Full

Today was so full! We began our day at tent church at 6am. Tent church is held everyday for 4 hours in a huge metal pole barn. The place is filled with benches and chairs but the only people that stayed in their seats was us. Everyone walked around, singing and praising Jesus and praying for each other. The pastor is from Grace Village and was kind enough to conduct some of the service in English. He prayed over our trip and the change it would bring to our lives. The worship and gratitude that we saw was inspiring. The people here are poor in possessions but rich in the Spirit. The trust and gratitude they show Jesus is humbling and inspiring.

Next we headed up, up, up the mountain to Grace Village. It was market day and the streets were filled with people. We got our first glimpse of the ocean and it was so beautiful! Once we arrived we were given a tour of Grace Village. We saw the bread ovens, the children's classrooms, the Aquaponics farm, the new housing going up and the new medical and dental clinic. And of course the children! The lovely, funny, goofy, adorable children that call Grace home accompanied us on our tour in groups. Some stayed with us the whole visit while others would pop over to pull a pony tail then scamper off to join their friends. They stole all our hearts.

After leaving Grace we visited the homes of 4 elders in Healing Haiti's elder program. Our 2nd stop was to Marie's house who is 104 years old! She relaxed while we washed her feet, massaged her legs and hands and painted her nails. She relished the music-we had a full 3 piece band today!-and at the end of her visit said "tre kontan", very happy. We prayed over her before we left and I was struck by her strong faith. She's undoubtably led a hard life but is still praising God with a joy that is radiant.

After the elders we went to Juno's orphanage where we sang, played games and danced with the kids. We toured their humble building and saw where they have class, sleep, eat and play. While it was hard to see the children in such conditions they are obviously loved and there is a strong sense of community. We ended the day the way we began it-with songs of praise for our awesome God. As we prepared to leave Juno's the children put on a performance for us loudly proclaiming their love for Jesus.

We headed back to the guest house this day tired but full-full of the praise, hope, faith and joy that we have witnessed in Haiti today. God is good!

Bondye beni,
Allison