Sweet, Spicy, and Hot

Food in Haiti has definitely been different. It's been good, but different!

Immacula is the cook of the house. Every day she comes bright and early to the house and works all day long preparing meals. I watched her one day and saw her skin a chicken, picking out the feet...later that night we ate chicken feet... Immacula is beautiful though. She wears all black and has sweet gray dreadlocks.

Eating in Haiti has been fun though! Lots of new things to taste, smell, look at, and even feel!

SWEET

Oh...sweetness in Haiti...this is maybe my favorite aspect to eating here! We have a cherry tree, a mango tree, a coconut tree, and an eyam tree in our backyard! And, the natural sweetness of the fruits are unbelievable. One taste of a mango and your stomach is satisfied for hours! The mangos are such a social fruit in the house! They're incredibly messy to eat, and they leave wyou with orange juices running down your arms, face, adn somtimes even your legs! Although, when eating with the Haitians, they hardly ever make a mess...

Bananas...We eat at least two bananas a day...Oh my goodness...Sometimes they're cooked, sometimes they're cold.

Lait Foutetees...The thing I look forwardto! Basically, this is whipped milk! And, they flavor it withy vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, papyas, or mangos. So good.

And, a nice fresh coconut cut down from a tree with a machete is so refreshing!

Sugar Cane...a huge export in Haiti is amazing on the hot days when you're so thirsty. You just suck on the sugar and then spit out the rinds.

SPICY

The meals we eat are so stinkin spicy! Andf, I made the mistake of telling Immacula that I liked peppers...so every day she puts a spicy Haitian pepper in my plate! Hahaha!

We eat breakfast atabout 8:00...And, with it is a homemade spicy peanut butter...yum.

Then we eat lunch/dinner at 3:00...which is always a spicy meal. We'll have cooked plantaines, rice, meat/fish, beans, and some type of cooked veggie.

HOT

Imagine the hottest summer day and all you want is a tall glass of lemonade...And, then you get inside and what's waiting for you is a hot cup of hot chocolate. Now..as much as you may love hot chocolate...your body was still craving something cold...

This is pretty much every single day in Haiti. I thirst for cold food and cold drinks...but, we eat hot meals, hot chocolate, hot oatmeal, and lukewarm water. Haha! It's definite;y been funny for my tummy to experience such a controversy inside!

?????

Well, so far the most memorable eating experience happened the other night... And, well, I wasn't eating anyhintg...

Makendy (whom I adore) ate a lightbulb. Yep. A flourescent lightbulb. Okay, YOu can laugh now. In fact, get all of your laughs out, because the story is actually kinda serious.

We were sitting inside, and all of a sudden he just took a huge bite out of this glass flourescent lightbulb. I thought he just wanted attention, or he just wanted to test me and see how long I would let him chew it. But, no...He chewed up the lightbulb and swallowed it. I was like "What?!" He then began to seriously explain to me that he actually didn't eat the lightbulb. I was like..."Well, I just wsaw you out it in your mouth, chew it uyp, and finish it..."

He told me that he had been given a medicine from a witch doctor that allowed him to eat lightbulbs and they wouldn't huirt him. He would eat it, but it would never actually go into his stomach. Scientifically, I know exactly where the lightbulb went...It's in his stomach.

But, he has faith that the lightbulb is not in his stomach. His religion toeaches him faith. Faith in things not of this world. Faith that a prayer can make something un-scientifically possible happen.

Now, this sounds very miuch like my belief. I have faith that my prayers are heard by God, and I have faith that things that don't make sense in this world can happen.


I guess that's why Jesus explained faith like a mustard sed. All you need is alittle bit of faith...but, it needs to be in Christ.

Makendy and I talked alater about what he believed and his faith in Voodoo. I listened...And, then later that night I prayed for Makendy. I prayed for me. I prayed that I would have some idea of how to show him God's love.

I guess that's what holiness is about. Standing out in a way not of this world. Standing out in a way deeper than skin color, deeper thann nationality...standing out in a way that is so not of this world.

Please pray for Makendy. He is such a beautiful friend, adn I just want to show him a glimpse of God's love.

Lyrics I'm Humming:

Sit with You A While

Holiness and Racism

This is one post I've been incredibly hesitant to write...first of all, I want you all to know I am safe and in so danger here in the house I'm living in and the school I work with. The family I live with takes very careful care of me...I never walk around by myself...ever...

