We began our day at Bethlehem Evangelical Baptist Church with Pastor Rigaud, our team and the Haitian congregation. We were welcomed with amazing warmth and kindness. Rob Knechtle did a great job preaching while Pastor Rigaud interpreted. Who would have thought that going to church at 6:15am would be a highlight in the week, but it was. Throughout the week we have seen and heard many heartbreaking life stories. At church we were all the same, brothers and sisters celebrating the hope we have in Jesus and worshipping our God together.
In the afternoon we had the opportunity to go to La Saline to feed the children there. Some of the local women prepared rice and beans, chicken and vegetable broth, that was provided through a donation. It was our job to help serve the meal. When we pulled up in the trucks the kids were singing joyfully, it sounded like any other children’s service. It didn’t take long to see that many of the children were sick and malnourished. When Pastor Rigaud brought us to where the mud pies are made, that are fed to children, just to keep the hunger pains away, my heart was broken. Imagine feeding a child mud because there is nothing else. The depravity of their living conditions and lack of food was difficult to process.
Tomorrow, another part of the East Meets West Team is heading home. So what are we to make of our time in Haiti? How do we reconcile what we have seen with knowing that God is a loving God? For me, I will continue to have faith that our God, who conquered sin and death through allowing His “one and only son” to die on the cross, can also heal the Haitian people and give them a future. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope”. Over the years I have asked God to use me as He sees fit. In “I Will Go” by Starfield, there is a line that I have adopted as a prayer, “break my heart for what breaks yours, everything I am for Your Kingdom’s cause”. Well, my heart is broken, now what am I going to do about it? What are all of us that have seen going to do about it? Maryann
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