Today we got to experience something that not very many people get to experience. We woke up and ate breakfast around 7:00 a.m. and met together and prayed before heading over for church service. Very hot and humid which made for a great day!
Haitians are dressed to the "T" when it comes to church. They may only have one pair of clothes to wear during the week but they always bring their best to church. The men usually wear a suit! The guys in our group all wore ties and dress slacks. Not very comfortable due to the heat, but well worth it.
Several people that attend the church have to walk a few hours to get to the service. And that's only a one way trip!! The passion and hope that they carry with them is mind blowing. These people are there because they WANT to be there not because they think they HAVE to. Make's a huge difference in what people get out of the service.
The people here are very charismatic. They love to dance during the service, wave hands, etc. Its great to see the passion that they have for their Savior. Tonight before I got to preach, I was sitting in the very front of the room looking at all the people while they sang. The expressions on their face and their actions showed the true genuine passion they carry for Christ...no doubt about it. You see this is much different than what I see when I look out at the people at Northside. Their faces and actions show nothing...emptiness? emotionless? I don't know what it is but there is something here that the church in Haiti has that we are lacking in America. Its so awesome to look at the people and see the Spirit moving in them.
I got to preach my very first sermon today. It went very well however it was difficult for me to keep the pace up since I had to stop after every phrase/sentence so Lucma could interpret it for me. A very different experience but glad that I got the opportunity.
Another story today that is probably hard for Americans to grasp. There is a young boy, around 20, who was working on his homework a little over a month ago. During this time, he all the sudden became blind...he could not see a thing. Him and a few people came to Solonique and told him about what happened. Come to find out that this young man's grandfather was a witch doctor...who was blind as well. It appears that these spirits/demons had chosen this young man to take his grandfathers spot as a witch doctor, which consequently made him blind as well. He has suffered from blindness for over a month!! He was not a baptized believer so Salonique encouraged the men to talk to him about baptism and afterwards continue praying to God.
We don't know if the young man has been baptized yet, however he composed a song praising God. This morning, he was teaching the song to a few other people when a demon suddenly came out of him and began talking. He said that it appeared as a women with very long hair. The demon said "I am leaving you and will never return!" The man then received his sight.
God is good and faithful as He promises. This man can truly sing the words:
"I once was lost, but now I am found..."
"..was blind...but now I see!"
No comments:
Post a Comment