Well, racism is definitely present here in Haiti. When people see me sitting on the porch in the house, the reactions I get are very interesting. But, the fact of the matter is that everyone gives me a reaction. Some respond with a deep stare, some are surprised, some smile, some say hello, and some give me cold eyes of disgust. But, a reaction is definitely something I have come to find from everyone that passes by me.

The more I've been reading about Jesus (and Don Everts...a wonderful author) the more I understand what holiness really is. To be holy is to be "set apart." Have you ever read the black verses in the Gospels? And, I mean JUST the black verses...Skip over all of the red verses, and just read the black verses. What do you find? You find a bunch of reactions. People are reacting to Jesus. And, for the first time in my life, I understand these reactions.

People react with AMAZEMENT. The crowds were seized by amazement! They all have some type of reaction. Some people worship Jesus, some people fight in unity against Him, some stare, some are in awe, but everyone has a reaction. He is Holy. He is set apart. He is strange.

Here is a taste of some of my favorite black verses...

All the crowds were amazed (Matthew 12:23)
They wer greatly astounded (Matthew 19:25)
They were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!" (Mark 2:12)
They were overcome with amazement (Mark 5:42)
They were utterly astounded. (Mark 6:51)
They were amazed, saying, "What sort of man is this?" (Matthew 8:27)
Amazement seized all of them, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, "We have seen strange things today." (Luke 5:26)

Wow. What an incredible combination of reactions. People definitely reacted to Jesus. There is just something about Him that demands a reaction. Even today, His name brings so many reactions. When people hear His name, they become uncomfortable, they fall in worship, they detest talking about Him, they love to hear His name...what an incredible Man. What an incredible God. What an incredible Man and God. That's a pretty amazing concept also...

Pretty much everyone I've talked to here has commented on my skin. They comment on some disgusting follicle of bacteria and dead materials. Weird. Some people say "You are beautiful" Some say "You are so strange looking." Here in Haiti, I am definitely set apart. I am so different here.

And, at first, all I wanted to do was hide in a crowd and just be able to watch people, without having them stare at me. However, I see now, that I am so lucky to be a white girl in Haiti. If I want to make a difference in Haiti, being white just might be the best thing for me. People look at me, and are ready to see what I'm going to do. They pay attention to me. I get so many people's fully-undivided attention every single day. Wow. I can barely get the attention of the cute, brilliant boy who I have a crush on!! And, here I am in Haiti, and everyone gives me there attention. What a gift this is! I see know how effective Jesus really was! He was Holy. He is Holy. He will always be Holy.

Just now, I am typing my blog, and there is a guy about 23 who works in the internet place. And, he is so fascinated with my skin that he's been watching me type this entire blog. I let him watch because he knows no English...He then asked me to translate a sentence for him...and guess which one he picked "The crowds were seized by amazement." Even in the internet place I can tell someone about Jesus!! Wow! God, you are so good.

God, You are so good.

Honestly, yesterday I didn't really believe that. I've been going to church in Haiti for 4 weeks now. And, I'm just not feeling like it's Christianity. One church I went to had a book in its Bible that was definitely not in my Bible. It was after John, and it was entitled "Jack." You know the common New Testament books..."Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Jack, Acts..." What?!

The other church that I've been to 3 times now was awful yesterday. I took Mathilde (the French girl who teaches at Ma Petite Ecole) with me...the first two times I went, I really enjoyed what the pastor spoke about and the music was incredible. Mathilde hasn't been to church for about 9 years, and has a lot of bad opinions about Christianity because of people she's met and how they've showed her "Christianity." So, I was really looking forward to showing her a taste of Jesus.

Well...the pastor talked about the model church and how we were to follow it today. Great topic, right? Well, his opinion of the model church was that women did not wear pants. Yes, I am serious. He talked about how awful it is that in France and the USA, women wear pants in church. He said that these churches were going to hell. Oh my gosh. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Jesus does not care about what you wear. He cares about your heart and your relationship with Him. Well, Mathilde being a liberal feminist was enraged by his sermon. And, I couldn't help but be disgusted at the Christianity I was trying to show her.

We got back to the house, and I talked with her about some truths in teh Bible, and explained that Jesus did not come to the Earth to tell women to wear pants. I told her about Church Under the Bridge (the church I proudly go to in Waco, Texas) People there wear pants, wear pajamas, wear huge hats, smoke, get their hair cut, sit on the floor, stand up, haven't showered in days, just showered that morning....whatever. They come to worship the Creator of the World. Not to show off their new dresses or skirts.

In the end, God was good yesterday. It just took me some serious prayer and patience to actualyl see it.

