Report from PAP Airport from Jeremy - Saturday, Oct 2

Wow, crazy week.

We're sitting in the PAP airport and I finally have a few minutes to collect my thoughts. Here's a quick update on our various projects for the week:

• church - the roof is finished thanks to a lot of help from the community. The dedication service was great. Mark preached a quick sermon(he had to use the bible on my iPhone, ha!) and then we prayed for the church leadership. As we prayed for them I was overwhelmed by the dedication to the gospel displayed by these men. For the last 6 years they have faithfully been plowing this land planting the seeds of the gospel in the hearts of the people of this community. I am not worthy to tie their shoes. Hopefully God will allow these men to continue to spread the gospel for many years to come.

• water system - we were not able to get the system fully operational due to some electrical problems with the generator. Elise is going to get a breaker box put in and then a local plumber is going to help him test it for leaks once it is pressurized. Elise said he would call me when it is working.

• hygiene/sanitation training - the ladies were able to share with the children Monday and Tuesday. They read the Jesus bible storybook and taught some personal hygiene lessons to them. In the afternoons they visited houses and were able to collect information for our health surveys. We still have to compile all of the information but the results confirm a lot of what we expected to find. Most people eat 1 time a day if they have food. Everyone has stomach problems and headaches which are common symptoms of water born diseases. Friday we had a class with all of the teachers at the school. It was very interactive and full of questions. After the class they were real careful about their drinks. It really made them confront things that the sort of knew but didn't apply them to real life. Some of them drink from the river. Some of them don't have latrines. These are things that are within their power to change. They think that they don't have the resources to do this themselves and is the attitude we are trying to change. We told them to start where they are, use what they have, and do what they can. Hopefully they will become passionate enough about their community's health to do something about it.

Voodoo temple - the main voodoo temple in Haiti is less than 1 mile from the church we were working on. As we passed by it each day I couldn't help but think about the people in bondage to this dark religion. I also thought about Paul when he went to the temple to the unknown god in Athens and presented the gospel to them. Thursday morning I paraphrased Paul's message so that I would be ready if we could get into the compound. After the dedication service we got Michelle(our truck driver) to drop us off at the temple. Kandy, Mallory, Jenny, Odny, and myself went up to the gate and the lady told us we could walk around and take pictures if we wanted to. There were children playing and 20 or so adults scattered around the compound. We walked around passing out copies of Finding Your Joy in Creole. Everyone wanted a copy and several people immediately started reading it. One teenage guy spoke English and asked me what religion we were apart of. Instead of answering I asked him what religion he was. He said he was Christian so I asked him why he was hanging out in front of a Voodoo temple. His replied that he was there because his mother was there. I asked him if he also worshiped Voodoo spirits. He said that he did. Then I asked him how he could be Christian and Voodoo at the same time. He had a puzzled look on his face and said, "I don't know". Before I could respond he said, "You mean you have to choose?" This was not something he had ever considered before today. I told him that yes he had to choose. He could not serve God and Voodoo at the same time. Then I told him that I had a message for them if they wanted to hear it. Everyone gathered up and Odny translated for me. What I said is below:

Men of Souvenance, I see that you are very religious. I see this great temple that you have built to honor all of the many spirits of Voodoo. Therefore you worship many spirits that you do not know. I am here to tell you of the God who made the world and everything in it. He is the Lord of heaven and earth. He does not live in a temple made by man. He is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives life and breath and everything to all mankind. From one man He made all the peoples of the earth, and He determines the years of their lives and where they will live that all men should seek after God in the hope that they might blindly find Him. Yet He is actually not far from each one of us, for "In Him we live and move and have our being." The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent because He has planned a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead. This man is Jesus Christ, the one and only son of God. He lived a perfect life and died to pay the sin debt for every man who believes in Him. Therefore you must repent and believe in Jesus Christ. Throw down your Voodoo charms and call upon the name of the one true God. Cry out to God and leave this way of life behind.

They were fine with everything I said until the part about throwing down their voodoo charms came out. They erupted with anger screaming, "we will never do that!" A witch doctor argued with me for a few minutes and knew a lot of scripture, but never did have a point. We eventually made our way back out to the road and walked towards Elise's church. I don't know if there will be any fruit from that experience, but hopefully some of the people will reconsider their syncretism and turn to Christ.

I also want to write something about the orphanage, but that will have to come later. See you guys tomorrow.