Saturday, the Towery family left (Carla, Christa, and Courtney). I really liked getting to know them and hanging out with them since Christa and Courtney were my age, but all things must come to an end at some point. After they left, Jamie, the Irish guy, Jane, Bud and I went to the Haitian Supermarket. Jamie loved it! I can honestly say that was the worst experience I have had yet here in Haiti haha. It wasn’t like anything bad happened, but I am not a crowd kind of person and this supermarket was like the world’s largest flee market with literally everything you could think of being sold. Including prescription drugs in bottles (that was a sight to see). There were so many people you practically couldn’t move and then if they wanted you to move they would tap your bum twice which was incredibly awkward. That was not my kind of place and I told Jane that I would be okay if I never went back haha.
After the Haitian supermarket, we went to the “rich people” supermarket where we actually bought all of our groceries because the sanitation can be trusted there. That store was really small, but it was nice because it was air conditioned. (I haven’t felt air conditioning in almost 5 and half weeks except that one time. I haven’t minded though. It’s not too awful. You get used to it.) So we got all our groceries there and then headed to a small restaurant right around the corner. It was called La Kay Restaurant and it’s run by a person from France so they served Cheeseburgers and fries. Yum! American food!
That was basically it for my Saturday. I got back from lunch and relaxed while I read a little bit of a book called The Prayer that Changes Everything.. It’s about praising God and how most people forget about that aspect of prayer. It’s so incredibly important but so many times we just go straight to asking God for stuff and we miss out on praising Him. Because, when we praise God, He not only loves it, but we also are very much so benefited by it in how it changes our hearts. Great book so far.
Sunday, we went to church in town. The service was really good because the pastor preached in Creol and in English. He would talk for a couple minutes in Creol and then talk for a couple minutes in English. It made the sermon go longer, but it was so nice of him to translate for us. We didn’t expect him too so being able to understand the sermon was awesome. Afterwards, he took us all into his office and gave us some drinks and crackers while we chatted about his church and the school they are building in his area. He was such a nice guy and very genuine.
We went in town to a restaurant with a pool and swam and relaxed before we had to go get the teams that were coming in at the airport at 4:15pm on Sunday. The pool felt like bathtub water. Jane said it was too hot lol she’s probably right since it’s so stinking hot outside of the water, I bet cool water would feel better. The team came in right on time and we got them back to the compound just in time for dinner. It all worked out great.
Monday, we did VBS at a church about 8 miles away, but it took just over an hour to get there. We had to drive through creeks to get there. It was a fun and entertaining drive. Yesterday, at VBS, we sang songs with the kids and did a creation craft thing with them. It was all going so smoothly until a swarm of bees decided to attack some of the people standing around the edges of the circle. It was a disaster! People were screaming and running everywhere and then the kids began crying uncontrollably! That happened twice yesterday, so today we decided to go into a building where it was much hotter, but it was worth it so that no one got attacked by bees today. We got the kids under control within ten or fifteen minutes after the attacks, but many of them got stung and it was awful. I think we were still able to make an impact because right when the attacks started, a lot of us began praying fervently that God would take control and settle everyone down. It worked. God’s always amazing.
After VBS, yesterday, we got back and helped Jane prepare for a party for her level 1 English students. It was so cool to sit and talk with them. They wanted to learn more English and we wanted to learn Creol so we were all able to help each other out. It was a great learning experience. I also found out that yesterday I was saying chair instead of share to the kids. I had asked Dave how to say share so I could tell the kids to share their crayons. He though I said chair. So I went around saying chair instead of share. I’m sure I sounded like an idiot haha oh well. It makes for a good story.
Today, we did VBS again and it was much more successful. Twenty two kids accepted Christ! It was amazing! And we got to color with them and tell them the story of Noah. So much fun, but today was our last day at that place. Here, they only do VBS for two or three days at most. Once we got done with VBS, we went and did radio evangelism. My group got to talk to 23 people I believe. Total, from all the groups, we had 7 accept Christ but many who were already believers. Please pray for them that they all open their hearts to what God has to say and they will all allow Him to work in their lives and reach those who refused the gospel today. I don’t have any cool stories from the evangelism today, but for some reason I was really nervous to evangelize today so for a couple of the houses, I stood back and prayed to prepare my heart. God was with me every step of the way and I could feel Him helping me speak and relate to the Haitians. With Him, I could not have done it. I was so nervous and I needed God today. It was a great learning experience.
That’s it for updates. I am having a great time. I have 14 days left. This is going way too fast!!!! I’m excited to get home soon, but I don’t want to leave. This has been an incredible experience so far and it’s not over yet. God is still pruning me and helping shape me into who He wants me to become and this is just the beginning. Thank you for your prayers and support! Love and miss you all!