My friends from Baylor are amazing. They made me this keychain type thing full with postcards for each day that I am in Haiti. And, on each postcard they wrote a quote of some type. Every day I look forward to my Christian Fellowship. I need it. I adore it.

Well, yesterday's quote was "God is good." And, this morning's quote was "God is good." Thanks, you guys. I really needed that.

Next Sunday, I'm going to go to a different church. Please pray that I can find some sense of Christian community. All I want is people to talk with about Jesus. I just wat to talk with someone about the beauty and the simplicity of Jesus.

I've actually had some great times with Makendy (the 16 year old orphan who lives in the house next door) about Jesus. One time we were outside looking at the black sky and the briliant stars. I just told him how much I loved Jesus and how amazing it was that God created everything. Makendy practices a form of Voodoo, so he was pretty confused by my words...but, I think he sensed my joy and I think he yearns for it.

Religion in Haiti so far has been so interesting. There is so much need for Jesus. It's really that simple.

And, isn't that the message of Christ. We are in such need of Him. All of us are. Whether we have $100,000 a year salary and have a great boat or whether we live in the tin roof house on Rue La Croix in Leogane, Haiti. We are all in desperate need of the Holy Jesus.

Thank you for Your Holiness. How I long to be Holy.

Lyrics I'm Humming:

Holiness, Holiness Is What I Long For...Holiness Is What I Need.

Ma Petite Ecole

So, I've officially been a teacher in Haiti for two weeks now! And, I love it so much. I really feel like I thrive in that atmosphere...I can play mom, I can be creative, I can organize, I can lead, I can laugh, I can be laughed at! I look forward to planning for the classes just as much as I look forward to teaching the classes.

The kids are adorable. The class ranges from ages 3 to 10...yep...ages 3 (can barely talk!) to 10 (working on multiplication)...It's been such a challenge to teach to this huge of an age gap. I feel like the material is way too hard for the little kids, but way to easy for the older ones. (Mathilde (the French teacher) and I decided to split up the class into "petites" and "grandes" This, means more work for us, but a much better experience for the kids!

Each day we have between 30 and 40 wild, energetic kids. All with crazy huge personalities!

I sing with them! I dance with them! I have them write! I read to them!

At first the kids were definitely scared of me, being white. It was interesting the first few days. Some of them would call me racist names, and I would politely tell them..."No, my name is Megan." I don't think they did it out of hatred...just out of ignorance and surprise to see a white girl.

Well, now, things are so different. The kids are wonderful. Some feel like my kids, some feel like my little brother or sister, while others are more like a little friend.

There are so many personalities that just make me smile. Sometimes, I'll just watch the kids and a huge grin comes across my face.

There's Kedjen (pronounced Keggie)...And, she's pretty much Allie Rapp when Allie was 5. She's crazy! She's always looking to get into a little bit of trouble, and her smile is just to die for. She'll run off and hide, but when you find her (expecting to scold her for leaving the group) she gives you this smile that just makes your heart laugh. She's missing one of her front teeth, which just makes her all the more cuter! Today she was wearing a cute little sweater vest! I almost died when I saw her!!

There's Wendy. Wendy is 3 years old, and he never talks. He is so cute, but doesn't even open his mouth. He's clumsy and he falls over and trips on pretty much everything in sight. However, when it comes time to dance, Wendy has the most incredible sense of rhythm! Haha! So funny! He has this really cute little dimple under one of his eyes, oh man!! It's so cute!

The teachers, unfortunately, are a different situation. Bernadette and Nicolas (who live with us in the house) are the directors, and they are amazing. But, there are about 5 other teachers, who are just not the teacher type....They come late, they leave early, sometimes they don't come at all, and when they are in the classroom, they act as if they have no idea how to control kids or help with the class.

It's interesting, because when I heard I was going to be "teaching" the teachers at the school (Ma Petite Ecole) I kinda laughed, because I knew that in reality they would actually be teaching me...I have no experience or training in how to be a teacher.

What I overlooked though was the amazing education I've been given. I just immitate great teachers here in Haiti, and I have no many role-models to follow. It's so sad to see the education system here in Haiti. Even in the little class, the kids aren't expected to write. Well, Mathilde and I decided (very firmly) that we would have the kids write daily. Some of the teachers argued saying, "some of the kids can't write yet..." Well, Good! That's what Mathilde and I are here for! But, what an interesting mentality. They can't write yet, so let's not teach them.

Reading and writing are so basic to me. They're essential to functioning in the world. Imagine your daily life without the ability to read or write. You wouldn't know how to read the instuctions to your medicines, you wouldn't be able to write an email, you wouldn't be able to read the signs in the grocery store...wow.

