The Last Hurrah (St Pierre)

Well we sure know how to end a trip with a busy day! This morning we loaded up our convoy to head to Tapion up in the hills to distribute water filters. We arrived and assembled the filters before hiking up the hill to the church. The church is in a beautiful spot overlooking the valley, and because the building is basically a tin roof with no walls, as you worship you can see a beautiful view of God’s creation all around you. Haiti Arise planted this church a number of years ago and over time the church has had more and more youth and children to the point that it is now basically a youth church. It’s very cool to see the next generation embracing God and choosing to follow him! We presented a number of skits and a dance with some testimonies. Everybody there really enjoyed it, especially the dancing (even though the choreography was extremely difficult on a concrete floor with very little space). Noah then did a filter demo for everybody and we were able to distribute filters to over 50 families. We had a few extras so we left those in the care of Johnny who runs the church on behalf of Haiti Arise. They know some families that could really benefit from them.

We drove back to the compound and started getting ready to host a day-camp for children in the afternoon. After spreading peanut butter on many buns and going over our various activities and crafts we felt very ready, but rain threatened to cancel our event! After some prayers the rain let up and children started coming in. Our group did a great job keeping the kids organized and entertained while almost 100 children slowly made their way in. We did some Bible teaching and some skits and testimonies, along with many songs including teaching them the French Canadian favorite: “Alouette.” Afterwards we split the group; half of them went to play field games while the other half did an Easter craft we had prepared. And before you knew it, they were all heading home after their snack. It was a great experience and A LOT of energy, but really awesome! The kids really enjoyed it, and everybody was trying to show off their craft. It was great! The children don’t really get to do anything special like this so it was a really big deal for them, and it was an absolute privilege for us.

We stayed up quite late into the evening saying difficult goodbyes to some of our closest Haitian and Canadian friends. It’s incredible how close you can grow to people having known them for so short a time. Many of us feel like we’re leaving too soon, and all the rich friendships and experiences we’ve had makes leaving really hard!

We ended our day by debriefing on the rooftop. We were honored to lay hands and pray for Mark & Lisa, and Wade & Marilyn to bless them and encourage them through the Holy Spirit. It was a really meaningful time as everybody shared what God has taught them during the trip and what we’re going to take back home with us. We have all grown in so many ways. And we know we’re going to be flooded with questions of “how was your trip?” when we get home… and to be honest, we’re not sure how to respond. What words could possibly describe what we’ve experienced and what we’ve seen God do? It’s definitely going to be hard to explain. He has moved in us and through us in incredible ways, he has shown himself powerful and faithful, and he has taught us so much. But we also know that our God is the same both here and at home and He has called us to continue to serve him wherever we find ourselves. May we all continue to learn how to fight the good fight, run the race, and keep the faith.