Haiti - Day 4

Day 4 has probably been my favorite day so far.  We spent all day at the orphanage doing a variety of activities. 

The day started off with singing with the kids.  Dax Smith played the guitar and our translators helped lead them in songs such as "Here I am to Worship", "Amazing Grace", Father Abraham, and more.  It was a beautiful sight and sound.  (videos will be available at some point)  It never ceases to move me to hear people singing to God in different languages at the same time.  If you ever doubted that we are ALL God's children, just take a trip to somewhere that speaks a different language. 

My personal favorite moment of the day was spent with 4 little boys playing with stickers.  We all know that kids love stickers, but you cannot imagine the fun these boys and I were having.  We sat down in the dirt with a half sheet of paper and a few stickers and had a blast.  I gave one boy a sticker of a cow, and you would have thought that I gave him the funniest toy ever.  He laughed like it was going out of style.  And I wish I knew what these boys were talking about, but these stickers became serious business as they began comparing their sheets.  We had some serious artwork going on.  It was there I was again reminded how these are God's children, made in God's image, and that His love for them is incomprehensible. 

Tomorrow will be our last day in the orphanage and it will be tough for all of us as we say goodbye.  Pray for us and pray for the kids as we say our goodbyes.

This evening was perhaps one of my most pleasant memories in the ministry.  Me and Eric were invited to preach at a church "30 minutes" away, which when translated always means and hour and a half away.  Obviously this was my first time to preach with a translator.  EXTREMELY COOL!  To share the gospel with people in another country rocks my world.  I am so unworthy of such an opportunity and eternally grateful.  At the end of the service we witnessed one of the most exciting times of praise I have ever seen.  There was some praising that would have literally raised the roof (if there had been one).  This church was devastated by the earthquake and had only a floor and walls.  As the pastor told us later, this was in a community that at one time had 51 voodoo temples, but by the influence and power of the Gospel, there are now only 3 temples remaining.  This was a community that at one point had no children because the voodoo priests were killing all the children, yet at our service there were more than 20 children.  Praise God for the power of the Gospel and for the saving power of Jesus Christ.  No wonder they could raise the roof with their praises.  He has literally transformed a village. 

I will never get over the fact of how happy and grateful and humble the believers in this country are.  Surrounded by complete, and I do mean complete devastation, they still praise God.  Surrounded by the most extreme poverty imaginable, they still honor, praise, and serve Christ.  I know people like that in America, and they are all such an inspiration.  People such as this in America and Haiti and around the globe truly believe that Jesus Christ gives life abundantly, and truly believe that He is true peace.