Day 4
March 17, 2013
Breakfast this morning was spaghetti noodles and bananas. I don't usually eat breakfast, but I have been eating a little something when we are served. I skipped the pasta. I have been known to eat leftovers from dinner for breakfast, but something about the heat and the heavy pasta don't go hand in hand. I ate a banana and we have a jar of peanut butter that stays on the table, so I had a spoonful of that. Of course, there was that wonderfully strong coffee!!
We went to church in the village this morning.
Bill gave a sermon about trusting God. The people seemed to enjoy hearing from him.
At the beginning of the service we stood up front and were introduced to the congregation. Trevor is one of the men on our team and 72 years young. He does several mission trips a year. He is originally from Jamaica. When Bill introduced each of us, we received polite applause. When he introduced Trevor this little old lady in the back started clapping loudly and shouting, "Amen!"We did not let Trevor live that down the entire trip. Pastor Bill even mentioned it at Mountain View when we returned home.
Half way through the service the thought occurred to me that there would be an offertory. I had not thought to bring any money. This was an opportunity to give. Luckily, Dee carried her money in her camera case which she had with her. I borrowed some money until we got back to our room. As the offering basket was passed, I noticed many coins in the bottom of the basket. The people of Source a Phillipe do not have much, but the ones sitting in this congregation give what they have.
As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. "Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on." Luke 21:1-4
During reflections I shared that I found this part of the service particularly moving. I was in a Bible study once, probably Beth Moore, and she said if you feel like you have nothing to give to Jesus then give him your nothing and He can make something out of your nothing.
The congregation greeted us after the service. "God bless you" goes a long way when there is a language barrier. The people were so kind and smiled and smiled. One little old lady came up to Doc Rodney and smiled. Then she pointed to her knee. He said, "Does it hurt? Come see me on Monday." She smiled and nodded. Not sure if she understood.
We rested between church and lunch and visited with one another. I found sitting still on a Sunday afternoon difficult, but tomorrow will be busy and I will be thankful that we were able to rest up.
For lunch we had sandwiches.
After lunch Angie, one of our interpreters, told us she and Rodney were going to the water and wanted to know if we wanted to go. We walked down by the dock where their were a dozen burros loaded with packs of charcoal.
Charcoal is one of the items exported from La Ganove back to the mainland. The people cut down trees and burn them until they are basically black bricks. This supplies them with some income, but it is slowly destroying the island. When the rains come, the ground washes out.
We walked through a part of the village I had not seen. There were three little boys in a boat.
One of the things that I notice is how many of the really young children are out in the village without any adult supervision. Many of the little bitty ones are in the care of an older child. By older, I mean six or eight years old. The oldest boy in this boat was probably ten and the youngest about three.
As we started to walk away from the boys, we were off of the path and we saw lots of animal bones scattered about.
We were trying to figure out why there were so many bones in this particular area when one of the boys in the boat started talking to us again. Angie told us he was saying the area we were walking in wasn't safe. Because there is Voodoo in the area and the people are superstitious we wondered if that was the reason.
Bill hired our boat captain, Jackson, who brought us over to Source a Phillipe to take us out to an area where the water was safe to swim.
A few of the men from the Virginia team went with us. Claude and I stayed in the boat and watched. It was pretty, but I don't like ocean water at home. Haitians in general do not swim or like to get in the water.
Angie brought a life jacket and got in the water. She was very afraid at first, but once some of the team members worked with her she enjoyed floating around.
This is Gary, the nurse from the Virginia team, helping Angie to relax.
Trevor found a starfish.
Pastor Bill enjoying the water.
When we stopped in the area where we were going to swim, one of the men who worked on the boat swam to the dock. He came back with a cooler of Haitian beer. That cracked me up.
When we were heading back to shore, Jackson asked if we would like to swim in another area. We dropped those who wanted to swim and chased another boat loaded with people headed for the mainland. Jackson wanted someone on that boat to bring him something back.
The boat we took out was much smaller than the boat we took to Source a Phillipe. I was nervous at first, but in the end was so glad I went along for the adventure.
There were some men who came to sell things outside of the guest house today. They each had mostly the same things. I wanted to buy something from each man. I bought Rachel some earrings, some braided bracelets for all three kids and a wooden box with "Haiti" engraved on it.
When Connie went to get her shower, she had enough water to get wet and lather up. When she turned the water on to rinse, the water was out. She had to rinse with a bottle of water. Too funny.
Dinner was so nice. We had goat, Haitian potato salad (this may be my favorite dish so far), cole slaw, green beans and fried plantains. Then they brought in a bottle of champagne and cake for Bill's birthday which is tomorrow.
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