First Week of Outreach!

I have returned to my own bed (safe, whole, and sore) after our first week of outreach. My team of 9 other people went to Santiago for the week, Monday afternoon until Friday after lunch. We worked with a school and did VBS-type activities Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning and afternoon. Each evening we walked to different communities and invited people to come to presentations we held in the street. These usually consisted of dramas and choreographies along with a testimony and mini “sermon.” Afterwards we spent time just talking to people and listening to their stories and praying with them. I really enjoyed those times. Wednesday and Thursday morning we picked up trash in the streets – it’s amazing how much one curbside corner can smell!! I actually didn’t mind it too much, our team knows how to work together and make things fun. We enjoy each other a lot and it shows in how we interact and work on projects. We were staying with a pastor and his family, and since they usually had a service on Thursday night, we helped and ended up doing half of the service. It was really cool to see people that we had talked to earlier in the week come to the church and interact with the people there. One Haitian guy came, and Jose translated the service into French for him (God knew what he was doing when he put Jose David in the DTS!). This man’s story is heartbreaking: He was in Haiti at the time of the earthquake, in a house with the rest of his family. When the earthquake hit, everyone but this man was killed. He watched the 5 people closest to him die, right in front of him. He was injured, so he was placed in a hospital in Port au Prince, but was later transferred to Santo Domingo, then to Santiago. He now works in construction, but has a hard time sleeping at night because of nightmares and heart/chest problems he now has (from debris crushing him). He is searching for God and is very open to the gospel. He touched our lives with his attitude and lack of bitterness. Everyone on our team is looking forward to the Haiti outreach even more! Friday morning we all went to “The” monument in Santiago; we had a time of intercession and prayer over the city. It was an amazing view! There will be pictures up on Facebook as soon as I can get them up. It was nice to feel useful for once – during class, I don’t feel like we actually DO much. We now have a week of class, and then 3 weeks of outreach!!