Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

| by archiveworldraceblogs

This month our team served with a church that literally meets on a side street alley with a tarp hanging over it. Every night they meet at 6:30 to pray and worship. The sounds of their voices crying out to God in prayer will stay with me forever. Haitians know how to pray with zeal. They are some of the most passionate people I've ever met. I've witnessed their passion demonstrated in reading the word of God, dancing, playing cards, praying for physical healing,  and going above and beyond to show hospitality. Three young women from the church volunteered to cook all of our meals for us. They would arrive at our house at 7:30 a.m and would not leave until 6:30 p.m. We grew very attached to them. Our main ministry was spending the majority of our time with the young adults from the church community as well as the kids on the street right by our house. The members of the church would spend hours and hours in our house and we would pray with them, play games, sing, dance, cook, etc.

We bonded so well with 3 young boys from the street, ages 6 and 7. They came over to our house and we would feed them whatever we were eating and simply love on them. These boys would come on prayer walks with us and they were always very protective of our belongings.  If one of the boys saw that a zipper was open on my purse, he would make sure to close it. At our nightly church services, the boys would make sure no one touched our bibles or water bottles and they even offered to hold them on the way back to the house.  One of the boys just recently started going to school but the two others come from families who do not have the funds to send them. Multiple times throughout the day they would tell us, "I love you so much!" These words were so sweet to my ears.

 
In my first Haiti blog, I shared how difficult it was for me to constantly be around people. I seemed to wrestle every day with the consistent coming and goings of our new friends. Despite how much I struggled, by the end of week 4, the Lord revealed to me on our last prayer walk the tremendous gift of our Haitian friends. Every day we were able to give and receive love from precious little boys (who sometimes gave us the stink-eye when we told them they had to go home), our hearts were softened for a group of young men who are leading well in the church and pursue the Lord with complete abandonement, and every day we were encouraged to live out our faith with boldness and reverence for God. On our last day, each one of us was lavished with beautifully wrapped gifts. When it was time to get on the bus and head out of Carrefour, we hugged our friends multiple times and eventually waved teary goodbyes. 

Month 3: Thailand! Our squad is currently waiting to board a flight to Miami. We will then connect to California, fly to Hong Kong, and then to Bangkok. My team will then take a 12 hr bus ride to Phuket. Long journey but totally worth it!