Farewell Sunday

We attened Sunday service this morning. Once more we were introduced in front of the congregation. Emmy Sherman, one of our young missionaries from Lakewood, Ohio, gave her testimony in church. Emmy was adopted as a small child from Chile. She could easily relate to the orphans here. Had she not been adopted by wonderful Christian parents to live in America her plight may have have been similar to what we are witnessing here. She expressed her love of Jesus and gratefulness to God to have been so blessed.
After church we distrubuted shoes to the children that had attended. We presorted the shoes and the chilren were escorted up to the choir loft 5-10 at a time. If they were wearing "church shoes" we gave them sandals or sneakers. If they did not have church shoes we tried to find a pair to fit. For the most part the kids were happy. Hatian children do not often have a pair of shoes that fit them. Most kids are lucky to have any shoes at all. Once some of the children received a pair of shoes, they ran out of the church to tell the neighborhood. Parents tried to get involved as they wanted some for themselves or for other children in the family. By the time we finished there was a church yard full of people asking for shoes. We escaped through the back door and up the stairs to avoid a minor riot! The ordeal was successful by Hatian standards. There are still shoes left for the leadership of the Church to distribute at a later date.
One last trip to the boys orphanage was emotionally difficult for our young missionaries. All through the week the kids have bonded. The little boys so enjoyed all the games, attention and huggs from our young adults. The children were known by name and personalities. They will be long remembered and prayed for. Our prayer for them is they are adopted out to great Christian families. Since we live in the same compound with the girls the separation has not yet taken place as I write this. That sadness will come later tonight.
One last church service tonight will close the chapter of the Ohio Youth trip. We all return home blessed to have had this experienced. We are grateful for all we have in our beautiful homes in America. We will all try harder to give more and complain less. We will try with the grace of God to spread His love and the word of salvation. If there is anything that we have learned here in Haiti is that this culture that has so little will share whatever they have with others. They look to their belief in Jesus Christ as the focus in their lives. They come to church willingly and with great joy. Every person from the youngest child to the oldest grandma sings loud and strong. They truely praise God. They taught us more than we taught them. We are all very grateful.
Tomorrow we head out at 5:30 AM and begin the long trip home. We have lots of pictures and such a big story to tell. Please be patient as we peel the layers of the onion to get to the heart of how this experienced changed us. It changed each and every one of us profoundly. We can't wait to share. See you soon!

Special thanks to Lynn Scheerhorn for all her hard work in making this trip safe and enjoyable for all. Thanks to Nora Leone and family for her spiritual guidance and direction while we were here. Thanks to the Isadore family for sharing their home and supporting us with generousity and hospitality. Thanks to all the guides and interpreters for their patience and willingness to serve. Thanks be to God for keeping us safe and blessing this extrtaordinary experience. Thanks to all who have kept tract of us through this blog and have prayed for us.

Saturday trip to the country

We loaded on the school bus (it's literally a yellow school bus from Michigan) and traveled to KaMaurich. It is a rural beachfront property, housing a small church. There had been other buildings that were flooded out. The area is beautiful. Mountains surround an inlet that is a lovely beach. We witnessed fishermen hauling in a net. Jesse, Lynn Scheerhorn's son stepped up and helped pull the nets in. The fishermen did not want us to take pictures but since Jesse was helping they allowed us to snap a few. The nets did not yeild much of a catch and the few fish caught were very small. This is another challenge. The waters are fished out. As they continue to catch the small fish there is no way for them to grow to produce more fish.
The group climbed the mountain to catch a beautiful view of the surrounding terrain. Joan and I stayed back to watch over the backpacks and cameras. The fact is we were just a little tired and it was a good excuse! I was able to snap a few good pictures of bananna trees in blosson with fruit growing. Not someting I see every day. After the climb most of the team took a swim and collected shells. The locals think it is cold here because it is spring. They were surprised to see the crazy blan (whites) swimming!
The hour long ride to and from this town was very interesting. There was a very large market on the way on both sides of the road. It was highly populated. There was livestock, food, sugar cane, tires, kitchen ware and everything else immaginable for sale. Many a buyer was seen with one or more livestock attached to a rope, pulling it toward home. Lots of donkeys with a rider and their purchases were carefully staying out of the way of speeding busses and transports of all kinds. The rules for driving in Haiti are a bit different than we are used to. Pedestrians do not have the right of way and horns are used to signal oncoming traffic. So picture the people, the vehicles and the animals all fighting for a bit of turf with lots of loud noise in 90+ degree temperature, on a two lane road with twists and turns, and farm animals staked out on the berm to graze while laundry is drying on the bushes you'll get a pretty accurate picture.
Saturday evening we went out to dinner at a restaurant. We pre ordered as the chef needed to purchase the food in advance. Restaurants are not commonly frequented so special plans were made for us. The menu was very eclectic. Creole, chinese, curry dishes and spagetti were some of the choices. Goat, lobster, shrimp, beef and conch were some of the ingredients. Everyone was quite satisfied with their meal. It was yet another great experience in a week of very many great experiences.