Written by Rayla Wilson

We began the day by sleeping in until about 7:15, with a delicious French toast, made from Haitian bread, for breakfast, thanks to Craig and Christie who wanted to give the cooks the Sunday off. We had our first experience at a Haitian church called Ephrata Baptist Church of Pignon. The service began at 9 am and ended almost at 12! Three hours of Creole singing and preaching, and we had an opportunity to sing “At Your Name”  in front of the congregation.

This was a harvest celebration. Take notice of their use of carrots and beats as decoration.

Following Church, we went out to eat for lunch at a Haitian restaurant. They served us rice and beans, which we all love, with meat in a sauce. Plus, we also had Haitian Coke and Sprite. Everyone agrees it is better because it uses natural sugar! After our delicious meal, we jumped in two different pickups. Everyone rides in the back, and even though it’s bumpy because of all the ruts and drains in the road, it was fun. Haitian people either stare or smile and call back “Bonswa!” (good afternoon) to us, and children shout “blanca!” which means white. About ten minutes later, we arrived at a deaf school with about twenty-five children.

We performed a skit for the kids while Lucia narrated and their teacher signed the story of Baby Moses. Lucia emphasized two lessons to the kids: God had a plan for their life, and He protects us. We handed out a sticker craft, and followed with an afternoon of playing parachute, jump rope, soccer, and painting nails. What I loved about this was the fact that some of the members of the team knew a little sign language. For once we actually had a common connection instead of being confused about Creole! We could sign our names and make gestures such as “thank you”. They are beautiful, amazing kids who have so much energy, joy, and excitement.

We ended up spending longer than planned at the school, so we delayed our plans of visiting an orphanage and headed to the Pignon hospital to pray and sing for the patients. There were a lot of Haitian moms and their babies. It was a blessing to be able to pray with them.

We headed back to the dorm to relax. Haylie ended up bringing out her iPod and speakers, and started playing American dance music in the street outside our dorm. Haitian children immediately joined in, and the chance to dance and laugh with these kids over a common love of music was incredible. God is active and at work in this beautiful country and its beautiful people, and I’m so excited to see what the rest of this week has in store for us.

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Written by Jakob

Rayla kind of stole all the thunder by telling the events of the day. The price you pay when you forget to blog until 11. So I am not going to go through the whole day but highlight the parts that really stood out to me personally. First off, church in Haiti is pretty dang long! What I enjoyed most about it was the way it resembled the church in Acts so well. It had a strong sense of community.

Jumping ahead to the deaf school, this was a refreshing experience. They would not talk and of course could not hear but possessed joy and understanding within them. After the ride back from the school, we were able to pray with people in the hospital. It was sobering, but it was sweet. (sweet not used as in the slang sense) The Holy Spirit was very present. It was beautiful.

Again I am going to skip ahead, past the awesome dance party to our devotions at night. We prayed and asked God what he had for each person and then showed our picture or word for that person. This I feel like is what and will continue to bring us closer together as a team the rest of the week. Jesus is at work not only in Haiti, but in the world, in Haiti, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, Iraq, and even in the United States. Revival is coming soon. Jesus will pour out his spirit across the earth and is inviting us to be apart of it, but it begins when we are on our faces before Him in the quiet place. He is speaking but we must open our ears and humble our hearts to hear Him.

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