On the 4th day we taught at a church in the city. It was a much different atmosphere. It was a newer church and they were very eager to learn and ready for a change. It was an indescribable feeling that we had as we realized that God was doing something big here and that he was using us. We were used at the very beginning of a great change in Haiti.
The children could not fit in the meeting area to do our children's ministry. So the pastor took us to the yard of some people down the street. We did not stay there for much more than an hour because we were separated from our team and wanted to keep everyone safe. The children then followed us back to the church and got their nails painted as they quietly waited for the adults to finish. These children were much more well behaved. The translator you will see pictured below with me were taking care of the children. They were orphans and we complemented him on their behavior.
Below is some pictures of the church in the city.
Below is Camp Abraham a displacement camp. You can see they have moved up from tents to wooden structures.
They were still in a crisis mode so we helped give out food. We do not give handouts with the way we do missions. Unless they are in a crisis mode and camp Abraham was.
We hope to have someone come and live in the camp to have their own garden and harvest rain water then teach by example. When we shared this with the leader of the camp he thought it was a good idea. When we go back to Haiti Camp Abraham may be one of our priorities.
After visiting camp Abraham we went downtown to see the damage of the earthquake. It had been around 18 months and not much had changed. Still everyone in tents. No buildings really being repaired yet. It has a lot to do with their government or lack there of. A new president has been recently elected and there is some hope there.
This is their capital building (the palace) Still in ruins
A few of us got out of the car to take pictures of it. A man came up to us and told us that we dont' need to see that they call it "the house of the devil" there was a large sense of distain toward the government there. But again hope with this new president. A few seconds later the horn honked from our van and he was telling us to get back in because its not safe to be on the streets downtown. (Our teens stayed in the van with driver, Brian and another team member)
A catholic church that got destroyed
On our way to downtown we were told to put our camera's away because there were "gangsters" everywhere and it was very dangerous. Our driver then stopped for gas right in the middle of the "gangster" area. Lets just say we were thankful for the UN men at the gas station! Here are a few more pictures of the downtown area.
