Bonsoir from Port au Prince, Haiti!
It’s been over 2 weeks now since we’ve been here, and a busy 2 weeks it has been!
Everything is so different here. The food, the language, the church services - everything. It’s been pretty tough for me to adjust, but what’s helped is that the people of Haiti are really beautiful. Although I’m forever being stared at because I look different to them, I’ve been blessed to see their smiles and excitement about us being here.
There are 11 districts in Haiti. The church here is flourishing – there are around 110,000 Nazarenes in Haiti, which apart from the USA and Canada puts them third in the world for members of the church of the Nazarene. In our whole time in Haiti we will travel to 6 of these districts – meaning that every 3 days we move district! It’s been very busy so far, but here are some notes about 3 of the districts that we have served in!
In the Central District, there were 3 days where it was just 6 of the team here (As the other 6 were yet to arrive from St Kitts). We were able to meet the district youth council who were all really lovely and so excited to have us there! On one of the days when there were just 6 of us, we went with David Campus (the Nazarene Compassionate Ministries coordinator of Haiti), to work on a display garden in a village 4 hours away. This wasn’t your usual display garden, it is a tool used by NCM to show villagers how to produce better crops. We moved lots of rocks around to create a fence and then raked and broke up the soil. The work we did was tough stuff, but it was good bonding time for us. The 6 of us were also involved in a youth meeting, where we did introduced ourselves and the 12:7 Serve project, and did a brief presentation on Maximum Mission. When the other 6 arrived from St Kitts, we split up again! But this was just for the morning, so that we could attend 2 churches in Port au Prince, before heading off to Upper Artibonite.
In Upper Artibonite, we were very busy! We presented a workshop called ‘Sex, Lies and the Truth’ to some youth who had many questions and were interested in what we were saying. We ran services and also cleaned up around the church and in the school that the church runs. Something exciting for me here was that I was able to use my knowledge of French to do evangelism in the community. It was nerve-racking at first, but by the end of our time I was able to explain the Gospel in French. Now I know why I studied French at school! God definitely planned this one out. :) We also ran our workshop called the 7 Practices of Effective Ministry and showed the Jesus film for children. But one of my favourite moments in Upper Artibonite was when we went to play with some children from a school. But before we started to play, they sang together. I got to hear a group of children sing ‘Here I am to Worship’ and ‘Lord I Lift Your Name on High’ in Creole. And it was the most precious thing in the whole world, to hear children singing praises to God.
In Lower Artibonite, we stayed just behind in the church in two of the school classrooms there. This was quite different for us, but it was good to have bonding time with all of the girls! In this district we presented ‘Sex, Lies and the truth’ for the youth, and again got a really good response. The next day we ran the 7 Practices of Effect Ministry for the church leaders as well – they all were so appreciative of this and had a lot of input to give as well! We also were involved in evangelism, children’s and youth ministry, and we were able to take part in 2 services with the church. I want to share with you this beautiful picture of Chennice with some of the children there :)
And here is the team with the pastor and some church members of the district!
So that’s our journey in Haiti so far. Stay tuned for Haiti part two! Please pray that God would renew our strength every morning, as travelling every 3 days has been very tiring for us.
On the journey,
Dani
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