Blessed Easter!

Well, so I’m not really so good at keeping this blog thing up to date, sorry about that. But here it goes. We have been here 3 weeks now, the time is flying. So, where did I leave off...
Last Sunday night we went to an engagement party of our dear friend Ysmaille. We had no idea what we were going to. We thought we were being invited over for supper. It turns out it was an engagement ceremony, which is kind of a big thing here. It is an official ceremony, and the person proposes right there and then witnesses sign a form and such. Wow, it was quite the evening. We were way underdressed to say the least for the occasion as Haitians usually dress-up very nice, but on occasions such as this they dress to the hilt. Anyway, it was one of those learning experiences.

On Monday morning as we were going to the hospital we got stuck in a traffic jam. It turns out it was a ‘Walk for Christ’, actually entitled in Haitian, “Haiti for Christ” walk. There were about 10 thousand Christians walking down the main road. Since we weren’t moving anywhere for a long time we joined in. It was quite amazing. They were singing hymns as they walked and also just cheering. That is one thing about these people. They are really vocal about their beliefs and want to stand up for them.

Leading up to Easter there was quite a few Rara bands going around. These bands are mostly Voodoo believers that are celebrating the death of Jesus Christ. As Good Friday approached they were out on the streets in their bands a lot more, as this is their big day. Their temple is right across the road so we hear them quite often going late into the night. The Lord has been gracious many nights and sent rain to literally drown out the meetings. On Friday night when we were at church, a big band came up to the gate, to make as much noise as they could. This for me was a clear definition of spiritual warefare, it doesn’t get much clearer. We paused the service to pray for the people outside the gate as they were literally in the dark – they didn’t realize that Sunday was coming – the Christ conquered death and Satan. These people are so lost, they are in darkness. They need our prayers, and our witness.

We also got the old Isuzu running this past week, which is nice cuz it gives us a little more freedom to get off the property a little. My second time out with it, it first over-heated on the Main road during rush hour, and then when we fixed that problem the gear shift snapped off, leaving me to shift gears with a little piece of steel. So that was kind of exciting. But I love the machine, it does have a lot of character.

On Saturday we went to the beach which is a few hours out of the city with our friend Jenny, and a family that is working with the Christian Reformed Churches. The drive was more exciting than the beach. It was nice to drive through the country and see a little more of Haiti then just the city. I could not believe how desolate the landscape looked. What people have said about the deforestation is true. There are so little trees, and big scars where they once were. We only were on the beach for about an hour, as we spent our time checking out different places. We didn’t go swimming because there was so much junk in the water. The beach was on a resort which was actually quite nice I thought for Haiti.

On Sunday we had a sunrise service at church and a regular service. It was so nice to celebrate the resurrection of our LORD and rejoice in the life we have been given! Just meditating on Christ’s sacrifice and what He accomplished for us, just helps put life into the proper perspective again. We have been given life! Eternal life! And now, for a short time we get to tell others about this great news, and fight everyday to crucify our old nature and long to become more and more like Jesus Christ –to His honour and glory.

Anyway, on Sunday we also got to meet a few more dutch people that are here working, and a few more brothers and sisters contending for the truth. We also got to go to a games night on Sunday night and meet a few more young people who are working here in Port au Prince.
On Monday, we had a birthday party at MacEpi (Haiti’s version of McDonalds) for Sammy, who turned 18, and for Yolgens, who turned 7.

Anyway, that about brings us up to date. We are slowly learning Creole, but are not quite fluent yet, by far. But we will continue working on it, and hopefully soon the people will mistake us for being Haitian.
Well, that’s all for now. I hope everyone had a blessed Easter, and I pray that the joy of the Lord is your strength!
Randy