... Grace didn't have a roof? Would there still be church services in the building? Would people still come and worship while the building is being built? Would people sit on plastic lawn chairs, under the sun, next to piles of cement blocks, broken rocks, and concrete mixers? Would Grace continue to meet?
Today I was a special guest, along with another missionary, to a baptist church in town. Church started at 7:30 AM, so we had to leave at 6:45 AM. It was back off the main road, on top of a hill. When we stopped I had to hop through a pile of sand to get out. We walked up a couple sets of stairs into a massive building. It was three stories high. There were people packed under the balcony sections. Erica and I were instructed by Léonie to write our names down on a piece of paper, so we obliged. We were then given front row seats along the side. Léonie was beside herself with excitement, it was her churches final day of Harvest Festival, so today was a big deal. She told Erica that she wanted me to experience something that I would never forget, and I have to say that this church service lived up to her wishes. The senior pastor introduced us to the entire congregation and we were welcomed many, many times and thanked for coming. I'm sure that blancs at the church was a pretty huge deal. We sat and watched as the service started. They talked about the different Sunday school classes and how each had taken up a special offering to give for the Harvest. Soon 600 children ages two to 15 began walking across the front of the church to give their offerings. This last for about thirty minutes. Then we sang a few songs, and then a group of women from the church called "Tabitha" began presenting their gifts. These women were mostly older, they went to people's homes, or to visit people in hospital or jail and pray with them. The women from Tabitha all brought produce. Tons of it. It was explained that after the service they would be selling the produce to pay for finishing the construction of the building. Yes, that's right. This church was only half built. They pray off the rain every Sunday in order to worship. It was quite spectacular.
The pastor preached on Psalm 100. Even through Erica's translation, the message was still clear to me. We need to be joyful, no matter what. Imagine in America, a church that is only half way built, full of people praying to keep the rain that has been falling for the past week away, and the pastor gives a message on staying joyful. I can't imagine anything like this happening at all.
After the service I had a group of the girls from the church all dressed up in white and pink dresses grabbing my hands and asking my name. They would gingerly help push my hair away when the wind would blow it in my face. I was asked many questions in Creole, most I did not understand. Until one girl pulled me down to her and asked me to give her one dollar, in English. I couldn't help but chuckle. That was followed up by some other little girls asking me to take them home with me. The Haitian person is incredibly bold.
The rest of the day was amazing. My new friend Danielle got back from the mobile medical clinic she was on. She told me many, many stories about her time. We went to EBF, where Enoch and I talked the incredibly shy Danielle into possibly doing a special at church Sunday! She's played piano for the past 17 years. Afterwards we went over to Dr. Rodney's house to spend some time with Vadaan, Roud, Oley, and Aleesha. We had Roud practice reading to me and I was so proud to see that he is doing better. I intend to start going over more frequently to continue practicing with him... maybe he will get bumped up a reading level!
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