The Long Trip Home

Monday morning we were up at 5 AM and off to the airport by 6 AM.
After a long delay in Port Au Prince we finally arrived in our homeland and to the hotel around 8PM Monday, night. We were weary from a long day of travel; we had one last dinner as a team. Afterward Joan presented me with a lovely Hatian painting as a thank you for leading the team. It was a very thoughtful gesture. This team of Leonard Lowe, Christa Repas, Dave Toth, Joan Shaw and Mark Rychel was a delight to travel with and look after. We cooperated, prayed, worked and laughed a lot together. Each person truly represented the body of Christ in each physical and spiritual skill and talent they brought. It was my honor and blessing to have served in the capacity I was called to do.

Until the next trip….

Respectfully,
Jackie Rychel
Faithful Whitness

Sunday Worship

Sunday in LesCayes means 2 church services. The first begins at 9:30 with the musicians calling the village to church with music and song. The service is fairly traditional as we know it. The choir sings, the pastor officiates, lay readers read, a collection is taken, communion is served and a sermon is given. Pastor Toulutte always asks the teams what they would like to do in the service. We sang two songs. We chose “The Cry of my Heart” for the first. The second selection was “Here I Am to Worship” which we asked the congregation to sing along in their native language of Creole. It was very lovely and the smiles coming from the pews told us the congregation enjoyed it as well. Pastor requested someone speak or share a message. Mark graciously accepted the challenge and shared his journey to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He invited the congregation to pray for salvation as well. All this was translated by the pastor so if there was any doubt, we all heard the invitation twice.

After church we walked a few blocks to the boy’s orphanage to string Christmas lights donated by a St. Mark member. The boys will get a big surprise when the lights come on as we did not have power when we initially put them up. We then walked back to the Church compound and got ready for a little party for all the children. We had activities such as making Christmas decorations from precut shapes of angels, snow flakes and Christmas trees. Leonard brought the cutest pink flocked tree and fancy ornaments for the girls. He assembled it and had the girls decorated it. Oh, and did I mention he was dressed as an elf the whole time? I don’t think the Hatian kids had seen that before! We provided cookies (not home baked) and soda and small gifts of lip gloss and neon glow stick bracelets. It was lots of fun for the children and adults.

After dinner another service began at 6:30. This service is more of a praise service with lots of singing. The musicians as well as a song leader really get the congregation on their feet and participating. It was a great ending to a very joyful day. We said our goodbyes and went off to pack for an early morning departure.