So after much prayer and anticipation,
the first day of the carnival has come and gone. Friday was such an
amazing experience I figured I’d give it it’s own blog, why not? But
before I go into the details surrounding the events of Friday 13,
2009 let’s review how this all came about. Carnival is an annual
pagan holiday that happens all over Haiti once a year. According to
Pastor Louis, statistically, 15,000 girls get pregnant every year
during carnival all over Haiti. Last year, a party bus pulled up in
front of a church here in Cayes while it was in service and started
blaring music. While the bus was parked in front of the church
blaring music, the bus tipped over and killed a man. Word about this
spread quickly all over Haiti and this word soon became fear. Fear
that they had angered the god of the Christians. Well, eventually
word had gotten to the national government. And in an effort to
please God they agreed to dedicate the first day of the carnival to
God, so that He would not be angry. So this is 2009 and the time has
come for the first day of carnival to be dedicated to God for the
first time in Haitian history. It’s time for God to get the glory in
Haiti and for His victory to be known. It’s time for all Christians
to stand firm and celebrate that God is bringing Haiti back to Him.
It’s time…to pick up where we left off.
Friday around 4 we all loaded in a bus
with some of the staff at the orphanage and headed downtown to the
festival. We arrived at Pastor Louis’ church where there was a large
crowd gathered outside and inside, judging from the loud music and
screams of celebration, the party had already started. The church
was packed full of people shouting and dancing. There were dancers
on the stage as well as girls in the aisle’s waving flags and
banners. The pastor and the music director were on the stage dancing
and singing. We were seated off to the side where you couldn’t see
or hear anything, so Steph, Sammie and I went upstairs and watched
from the balcony. Obviously I couldn’t understand what was being
said, but I could see the love and excitement in everyone’s eyes. I
could also feel God’s spirit in that place. It was good. It truly
was a celebration. A celebration of God’s faithfulness and love.
Also, it’s hard to describe, but it felt like there was a celebration
going on in heaven that night as well. After some time of worship
and prayer everyone poured out of the church and joined tons of other
people in the streets and gathered around a big stage where several
speakers got up and spoke. Again, I couldn’t understand them…but
it was good.
Then the party started. A party bus
pulled up blasting out Jesus/dance music. Everyone started following
it down the street dancing and singing. It was unreal, literally the
entire street was full of people as far as the eye could see. There
were thousands of people dancing and singing about Jesus(Jezi). We
were right behind the bus dancing and partying and singing. Words
can’t describe how it feels to be apart of something like that. It’s
something I didn’t think would happen until we were all together in
the New Jerusalem. It was truly a victorious day. To give some perspective…there’s 800,000 people in Cayes and over 60,000 people showed up to dance in the streets for Jesus. I don’t know how
many people got saved that day, or how many voodoo followers showed
up to oppose us. All I know is that God’s spirit moved, and if
anyone showed up with the intentions of stopping it…they failed. I
can’t wait to see what God’s going to do next.
