to actually put my hands on them and pray to heal them. I told Lucson, "Tell her I can't heal her. Make sure she knows only God can do that. I can't heal her!" So he translated then told me that she still wanted me to pray. Okay... what else was I going to do??? So I put my hand on her belly and prayed that God's will be done. That opened the floodgates of women wanting me to pray for healing. Whether it was a shoulder or a knee or whatever, I just had Lucson translate every time that I could not heal them, that only God could. Oh, how I'd love to know if they've seen any healing.

Once we were all done praying Jan handed out what we had brought for them - Creole New Testaments. I bet those that were there for the free stuff were ticked that all they got was a Bible! Ha! But God's word does not return void. ***side note. In Jan's last newsletter she related how out of a group of about 60 women at Bible study - 40 accepted Christ. I'm sure some of those were the same ones that were so rude that day we were there. Go to www.christophershopemisnitry.com to read the whole newsletter.***

The Elphni family lives right next to the church so we picked them up right after Bible study to come over for dinner. I had been looking forward to seeing them as this was my and Stephanie's adoptive family and we had a lot of clothes and food we had brought for them. They all piled in the back of Donald's truck and off we went to Jan's house. It wasn't until we got there that we realized the people in the truck were not the same people we had invited over for dinner. We had invited the mom & dad, Grandma & Grandpa, and the five kids. Grandma and three of the kids were there, but so were six other adults we didn't know. Apparently the baby (about a week old at that time) was sick so mom & dad stayed home with him and the grandfather had stomach surgery recently and wasn't doing well so he stayed home. Our best guess was that they invited neighbors to take their place. So what would you do? How would you feel if those you invited didn't come and strangers showed up in their place? Insulted? Angry? Irritated? All of the above? Yep, me too. I had really been looking forward to meeting my family. And after the events of the afternoon it was really hard not to take it personally.

Well of course we went ahead with dinner plans. I'm pretty sure God wouldn't have been too happy with us if we had kicked them out and said, "sorry, you weren't invited." I felt further insulted when they made sure to fill their plates to overflowing and take all the leftovers. There wasn't even a grain of rice in the pan when they were done and they each took a full plate home with them. It would have been one thing if we had offered them the left overs, but for them to just take it... well... what would you have felt? And then God convicted me. "You have much, child, then have little." And what's that verse, I'm surprised it didn't hit me at the time, "If someone strikes you on the cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic." Luke 6:29. Hmm...

The part that really upset me though was that Layfette didn't get to come. He was orphaned about 3-4 weeks before we got there. His aunt and uncle took him in. Stephanie and I had really been looking forward to getting to know him better. In fact, that morning at VBS he was in Stephanie's group and (via a translator) told her he was looking forward to tonight. Well, when we asked where he was we were told that he was still in the shower when it was time to go so they left without him. Remember, we were the ones giving them a ride. If we had known he was still in the shower we would have waited. But they never told us! We didn't find out until it was too late. Stephanie told one of the ladies to make sure that he got a plate of food and the gal just looked irritated that we would ask that.

Here's what I have written in my journal:
"We as a whole group were used. It was very insulting. But I also realize that greed is part of their culture. It still hurt. I'm not sure if that's the right word. Upset? Offended? There are too many emotions to pick one word to describe it all. I'm so sad for Layfette. I'm angry at their selfishness. But Lord, just like Jan said at Bible study - we are not going to change Bor Kanal with our anger. WE can only change Bor Kanal by our forgiveness. So father, I forgive them..."

Huh... Jan was teaching the women about forgiveness and not holding on to anger. But God was using Jan to prepare me for the forgiveness I would need to show to these people. God is so good! And I was able to forgive. The next day when I saw them, there was no anger there on my part. That's a God thing, because I couldn't have done that on my own.


Are you emotionally drained right now? I am just remembering this day, though I'm sure it's a bit different for me than it is for you. Hopefully you all don't think I'm too crazy by this point. Thankfully you all know me pretty well and have talked to me since I've returned so you know I'm not a total nutcase. Just crazy for my Jesus! :)

Naomi