Epiphany 11/24/13

     Just so you know: the sun rises in Haiti at 5:30am, that is not a normal time for me to be awake! I did not want to get up, but I'll tell you nothing wakes you up like noticing the view from your bed is of the pink sunrise over the mountains.
      Before church we took a tour of the MOH campus. We learned that there are generally 60-70 orphans living at MOH at any given time. They range in age from eighteen months to eighteen years are divided into "families" of six children with a Haitian "mommy" and and American "mommy" that they eat with and share a room with. It was a great lesson to hear that the orphans are not given to families outside the country because the mission hopes that they will grow up to improve their own country. We also saw proof that TOMS donates shoes to children in third world countries and when they do they know the name, age and shoe size of each child and they send a new pair of shoes every six months. We also learned about Haiti One which is the organization of all Haitian missions working together and sharing resources which I thought was very cool. We saw the homes of the orphans, the school, the cafeteria and the clinic. The clinic is completely Haitian operated and includes urgent care, dentistry (by american volunteers), optometry and prosthetics, all free of charge except urgent care which is one U.S. dollar! MOH is doing amazing work.

The Clinic 

I took a picture of the ambulances, not because they were so interesting, but to remember the story of the one on the left. As I recall: It was donated to the mission by a Canadian man who found them on the internet. He called in December 2009 to tell them he had this ambulance and was led to give it to them. The founder of the mission kindly told him that the clinic was not emergency response and they had no use for it. A couple weeks later the man called again and the founder said the same thing, thanks but no thanks. A few weeks later he called again to say he really needed to send the ambulance and he would pay shipping and everything so the founder said ok, fine. The earthquake hit in January 2010 and this ambulance was one of only two that made it through the rubble. Before the earthquake ambulances were viewed more like a hearse because people only called to remove a body but after the earthquake they are viewed more as a symbol of hope. God has a plan.

As I wrote in my journal: Then we went to church...

      There is no way to put into words all the things I felt during the service which was an hour of worship and an hour message in Creole. All I can say is that the Haitians have taught me how to love and praise and serve God and how to accept His Love to the extent that He intends it and I never want to forget the feeling I had during that service. To see that God has blessed them with health, food, clothing, shelter and love and that is all they need to praise Him to the highest extent was a true blessing.

     I sat in awe of Him and the Haitians' uninhibited faith, I would have sat there all day.

This is what I was brought to witness.

Unfortuantely it is a looong way down the hill from the dorm to the church so the only pictures I got are from the bus, please note the top half of the cross formed from painted wooden pallets.