The Great Haitian Tennis Ball Retreat/Giveway of 2010

After lunch we headed up the coast to an orphanage closer to the mountains. As we drove I noticed the farther from the coast we got the worse the conditions were. The crowds of people were less but the conditions of the homes, clothing, water supply and health were much worse.

A 45 minute drive ended up being a 2 ½ hour drive. We finally turn onto a dirt road filled with pot holes the size of a plastic kiddy pool. Rice fields as far as the eye could see, lined with mountains and blue sky. As we travel dawn the dirt road the holes get bigger and deeper. I think the pot holes were made to act as gullies to drain onto the fields. Occasionally workers would walk by, men and women, with machetes. Comforting, I know.

After travelling 10 or 15 minutes, we stop at a pond of mud puddles and all of the Haitian guys with us get out. We all sit in the van wondering what is going on. When our translator comes back we bombard him with Why?’s. He tells us that the drivers are worried we won’t be able to drive through the mud. Besides getting stuck, car repairs in Haiti are harder to do than in America. There are no tow trucks and tires and parts are scarce. Carefully, dodging the larger holes we make it through but the road doesn’t get much better. Shortly we stop again and the drivers get out checking another questionable path. The driver decides the conditions are too bad for us to drive through. The orphanage was not far and we had come so close. This is what we came for. This is what we traveled days and miles for. This is what we left families and jobs to experience. We were not about to stop just miles short. So we’ll walk. We all pile out of the van to start our journey as people from the community begin to gather. Our team leader notices most of us had flip flops on and questioned the safety of walking through the mud and was it “not far” American or Haiti “not far”? By this time, more people had ventured out and surrounded us.

Acts 1:8
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem; and in all Judea; and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

We had packed some things to give to the children at the church and orphanage. We thought it was a good idea. We thought they would love it. As the crowd grew, Alice decides we stop here. We can give the stuff to the people crowded around us then we’ll leave. Just like that, the next few minutes turned into the most dangerous memory we had all week…. Not one of us thought back to Wick telling us, just the day before, not to give things out. We had been handing stuff out all week at VBS. Sometimes you have to get burned before you learn the lesson.

Isaiah 25:9
In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord; we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation”.

As I stood with Alice contemplating what was best for the group, I felt a body over my left shoulder. Slowly I turn to look behind me and it was as if time stood still. Three things popped into my head.

· A short conversation I had with a friend before I left the states, “If I don’t come back, use your skills to get me out.” There was no way anyone would find us out here.
· I am cornered between the van, brush that surrounds the village and the mob of people that had now surrounded us.
· No Haitian security guy anywhere nearby. They couldn’t even see me over the crowd of people.

“Oh, crap.” As I turn, I see a giant. Ripped, 8 pack Haitian guy with no shirt and his pants so low I can see the entire 8 pack. I could feel my eyes scream a hundred “HOLY CRAP”’s. The worst part, his eyes… and that he was WAY too close. His eyes were piercingly hateful. The most hateful eyes I have ever seen. A gun would have been more comforting than that guys eyes. I don’t know if Alice saw the guy or just felt the vibe. She tells me in the most momma bear way “Get in the van NOW”. She tells the rest of the group to get in the van but some had already been over powered handing out stuff. Tennis balls. They were about to mob us over tennis balls.
To sum it up… we all live to laugh about “The Great Haitian Tennis Ball Retreat/Giveaway of 2010”, but we would all agree we were scared to death.

John 14:1
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.”

8 pack guy walked to the front of the van and glared in. We would roll forward a few inches and he would move to the front and glare in. He did this for what felt like forever but was only about 5 or 10 minutes while we waited on the pastor of the church to meet us. So many faces I have forgotten but 8 pack guy, his face will take a little longer.

Let's EAT

Mark 7:14-15
Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean’.

The food has been great. Breakfast is a meal fit for royalty.

Scrambled eggs with green peppers and ham, bananas, peanut butter, avocado, mango, pineapple, melon, bread, fresh squeezed juice and coffee. YUMMmmmmmm

Every morning we had a different juice, mango, watermelon, pineapple. Some I don’t even know what kind of fruit is was.

Galatians 5:22-26
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let is not become conceited, provoking and envying others.

Every day for lunch we had a sandwich, some kind of bread that looked like a toasted sub with ham, cheese, ketchup, and onion. Sandwiches on the first day were different and new but as the week went on they were no longer different and new.

Mark 14:38
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall onto temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

Dinner was amazing, fried chicken, lamb, rice and beans, fried plantain, avocados, mango, pineapple, red beets and French fries. The fist night the little guy came out with this little Tupperware container that had a mix of sliced little red onions and hot orange and green peppers. The smile of delight on the guy’s face was priceless when he said try this. I had to try it to get the whole Haiti experience and it was GOOOOOD and hot. I don’t think he expected us to like it, but he made it for us every night and every night we cleaned the bowl.

Luke 18:13-14
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God have mercy on me, a sinner’, I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

To the Market

With no crafts to prepare for the next day we had time to rest and regroup before the next Haitian outing. Later that afternoon Greg takes us to the Haitian market so we can experience and understand Haiti a little deeper. The market was just a few blocks from where we held VBS. On the way we passed a funeral traveling to the grave yard. I don’t know if it was the body or the smell of the meat in the market but the oder in the air smelled like what you would imagine a week old body would smell like. A Hurst leads the way. The Hurst was missing the driver’s side door and the driver was missing his left arm. I’ll let you put those pieces together. Haitians followed behind the Hurst, dressed in freshly pressed black and white dress clothes. It seemed odd that in Haiti they had clean pressed black and white dress clothes.

As we park on a street corner curb, I look at Greg and ask if we are safe. He looks at me, raises his eyebrows and smirks. I took that as a “not really’. The team leader, Wick, (aka Papa Bear) gives us the talk, “do not give away anything, don’t even act like you understand what they are saying, stay close and keep moving”. As we step on the street of the market a Haitian lady squats down beside me. I watch to see what she is doing, shockingly realizing that she is urinating on the street. Not 1 cm beside her a lady is selling her goods (food). Even more shockingly none of the Haitians seem to see this as inappropriate or out of the norm.
The market was lined with venders, mostly women and all selling the same things. I can only imagine what we must have looked like, a parade of white people. They stared and talked about us just as we did them. We could hear them calling out “white people” in creel.

Matthew 10:6-8
But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleans the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

My little black Nike watch is a part of me. I use it every day at the gym. I’m sure that some clients would love for it to disappear; some insist that it is broken, but it is something I never leave the house without. Most of the time, I don’t think about it being on my arm, it’s always there. This day I should have remembered. Haitians crowded the market street amongst the venders and their merchandise. As we walk in our little parade line through the market someone touches my left arm. I pretend like I didn’t feel it and keep moving. Moments later someone on the right taps me and gestures for my watch. As I look in the guys eyes the words of Papa Bear circle in my head, “don’t even act like you understand what they are saying”. Shortly another man gently grabs my arm and gestures for my watch. I look him straight in the eyes and no other words were needed. Three strikes, so I took off my watch as discreetly as I could and put it in one of the girls back packs.

The photos below were taken by an extremely talented young photographer on our team. The most impressive thing is that they were taken incognito by pointing and clicking. No looking through the lenses, focusing and then clicking, just point and shoot. The down side to these photos is they are so pretty you can’t really get the feel of how grouse this place really was.

James 4:7-8
Submit yourselves, then to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Job 22:26-30
Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty and will lift up your face to God. You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows. What you decide on will be done, and light will shine on your ways. When men are brought low and you say ‘Lift them up!’ then he will save the downcast. He will deliver even one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.