Easter/Hope

Several day after I got here, I realized that I was going to miss Easter at home.  This saddened me a little because Easter is my favorite holiday and I enjoy spending it with my friends and family at home.  I quickly dismissed it and just told myself that was one of the things I was going to have to give up, like pickles or trustworthy pluming.  Last Sunday Pastor John said that we were going to have a sunrise service up the mountain overlooking the city.  We were going to sing and pray over the city and the people in it.  That made me exited cuz I’ve only done church outside twice and one of those times was the first week I was here.  Everyone eles really wanted to go too. 

                So Easter morning John woke me up at 4:30 (I had slept through my alarm).  We ran around trying to get the kids ready and the Haitians that were riding with us.  Left the house somewhat late, 7 people in a 5 seater.  I had to stick my head out the window most of the time because the Haitian girls we had with wore way to much perfume and it was a windy bumpy road, like all the other roads in Haiti.  I felt very sick on top of already being sick, the ride wasn’t the most pleasant one.  I almost jumped out a few times and climbed on top of the other truck, but it looked really full already. 

                We watched the sun come up as we were driving up the mountain.  It was a great sunrise but I didn’t get any good pictures of it because of the trees.  Once we got to the place where we held our service the sun was all the way up but shrouded in clouds.  We began by singing, and then prayed over the city.  As we were praying, the clouds started to part and a ribbon of bright light fell across the center of the city.  Maybe I’m just corny but for the first time since being here I felt like there is hope for Haiti.  I started thinking about it.  Haiti has no hope.  It’s a war zone.  It looks like the city has been bombed because of all the fallen buildings and holes in the roads, UN and other military helicopters fly continuously overhead, I feel like I could touch them if I stood on the roof they fly so low.   Bodies of people are still under the rubble and everyone is turning their little tents and sheets and sticks into permanent housing.  The hills outside of Pourt au Prince are covered with thousands of little huts made from sheets and pieces of metal. They will all fight to stay standing when the heavy rains come.  Aid has always been promised to Haiti even before the earthquake but fractions of it get here because of empty promises and corrupt government.  We have a country that doesn’t have jobs to get food because there is nothing to do, so all of those people rely on handouts.  Imagine what that would do to your pride after a while.  What would you do if you couldn’t even grow crops because most of the dirt has been washed away by the rains? But I was thinking about all these reasons and realized that these are not the main problem, they aren’t even close to being a problem.  The problem is that most of these people don’t know God and are controlled by voodoo.  There is hope for Haiti but it only comes from God.  Once Jesus changes a life the way that person does things is affected by Him.  Morals and ethics play a huge role in the making of a nation, so when the government and many of its people have bad ones it destroys that nation.  Likewise when the tables are turned a nation then has the potential to turn around and change.  When people cease doing things out of selfish ambition, arrogance, and pride many things change.  This is where Haiti has hope.  God is always able to change lives.