February 14th, 2009
Last night was the start of the festival. We have been praying this since we arrived. We were excited to see what God was going to do at this festival. When we arrived, we went into a church for a service. A service to ‘pump us up’ about getting out there. (Of course, I don’t know Creole, so I understood very few words… hallelujah, amen, etc) When it was finally time to get out there, we were excited. We were revved up to see God glorified. We were a part of something that was new to Les Cayes. It was new to this nation. Never before has there been a day of festival dedicated to God. Les Cayes was the first town and this was the first year. Thousands upon thousands of people flooded the streets. In a town where voodoo is very present, there were praises to God being yelled out. Everyone was dancing in the street behind this party bus where the Christian music was coming from. Everyone touching. There was no room for personal bubbles. Television stations were recording the whole thing. Praises to God coming out into everyone’s television. How great is our God that His name would be praised across Haiti last night. Something that was new. A wildfire spreading across the nation. Team Manna had to take a break at some point because it was SO hot. We walked away and watched the thousands of people dance on. We joined in at the back of the crowd for another 30 minutes or so until we found a place to rest and eat. After the restaurant, we decided to head back to the church and then back home.
Upon arriving home, we noticed black tape of some sort in front of our house. Ashley stopped and said that it was bad news. She waited until we were all together and explained a blog that another team had posted about black tape. Apparently in voodoo, people record curses on a tape and then put it around a house so that the curses would encompass all who pass. Well, we know that our God is bigger than that. Whether that is a myth or some silly superstition, we were not going to let it go unnoticed. We took anointing oil and put some on every entrance to the houses. We prayed and asked God to protect us. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of a sound mind! We took that to heart and knew that our daddy was protecting us. We went to bed and each person had a great nights rest. When morning came, Tim found more of the tape (The same length) behind the houses. Coincidence? I doubt it, but we took care of that with prayer and covering our grounds with Christ’s protection and love. Our God is bigger than tape!
Thank you for the prayers, I have been posting pictures to face book. That seems to work the best.
