When two hearts connect, a common ground is formed. From there you can begin to empathize with another soul. Rebecca shares the experience of connecting with the Haitian community and the touch it gave her heart.

To read yesterday’s blog, click here.

We started our fourth day in Pignon today and we have been so uplifted. Since it’s Sunday we went to the local church run by Pastor Lumenes. When we first got there we were greeted very warmly by several Haitians. As we sat, the Haitians around us started to sing several songs. The singing was extremely loud but very beautiful. You could tell they were putting their whole hearts into singing praise to the Lord. After about a half hour of singing, three people got up and shared their testimonies. The testimonies were beautiful to hear. One women even shared that even though she had nothing to give she was thankful for what she had. The message from pastor Lumenes came after, we sat through a message about Revelations 21 that we couldn’t understand. After the message from the pastor, a long time missionary from the states got up and translated for all of the English speakers. The message was about how all of the bad things we do are recorded by God. When you give your life to Christ these sins are washed away and you are written in the book of life. He said that you don’t need to cover your sins with voodoo, that will do nothing. God is who will cover all of your sins and put your name down in the book of life. After this message we were able to talk to the Haitians around us. We were greeted like we were already friends. They were so happy we were there and to share their church with us. Overall the way they praised and the way they wanted to reach out to their community was incredibly encouraging. Many of them didn’t have much but they came every Sunday to raise their hands in loud praise to God. It’s something that we don’t tend to have in the States even though we have so much. Their incredibly loving hearts are so beautiful and encouraging to us. 

Today we also got to enjoy a tasty lunch in downtown Pignon. The restaurant was newly decorated with scarves and drapes. The lunch was wonderfully made and tasted great. We had rice with bean sauce, chicken, pasta salad, and fried plantains. We were very thankful for the restaurant and the staff there. 

Next we went to a nearby orphanage run by Pastor Francois. We were immediately greeted by excited children. We brought so many fun games and toys for them to play with. There were about 60 children from ages 3 to 17 inside the orphanage. The children loved the jump rope, nail polish, soccer balls, and toy cars. We were all swarmed and some of us even got to hold sleeping children. One of our team members, Betty, brought several salvation bracelets. The bracelets consist of 7 colored beads. Each of the colors mean something different as you make your way to salvation in Christ. Betty used one of our translators, Richelin, to tell the story that the beads tell. As they told the children the gospel, they all sat and listened waiting to hear more. When they were done telling the story, they asked the children if any of them wanted to give their life to Christ. Many of the kids raised their hands eagerly. A couple of us then handed out the bracelets to the children and helped them put them on their wrists. It was sad when we had to go and many of the children followed us to our truck. It was hard to leave them after we had gotten so close to many of them. The joy of all of the children was amazing to see. They were happy and smiling whenever they were sitting in our laps or playing with us. These children who have nothing were so content with getting to play with the “blancs”, as they call us. That in itself was so uplifting. 

After yesterday’s rain shower, we weren’t able to finish some of our food distributions. We had two left that we needed to deliver. The first house we went to was a pretty normal Haitian family. They had a couple children and a small house for them all to live in. They were so incredibly thankful for the food we had to give them, even though the food we brought seemed so small in comparison to all their needs. The second family we visited had a little girl with a limp wrist. The family had spent all they had to go to the hospital to try and fix her condition, but nothing worked. This family in particular was so thankful for the food. The husband didn’t have a job and the wife couldn’t work because of her small babies. They were living off of others and they really needed the food that we gave them. Getting to pray over both of these families and see how happy they were was incredible. 

The content hearts of all of the Haitian people is one of the most amazing things to experience. In the States we have so much, yet we want so much more. Here they want more but they are content with what they have now. It is so hard for them to provide but that is how it is. They have learned to live joyfully with what they do have and they praise God for it. That is something we should all learn. God has really humbled us and shown us the incredible hearts of the Haitians so far this week. 

-Rebecca Piersma