Gateway (Sunday)

Today was a very busy day for the team. We started the day worshipping with the Haitian church in Saint Marc. Everyone was encouraged by the intensity of the worship and the multiple forms including drama, dance, and a female chorus group. Pastor Herve challenged the congregation to "put God first" in everything and shared how he had started the Saint Marc church when he decided to put his money towards the church even over the birth of his first child. We were all challenged by his message. Then we had the opportunity to visit two of the schools, both off the main road and quite adventurous. At the first school, the youngest member of the team had the opportunity to play football (soccer) with the locals while the rest of learned about the school. Then after lunch we visited a second school even further into the hillside. The ride to this school was even more exciting because of the tight corridors in the market area (we may have even knocked over some rice with the truck). Then we parked at the end of the road and had to hike up the mountain and through a river. We may get another chance to visit this school later this week to install some cabinets. Abe and Dan have volunteered to carry all of the cabinets up the 30 minute trek (without cabinets). Actually, all of us will participate in this cabinet transport, but the writer of this blog thinks Abe and Dan should carry all of the cabinets except for one. Most of the group finished out the day by taking a swim in the ocean. The snorkeling was a little murky, but at least we were able to cool off. Tomorrow we will be building benches. Thanks for your prayers.