I also really want to empower these teachers at Ma Petite Ecole. I want to leave in August knowing that I helped foster a relationship between a student and a teacher. That will continue. That will make the student want to come back. If the kids only attach themselves to me...what good does that do? I am leaving. It's such a reality. I hope that I can help encourage the teachers to interact with the kids and challenge them...

You know..."If you shoot for the moon, you might miss it...but, at least you'll be landing in the stars..."

Today, we took the kids on a little field trip. We took a tour of the public buildings in Leogane. Very interesting. We saw the police station, the courthouse, as well as other popular spots. The buidlings were pretty much shacks with very little security or organization. There were some men in a cell in the police station. I saw a UN man from Guinea and talked with him about his work in Haiti. Interesting...

If you have any fun ideas of games, songs, crafts, or activies with kids, I'm all ears! I would love as many fun ideas as you guys have!!

Number of Bananas Eaten: 46

Lyrics I'm Humming:

London Bridge Is Falling Down (I sang it with the little kids today!)

Walk Slowly...

I really think the Beach Boys got it right when they said "We'll get their faster if we take it slow..."

I have found myself walking so slowly here. As many of my friends can easily voach for me...I walk incredibly fast. I don't really know why...I guess I'm just in such a hurry to get where I'm going.

...I'm in a hurry to get where I'm going...

How true is that for so many areas of my life. I seem to always be doing something with the intention of a certain outcome...Why did I want good grades in high-school? To get into a good college. Why did I want to get into a good college? To get a good job. Why did I want a good job? To get money. And...the pattern continues. I so often feel that I don't actually live my life because I so often live in the future. How many days have I said to myself..."If only I can make in through Wednesday...As soon as the weekend is here...I can't wait for finals to end..." My mind is constantly on a future goal.

I'm walking fast toward my destination.

I'm walking so fast that I miss the journey.

In the poor man's Gospel of Luke, Luke focuses almost half of the book on Jesus' journey to Jerusalem! Almost half of the story of Jesus in Luke is about Jesus walking. And, Jesus walks slow. The journey begins out with a man asking Jesus how to get into the Kingdom of Heaven, and Jesus gives him an answer. However, at the end of the journey, Jesus is asked the exact same question and gives a completely different answer. What is so important about this journey that altered Jesus' response. Is the walk sometimes more important than the final destination?

Well, I walk slowly here in Haiti. Everyone walks slowly. Neighbors stop to talk to one another. People on the streets are in no hurry to get to work, or school, or wherever they're going.

There is a woman named Linda who lives in the house behind the house I'm staying in. She is so beautiful. She does everything so slowly, and she does it with so much attention. She's married to a man named Emilio, who I've grown to adore so much. Emilio and Linda took me to church one Sunday, and Linda was so kind to me. She sang so loudly and her voice was so nazal! But, it was beautiful.

At night, I often walk over to Emilio an dLinda's house with my guitar, and we sit outside under the stars and the black sky singing praises to God (Bondye in Creole...which translated means "Good God"., What a beautiful name to call God) Emilio plays such beautiful songs, and Linda and I hold a songbook and we just sing our hearts out. Then Emilio passes me the guitar, and (Ally, Brandon and Jake you'd be so proud of me!!) I actaully play some pretty decent worship songs! I wrote a few new verses to some of the songs I've really found Christ in... We'll sit out there until my fingers are burning, Linda's voice is hoarse...Emilio laughs because of how easily me and Linda get tired! Haha. But, the point is that we play music slowly...we play fast songs...but, somehow it still feels slow. Noone is in a hurry to leave. There is no "one hour" timelimit on worship. There are no parents impatiently waiting to pick up their kid. We just sing and play.

Emilio plays a traditionjal Haitian style of music called the Kopa. He taught me, and I'm decent ("pas fort" in Creole) at it. But, Emilio is so patient with me, and so happy to teach me a part of his culture.

The pace here is so different. It feels so different. I feel as if days are so much longer, and I feel like life feels longer here. Time flies when I'm in the US. I can't believe I've just finished my third year incollege...I feel like just last year I was a sophomore in high school, nervous about going to the real Valley High School! I feel as if I've been in Haiti for 3 months. I feel as if the people in the house are family.

The lifestyle is such a beautiful image of Jesus' life. He focuses on people. He cared about hearts; he loved people's souls.

Oh, Lord, please have mercy on me. I mess up so much, and I know I disappoint you. I adore your grace. And, I thank You so much for using comments on a blog to inspire , challenge, and encourage me. You are so Good.

