A Week In Haiti – Part 2

Church:

The Sunday after we arrived Haiti we had the opportunity to attend a church service  with the church whose building we were going to be demoing. The church was located in a little village on the outskirts of Port Au Prince in the middle of a banana plantation. As we drove down the dusty pitted road we kept an eye out for roaming goats, pigs and cows all the while taking in the overwhelming conditions in which people were living. It was like being in the middle of a National Geographic spread.

It’s funny, you see pictures from places like Haiti in magazines and on television and you know they’re real, but the reality of just how real they are doesn’t sink in until you drive past a group of people bathing in a filthy river or see a boy no more than two years old holding his younger sister’s hand to keep her from walking out into the street.

As we drove into the village constructed of cinder block buildings covered in sheets of rusty metal and tarps, many of the residents of came out to observe the caravan of white SUVs carrying pasty white foreigners. Some seemed excited while others decidedly cautious.

After finding the temporary church home just down the road from precariously leaning church building, we were greeted by excited smiles and waives from the beautifully dressed children in Sunday school and the pastor’s call to action to make room under the blue tarp and blanket structure for us to sit.

As we sweated in that rickety tent, watching the pastor preach, the men and women recite verses and the children sing it was obvious that despite the lack of stuff, God was still at work. And while many in Haiti must feel that there is no hope, that was not the case with these villagers. They sang songs of worship, danced with hearts filled with joy and praised God as if they were worshiping in the middle of brand new church building.

When the service was over we walked out into the heavy 90 plus degree humid heat to cool down (truly). As we walked over to evaluate the building we were going to be working on, many of the children followed and posed for pictures with us. Once again I felt as though I was in the midst of a discovery channel special with all of the children gathering around to pose with each of us, and in one sense it was.

I discovered a sense of joy that I don’t know I have ever experienced. These people who literally had nothing were at least on some level joyful and that was special. It was a reminder to me to not take the blessings I have been given for granted. As cliche as that might sound, it hit home on a whole new level that morning.

I truly am blessed.