Haiti Day 4: No Scrapes, No Scars, No Proof!

I have just spent the last hour or so picking tiny rocks and pieces of wood out of both of my hands, both of my knees, and one elbow. Apparently, Haitian teenagers play soccer hard core. Actually, the soccer tournament this evening was a lot of fun. I just got knocked around a few too many times. I had one huge fall were I went sliding face first across the field which was made of tiny stones, wood and dirt. Buckey totally got it all on video. I'll try and post it soon. Typing this blog is not fun tonight as my hands seemed to have taken the brunt of my falls. My scrapes are pretty deep on my palms. It is a good thing that I got the tetanus and hepatitis boosters before I came here because as I got off the field and was pouring water on my wounds, I looked over to see a little girl with drawers dropped peeing in front of God and everyone. Did I mention that there is no plumbing in most places? Most people just go to the bathroom wherever they feel like it. Needless to say, I scrubbed the heck out of my wounds when we got back tonight too, adding to my current pain. Mom…don’t worry. I have plenty of alcohol wipes, Neosporin and bandaids to last me a lifetime here…no need for a doctor…at least I don’t think so.

The rooster didn’t get me up this morning, but Christine trying to cuddle me did. Breakfast was at 7am. We had pumpkin soup with potatoes, onions, and carrots, which was super heavy and spicy for a morning meal. I ate a little of it before we hopped in the taptap for church.

Children’s church was a lot of fun. The kids sang songs. We did our Good Samaratin skit which was a hit with the kids. We sang a praise song in Creole with puppets and Pastor talked to the kids for a while.

When the kids service was done, we shuffled the kids out and all of the adults came in. The adult service began around 9:30am and went all the way until 1pm. The little open air building was super packed and it was like stepping back in time into an Old South revival. It was actually a cool experience. We sang a song in Creole that we have been practicing all week, James gave a waaaaaaayyyyy long message, and my personal favorite was hug time where we just walked around hugging everyone during a song. After church we mingled for a bit before heading back to Pastor’s house for a heavy lunch. We had rice, Creole mac-n-cheese which was super yummy!, a goat stew of some sort and lettuce, tomatoes, and plantains. Pastor’s wife really takes care of us.

After lunch we got ready and headed to the soccer tournament…and well, you know what happened to me. Christine and I were the only girls who played on the girls team. Christine got payback for me when she tripped one of the biggest girls on the other team. She didn’t look to happy after that. After our game, the boys played. Most of the dressed, but Phillip was the only one who got playing time in that match. Both of our teams lost the tournament. Oh well. It was definitely an experience…one that I will bear the scars of for a long time to come.

After the tournament, it was teen night. The band played some songs. Kids danced to island music. Many of the teens treated it as a talent show night and got up to sing and act. One couple sang “Sometimes When We Touch.” Hilarious! At one point, a Haitian teen came up to me and began asking me wierd questions like how hold I was and did I have any babies??? He then began telling me how beautiful and nice I was....AWKWARD! Apparently, he was looking for an American girlfriend. To bad I was waaaaaay too old for him. Thank you to Buckey who had the unintentional save when he stepped inbetween us which gave me a natural avenue to turn away. Phewwwww! We left teen night early because Pastor said it would go on foreeeeeeeeeeeever and headed back to his house for a light dinner. His wife had prepared a soup for us that tasted like a warm rice pudding except the rice was pureed. It was Deeeeeeeelish!

I’m back at the hotel now resting my scrapes and scratches. Tomorrow will be another long day as we are running the VBS with the children in the morning (I am in charge of the 9-12 year olds) and the feeding program in the afternoon. We were supposed to do the building project tomorrow also, but as you may have read in a previous blog, the government stopped construction on the new church and it has not been reinstated yet. Tomorrow night, we are also having a Crusade and I have been asked to give the message. If you’ve read my previous posts from before Haiti, I wrote about storms in our lives. I think I am going to talk about that since the people of Haiti deal with hardships on a daily basis. Pray that God would use me to reach these people for Him, that I would communicate clearly, and that I don’t freak out!

My hands hurt…I’m signing off…