the first trip continued...

Throughout the week, I experienced several different things about Haiti and its people...First, their is no time constraints. The Haitian people live for each day...without industry or even agriculture anymore, jobs are extremely scarce and the people living in Haiti, (approx. 1,000,000) have very little they can do on a daily basis. Most you will see, doing what they can to acheive daily living...you see people old and young carrying pails, buckets, empty containers of any sort to retreive water...some, not many , try to farm what they can for perhaps their one and only meal of the day..you see women doing laundry by hand, down at the rivers edge...children everywhere...If you get the opportunity to go, please do...it will change your perspective on so many things! It is life changing!! As a team, we were able to go to areas not too far from the orphanage that Pastor Yves deemed "spiritually dark". Several us, loaded into the back of a pick up, and armed with the sword of the spirit we headed in...I didn't know what to expect...just waitied with anticipation for what God was about to do! We drove to a village,  parked and unloaded. As I looked around, somber faces stared back at us...It was a little intimidating, but exciting at the same moment. We began to climb rocky terrain up to small homes...as we walked we just looked for people and asked (with a translator ) how we could pray for them...every person we came across, not only allowed us to pray, but brought us to others they wanted us to pray for...so different then here in the US...if we have the courage to walk up to a perfect stranger, and proceed to ask how we can pray for them, usually the response is not quite so welcoming as it was in Haiti. I was overwhelmed with God's goodness and the desire of the people to recieve hope in Jesus Christ...I guess for us, our culture has so much we don't always see the need for anything...especially a Savior. I felt so honored that my God would allow me, Amber, the privilege of walking along side my brothers and sisters and witnessing God do what He does best...He offers to all,  a hope and a future...words cannot begin to describe how it felt! As we walked  and looked for people to pray for we came across a grandmother bathing a young boy on her porch...we asked if we could pray for her...she quickly said yes and told us her story...this little boy was her grandson from Port Au Prince...he was not well in the head she explained and told us that his father had been killed in the earthquake, the home destroyed, and her daughter now a young widow...my heart was broken...this was just one small story...we layed hands over the little boy and prayed for complete and perfect healing...and believed! From that point, a man came to us...Peter. asked us to follow him to pray for the home of a pastor, who had been paralyzed for the past 3 years. The reasons for the paralysis were not known, but the gospel pastor laid in his bed, use of his arms and hands, but legs unable to move...his wife allowed us to enter the home, the space was very small, but we filled the room and began to pray...and pray...and pray...as we lay our hands over this man, the presence of the Holy Spirit was overwhelming...to finally believe so fully that God is able to do infinitiely more than we can ask or hope for was amazing...He is who He says He is and He can do what He says He can do...we just have to by faith BELIEVE!! We didn't just pray for him, we asked for complete Healing...that his now atrophed legs would regain muscle, and complete function...that again he would rise up and walk and preach the good news...I have never experienced God in that way before...I just knew He was there, and that He loves the praises of His people...that He delights in our prayers... He is so good!! I will never forget this man, Pastor John Baptiste...and the journey continued...Peter then asked us to follow him to an area where his father, a preacher was trying to help refugees who had made their way from Port Au Prince...to try and start their lives over again... these people had lost what little they had...they lost their families, their homes, their clothing, their food, their hope! As we walked through another village, we made our way up a hill, finally the area we were trying to appoach came into view...breathtaking...these people sat together under what looked like a huge parachute...a couple of tents...thats it! Their were some very old, and some very young...they now were all each other had...people brought together by tradgedy...clinging together for survival! DEVASTATING!! This took my breath away...yet still in this place, I could look out and see God's presence everywhere!! The view from the new area was beautiful...a river below, beautiful blue skys and the tropical trees surrounding...and through these people...I could see His amazing grace! They had nothing and we had only brought ourselves to pray...yet still they were full of joy! Thankful for us...as we began to leave this place a beautiful song arose... "Thank you My Lord, Thank you My Lord, thank you My Lord..." In creole, these words were sung over us as we left these people...I began to sob...convicted of what I thank the Lord for...what an example to me of a people who have lost everything, yet sing praises to Him for us...a team from America sending up prayer...thats it! How much more I have to be thankful for...do I thank God daily for my water, my heat, my electricity? Do I thank God for everything I put in my mouth? Do I thank God, for those who come along side me to pray? I think not...time to change my way of thinking!!! cont:d