A Day in the Life

Today, I legitimately forgot what day it was, so why Vince picked me to write the blog entry is beyond me. Forgive me in advance for rambling, as I likely will, since this is my first “blog” post. This morning began with hard-boiled eggs, oatmeal, mango and a nice cup of coffee. What am I saying? The morning did include all of that, but it actually started with everyone waking up at 6am to take showers, and being greeted by a lack of water. As in, no showers, at all. Since I am one of the people that choose a morning shower over a bedtime shower, I just made the best of it… So did everyone; we are in Haiti, not on vacation. After breakfast, some of us headed back out to Bethel, the new housing complex, to continue painting. Others went out for Clean Water to install water filters. I heard they installed six, which is a lot for one morning, so that is good news. One team member, a teacher in the states, went to teach math at the school again, he said it has been going well.

While painting today, two team members were having a hard time with the heat and the paint fumes, so our team was smaller than expected, and yet, I was struggling to find a paint roller once I finished the windows. Why? Well, it was because there were a few Haitians that were pitching in to help that lived on the first floor. This was awesome, because many hands make little work. Well, it will always be a lot of work, but I find more pleasure in painting alongside new people, even if we struggle with the language barrier. I painted with Deborah, a Haitian 15 year old name Frantz, and a young man who I believe is named Marysworth. Marysworth asked me if I was a missionary, and I said yes. He then told me that he wanted to be just like me. I smiled and said, “Well, do you love God?” and he said “yes” with exclamation in his voice, and I said “do you love others?” and he said, “Yes, yes!” So, I replied with “then you are a missionary!” There was absolute truth in my statement, even though he struggled to comprehend and he once again tried to tell me what he meant by saying he wanted to be like me. I said, “God gave us a mission is to love others, so as long as you are doing that you are a missionary”. He smiled and we kept painting the walls.

After I was proud of the room we had finished painting, I went to take a water break on the roof. The roof is just a concreate floor, ready to become a third floor, if needed. I dangled my legs over the edge, sat with God, and just prayed over the community as I received many looks and a few waves from the children, probably all somewhat curious as to the white woman on the roof of the building looking over them. Val came up, we chatted for a few moments, and then all of a sudden, I heard my name from below, which I definitely didn’t expect, seeing to as I’ve only been in Haiti for 48 hours. It was Samuel: a nice college student that has been playing the piano for us before devotions at night. What a surprise! Samuel came up to meet us on the roof and he greeted me with compliments on my singing voice, which was such a nice thing to say considering my ability. Val mentioned to him that I love the song “Reckless Love” and he pulled out his computer, played the song, and sang with me on the rooftop. It was actually beautiful to sing the lyrics, overlooking the community. Then we sang “I Surrender All” which I think was his favorite song, but I cannot say for sure. He told me he would play Reckless Love at music tonight so we could sing together again. Then, it was back to painting! Then, lunch!

For lunch today, we ate chicken soup with potatoes, and it was delicious! I loved how they repurposed the chicken we had for dinner last night in our lunch. Yesterday, when Doris came back from being with a women’s group she was leading at the church, I asked her to join today, since it sounded like a great time. So, today, I was able to join her for the afternoon, which meant I was able to shower after lunch before we took off! With all the sweat and dirt I had piled on throughout the two days, I was feeling so fresh and clean afterward. While the other sections of the team went back to paint, or to check on old water filters, Doris and I went to the church and met roughly 15-20 women of various ages, none of whom speak English, to talk about Self Love. Luckily, the translator, Thaina, who joined us at age 19, was awesome and fluent in English. Prior to the meeting, we conversed about how she had just finished her exams and was going to be going to University at a school in Pensacola, Florida. She is so excited, even though she does not have any American friends or anyone joining her on her journey. She was mostly nervous about the people, mainly her future roommate, and needs prayer that God will place her with someone who can become one of her best friends. I gave her my number and let her know she has at least one American friend.

During the group session, Doris asked everyone to explain the meaning of her name and we went around and did so, whether it was using the internet to tell us what it meant, or a very thoughtful explanation pulled from the Bible such as what Ruth shared. For the record, Sara means Princess and there were two Princesses in the room. After that, we went around again, and Doris handed out a mirror, and the objective was to look into the mirror and say an adjective about yourself that God would say if He was looking at you. Some of the girls quickly responded, with confidence, but others were struggling. They would look around and try to find a word from a friend, but Doris looked back and said, “Look into the mirror, not at them!” Then, they would look again and find a word. If they repeated a word, they had to try again. We heard words such as beautiful, intelligent, courageous, kind, polite, and awesome. It was a great experience, even though it was heartbreaking to see the girls struggle to come up with a word that God would use to explain them. Later, I asked Thaina if the girls knew each other very well, and if they might have just been intimidated by Doris and I, but she said that the majority of them knew each other, but within a church of over 2,000 members, it is difficult to know everyone by name. Following this exercise, Doris said we could wrap up early, as we had went through the exercise, but none of the ladies wanted to leave, they asked her to keep going! So, we did. Next, we took turns sharing things about ourselves, with me leading. I shared a few fun facts and I concluded with sharing that I was saved at age 7. Following me, one of the girls shared about how God has worked in her, and I thought to myself how awesome that she is sharing a part of her testimony with the group. Then, all of the girls said how God was working in them too, and it just brought so much joy to my heart. One girl mentioned her love of singing and her membership of multiple choirs, and then we asked her to sing, and wow! Not 1, 2, or 3, but 4 girls sang us all an individual song after talking about how God was working in her life. I loved it because, even though ¾ girls sang in French, I recognized the songs: I Surrender All, Great Is Thy Faithfulness being two of them. The fourth girl did not speak English, but sang in English and said she wanted to be a Christian singer, famous all over the world, and man did her voice back her up! They all sang with so much passion and ability, it was beautiful.

As 5pm approached, some of the girls mentioned that they had choir rehearsal at 5 and warned us they needed to go. Doris said they could leave, but we would continue without them. They were all so concerned about “losing out” if they left and told us they would just be late to choir practice so they didn’t have to miss out. Doris did not like that idea, and just ended the discussion at 5 so that no one would be late and no one would miss out. They are very excited for Monday, so I know they are really appreciating the time spent together talking about self love. On the way back to the house, the traffic was horrible, and dark was nearing, so it was a good thing we ended the discussion when we did. For dinner, we ate barbeque beef and potatoes au gratin with avocado, of course, and “like rice pudding” for dessert. I will miss the food here, surely. It is always delicious. After dinner, Lionel gave the devotional, which was about Mark 9:24: “The father instantly cried out, ‘I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!’ and Psalms 119. After devotions, Samuel joined us and we sang Reckless Love, as he promised, and he tried really hard to learn it on the piano, but instead we sang along to the amp and he played along. I was happy that he came because he had school 20 minutes away, and came just so we could sing, and it made me smile. Well, there you have it; that is a day in the life of a short time missionary

Sara Gray, Bethel Baptist