November 22, 2019
6:00 a.m. We leave to go to a neighborhood sunrise church
service at “Church on the Rock.” A gate entrance opens to a huge open-air
church that seats approximately 300 people with many attendees walking through
the rows of chairs and aisle issuing in the presence of God. When we seek God
early, he will be with us throughout the whole day. There were lots of people and others still coming
in. The musicians and singer moved us
all with their praises. The singer sung
in both the native Kreyol and English occasionally. After several selections by the singer, there
was a call for the offering and ended with the pastor preaching from the book
of John. His message to us included a word
that this week would provide each of us an experience to see those with
differences in a better light and challenge us to positively encourage them. We were able to briefly meet with the pastor
to express our gratitude for the service. It was an awesome way to start the day.
After church, we returned to the guest house for
breakfast. We have had great breakfasts
that include fresh avocado, banana, mango, oatmeal, French toast or pancakes,
and eggs.
Each morning before going out to serve we have a brief
devotional meeting. Our co-leader’s
morning message was to inform us of the fruit of the spirits (love, joy,
patience, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance)
that we must have as we serve. We load the tap-tap bus to head back to Cite
Soleil and Hope Church. When we arrive, we are greeted by Alicia, the
administrator of the health clinic. She
shared with us the number of doctors, dentists and nurses that work at the
clinic and the main services being treated at the facility. On a normal day, they serve approximately
70-100 patients a day without appointments and based on the critical nature of
their ailment. The cost of the services
to the citizens of Cite Soleil are reasonably priced based on the economy of
the residents. Many residents would not
have medical care without the support of the Hope Medical Clinic.
Afterwards, it was now time for fun with the kids outside
the clinic. They were waiting for us
with chants of “Hey You” and the desire for us to pick them up. Some of the
team can pick up two kids at one time.
With jump ropes and soccer balls in hand, we head out to a playground.
All the kids wanting to be picked up can be overwhelming. Seeing the joy of
smiles of playing children is so warming.
It was so hard to stop playing, but we had another group to serve.
The pastor of Hope Church has gathered approximately 15
elderly men and women to be served by us.
We were there to perform a foot washing and massaging of hands, feet and
back. We were grateful for the
opportunity to show God’s love to each of them. Some of the women got their toenails
polished. Our team circled around the elderly group and connected our hands as
one to offer a prayer to God for their health ailments, there family and the
future. The elders left with a small
meal and appreciation for being served.
Our last stop at Hope for the day was to receive an overview
of the computer center by Ash, who works in the Tech Pod. The top of the line
computer technology that is being used to train the children is the only one in
the country. When training is started at
an early age, cycles and strongholds of educational deficiencies can be broken.
One of the challenges mentioned was that students speak Kreyol at home, trained
in French and then the computer technology is in English. Students have very
little opportunity to become fluent in French since they return home every
night to Kreyol speaking parents.
Education is power.
The day ends with a dinner meal treat, Pizza.
