Worship and Rest

Our team headed to the work site to see if any children would be joining us to sing at worship.  About a dozen children were waiting in their Sunday best.  Seriously, they looked adorable.  The girls were dressed as princesses and boys in very nice shirts and pants.  Three adult men, Gilbert, Jean, and Edwin, were also ready to go.  Gilbert explained that more children would have come, but a power outage had prevented mothers from ironing the dress up clothing.  Appearances are important to Haitians.

We felt like pied pipers as we paraded through the dusty streets of the neighborhood hand in hand with the children.  Our walk was about one quarter of a mile.  We were ushered to the very front pews of the small yellow church.  The current church of Croix des Mission is a small, narrow rectangle. The children sat on both sides of the aisle all alone.  We were seated behind them on other pews.  Our organist/musician Stevenson was no where in sight.  Worship began.  About 30 minutes into the 2.75 hour service.  Stevenson appeared in the small chancel and set up a microphone and loudspeaker which the preacher and all the other speakers happily used.  

Suddenly it was our turn to sing!  The team and the children crowded up front and suddenly we were joined by 5 teenagers with wonderful voices.  Stevenson knew we would need help singing in Creole and had recruited some of his best students to join us!  Wow, did we make the rafters ring!  In fact, all the singing at this small church was wonderful...and there was lots of it.  The preacher's dramatic sermon was over an hour long, and even in Creole, it entertained us.  Communion was served and we caucasian adults were first as honored guests.  Only a few of the 135 worshipers came forward for Communion.  We learned later that only adult members of the church took communion and membership is a two year process.

After church, I presented kitchen items collected by our Lebanon United Methodist Women ladies to some nice church ladies   They were appreciative.  They really loved the picture which I brought of the UMW ladies.

After lunch at a hamburger restaurant, we drove to the center of Port au Prince.  The Presidential Palace which had collapsed during the earthquake in January of 2010 and has been the symbol of that devastation is being hauled away stone by stone.  The Catholic Cathedral is still just a shell as is the Episcopal Church, but the Methodist Church and High School at College Bird looks good despite the temporary classrooms.

I have not commented on the appearance of the city compared with a year ago. The rubble is gone.  Homes and businesses are reconstructed and repainted.  The city looks very good.  I am surprised and impressed.  Of course, the impoverished people are visible as street vendors and their simple homes and tents are still in clusters.  Garbage is piled high here and there along the streets waiting for someone to set a match to it.  But all in all, I must say that Port au Prince is progressing impressively in its recovery from the earthquake.

Finally, we arrived home at the Guest House and rested.   After a yummy spaghetti dinner, we are writing our blogs and sending emails.  It is amazing to be able to share my day with you.

Sharon