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Haiti 2011: June Fifth

We attended church this morning. We expected it to be different, and it was. There were pews in front of a raised stage from which the leader spoke, and the activities they took part in were the same we experience in the U.S., but the way in which they took part in those activities differed from my own experience. Aside from being conducted in Creole, the service was divided into short phases of worship, scripture reading, prayer, and liturgy. After a leader led the children in a song, then led the congregation in another, a new leader approached to oversee the giving of small banners to women in the church, who would either hang them on the wall nearby or put them away. A young lady was then invited up to lead Scripture reading, and when she finished, the leader would approach to lead us in another song. Another handful of missionaries were invited up to lead us in their own worship song, this time in English, and then three children approached to lead yet another song. Prayer followed, a new person spoke for a minute, and after a time, our group was recognized and thanked for coming. After more music, now well into the service, the pastor approached to give a thirty-minute sermon. Though I understood little of what he said, he was obviously passionate about it, waving emphatic gesticulations with his hands. Whatever he was saying, I wanted to believe him.

After church, we eventually went to the beach. Set near the high, lush hills of Jacmel, the ocean was opaque and warm. Merchants solicited their fare nearby as we played beach soccer, observed from a short distance by a U.N. solder. This was also the first time I'd seen a vehicle with the Red Crescent symbol. Even amid the recreation, you're reminded by these things of the poverty, and by the medical and political needs of the country, which are less severely felt in Jacmel (it seems) than in Port-au-Price.

After the beach, we talked and ate and played games until bedtime. At this point, we didn't quite know the kids well enough to engage them as we would later in the week.

Our team also met for our first devotional study tonight. It started impersonal and platonic. We talked about Christian leadership, and as we did, people's body language spoke boredom; but when we transitioned to discussion about our experience so far in Haiti, members began to open up. We started to sympathize with one another and connect with what we were hearing. We walked away, most or all of us, encouraged.

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