Count It All Joy

The first text I received from Jeremy this morning read: "Waking up to women and kids singing praises to God. They have a hope that is not based on physical comfort; their circumstances don't dictate praises"
In Josh Moody's words: "At about 5 am, pitch black dark, about 2 or 3 people broke into praise songs. A few more joined in, then a few more, and before long nearly the whole church compound was singing praises to God.....and the sun wasn't even up."

I am beginning to believe that our team is learning much more from the Haitians than they ever thought they would.

A four hour worship service was held this morning in the courtyard of the church in Petionville, to go along with the fast which all the Christians in the country participated in from eight to twelve. The local churches will be fasting for three days. Can you imagine? They barely have enough food to eat and they are intentionally fasting.

The singing during the worship service went on for more than three hours. Ronnie spoke briefly, then Jeremy spoke to the people of the church about the team's purpose for being in Haiti. He told them that the medicine and food would run out quickly, but that his desire was to leave something eternal with them, something that would never run out, something that would not leave them hungry or thirsty.
Alex then preached a sermon out of the first chapter of John, where John the Baptist called Jesus a lamb. Then he went to the book of Exodus and explained that on the night of the Passover something had to die, whether it was a person or a lamb. I got chills when Jeremy was telling me about it because the story of redemption is just so amazing that it is hard to ignore the fact that it is woven all the way through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.

One of the interpreters became a believer today. To God be the glory!

The team members that I have heard from all seem to be thinking the same thing: how can these people who have lost family members, who are sleeping in the streets, who do not have enough food or clean water, still hold fast to their belief in a mighty God? One clue may be in some scripture that they shared with the locals.

And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:2-5

We know that the Bible tells us that suffering is the way of life for Christians, that we should not really expect anything other than persecution and trials. It seems that the Haitians know this all too well, and are experiencing amazing spiritual growth because of that knowledge.

Some of the local teenage boys have been asking the men on our team a lot of theological questions this week. They are so hungry for teaching and are in desperate need of discipleship. Jeremy thinks that they are probably the future leaders of the church, which is a blessing because there are not many men who have stepped forward to be leaders. The church is mostly run by women because there are no men to do the job. Perhaps the things that have happened this week, and in the past month, will cause a ripple effect in the community and more men will come forward to be spiritual leaders in their homes and in the church.
There were also some older teenage boys who have begun to realize that life in Haiti is bad. They told our guys that there are no opportunites for education, jobs or even employment. Most of the men do not work, but depend on assistance from others. In many families, there may be one person with a job and they must provide food and shelter for the entire family. These teenagers were basically begging to come to the United States so they could get a job and have a chance to get out of the deplorable conditions of their own country. They were offered advice about searching diligently for jobs and working hard, and about how they could possibly work their way up and be successful. The culture they live in, however, is not very conducive to success of any kind. Please pray for these boys. Their hearts seem to be in the right place, but the poverty in Haiti is so oppressive that I pray they do not lose that motivation.

The cooking team prepared some more food today and fed about one hundred people. One of the guys (Brett, I think), went to the store for some chicken to cook and had to pay $70.00 for the same amount of chicken that we would pay $20.00 for in the states. No wonder the locals do not buy much meat. I would not buy it either at those prices!

The vehicles are another story. The one Jeremy has been driving was seen by a mechanic today and they found out that it was not the transmission but a clogged radiator hose (If that does not make sense I apologize. I do not know much about cars and the phone connection was not great).
Anyway, the hose was replaced and the truck seems to be driving well now. The team will be making the long journey across the island again tomorrow and the vehicles will be put through extremely harsh driving conditions once more.

The team will be up bright and early in the morning so they can be on the road as soon as possible. They will be spending the night in the hotel in Santo Domingo once again, and flying back home on Sunday. I can only imagine how exhausted the men are after the week they just experienced in Haiti. God has allowed them to be a part of some amazing things this week and I know the people of Haiti are appreciative of all they have done.

Prayer requests:

• Travel safety tomorrow (Saturday)
• No mechanical problems with the vehicles
• Some decent rest for the first time all week. (They will actually have a bed to sleep in and real showers for the first time in several days!)
• The Haitian people who are being left behind in Petionville
• The team will continue to show the love of Christ as they travel on Saturday and Sunday
• That God will get all the glory for what has occurred this week

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. James 1:2-4