This week for ministry we have been going door to door with our translator asking families if their children are in school. The pastor we are working with, Pastor Wilnorde, runs a free school for children who can’t afford other schools. The problem is a lot of people don’t know about it, so our job was to spread the word about the school and what it has to offer. Similar to the Dominican Republic, seven white, American girls walking down the street stick out in Haiti. Our translator, Orlando, has done a great job talking to the parents and getting names. While he does that, it is hard for us to interact with the parents talking to him, so we play with the children and talk to the people around us. We have already made some friends in one particular area across from Pastor Wilnorde’s church. It is exciting to be living so close to where we do ministry because we can easily go see them every day.
The people here are really excited to see us. Haiti is still facing hardships from the earthquake two years ago. There are still buildings that haven’t been fixed and a lot of people don’t have work and can’t pay to get things fixed. Many people have had the government let them down a lot and have trouble trusting people when they say they want to help them. I think God put our house so close to where we are doing ministry so we can have the opportunity to build relationships with people and show that we really do care. Our translator told me that a lot of people identify themselves as Christians, but when they face really hard times they often turn away from Christianity and participate in voodoo in hopes that their life situations will improve. Something that is completely new to me is being able to really feel when there is spiritual darkness somewhere. It breaks my heart that the people of Haiti have faced so many hard times and that many of them have turned away from God.
Jacquie and I with our neighborhood friend who loves Jesus, loves teaching us Creole, and makes pates, which are like empanadas.
My beautiful teammate Nadia playing with the kids we met on the street.
Another part of our ministry is working with the youth at Pastor Wilnorde’s church. There are about 21 of them and they are anywhere from 14 to mid-twenties. These people are legit. They bring so much light to their community and many of them have faced terrible things in their lives. I’ve only been with them once but I want to be around them all of the time. I’m excited to work with them and worship with them and learn from them.