Lyrics I'm Humming:

Kokamo

Fete de Dieu

Thursday was one of my most enjoyable days in Haiti. It was the Fete de Dieu (Party for God)

This means no school, no work, and there is lots of celebration. The night before the Fete de Dieu, the neighbors across the street began this crazy regime of decorating. There entire house suddenly was covered with blue and white blankets, streamers, paper, and many other creative forms of decor. They set out a beautiful pathway of sugar cane heads along side the road and by their front door. I wasn't exactly sure what they were decorating for.... but, it was beautiful. The family worked well into the blackness of night cleaning the trash from around their house. They swept and cleaned like crazy.

Well, Thursday morning around 7:00am I heard the most beautiful noise. I was not being waken up by a rooster crowing, but by singing! And, Haitian singing is nothing like American singing...Haitians sing with their nose, and they sing soo passionately. They sing loud and off key...but, at the same time the sounds are so in tune and wonderful.

I threw on some clothes and rushed out to the balcony. And, the sight I saw was so unexpected. There were about 200 people crowded around the neighbor's house singing praises to God. Some people were dressed in their Sunday bests, some ladies wore great hats, some people wore tshirts, some wore sandals, some wore no shoes. It was sure a Church Under the Bridge sense of worship. People were dressed as they could. It was such a pure praise too. The songs were sung with their hearts.

After about a good 30/45 minutes, the huge crowd moved on down the street...I think they were going to another house.

I later found out more about the Fete de Dieu. People start at their church in the morning, and then walk to different houses to worship and sing. Wow. What a beautiful representation of Jesus' life.

When the crowd left the house, the sight on the street was wonderful. There was a huge heart drawn on the ground with chalk-like material. There was also a great crown of thorns (which could have just as easily been a sun) drawn on the ground. Wow. What a beautiful sight.

Well, as the day went on the crown of thorns painted on the street was trampled. With the many cars, bikes, and people eventually the crown disappeared. How similar is that to how so many people treat Christ. Our own selfish lives can so easily destroy something so beautiful. We go about our daily lives sometimes so unaware of what beauty we might be missing.

God and I have had some hard conversations here. He's been showing me a lot of Truth and that has confused me so much. But, I feel that He is holding onto my hand so tightly here. I'm seeing somethings in my life that are just so ugly. It makes me appreciate and understand the grace of God. Grace is a concept I don't think I pay enough attention to.

Grace.

There is a Creole/French saying that is "grace a"....this means "thanks to..." For example, you would say "I got this meal "grace a" my family." What a great translation of the word Grace.

Grace. I still don't think I even understand the pure power behind that word.

Lyrics I'm Humming:

I'll Fly Away

Lavarie!

So many things have happened lately! I have no idea where to even start explaining. But, since I love details so much, I will concentrate on one particular event.

Here are some recent highlights:

-Mathilde (the French girl) came on Sunday and she is teaching a French class opposite of my English class.
-I play soccer with a bunch of guys almost every day and we drink sugar cane and coconut juice when we get thirsty!
-I eat spaghetti and hotdogs for breakfast sometime.
-I think my sweat it starting to smell good...hmm...
-I wrote a song for the first day of class! It went really well! I love teaching kids.
-The kids are so cute in my class!!

However, I want to talk about something so simple, so overlooked, yet such an incredibly beautiful art.

Laundry (In Creole...Lavarie)

MaryLoud does the laundry and cleans the house. She comes everyday with her two darling kids, LouLou and Fabienne. (LouLou and MaryLoud are in the picture together).


She did my laundry the first week, and I have never had my clothes so clean! There is this one stain on my tshirt that has been there since at least Junior High...well, not anymore! The stain has disappeared...however, my shirt is a completely different color..."grace a" all of the bleach!

Well, most of you know...I have this naive/ideal mentality of "I can do anything I put my mind to." And, the other day, I asked MaryLoud if I could help her do my laundry. After all, it is MY laundry. And, I think it would be good for me to learn how to do my own laundry by hand.

MaryLoud is so kind. She has great dreadlocks and wears a straw hat and a light blue rosary around her neck everyday. She has such a beautiful smile and is so humble. Well, when I asked her, she smiled and said "Sure, dear, you can help me." Her eyes twinkled, for she knew that I had never washed my own clothes by hand!

Well, we first began by making the soap! Yes! That's right! She made the soap with a huge machete. Her fingers glided around the slippery stuff, with no fear that the knife would sever a limb. I watched in amazement.

Then the washing began. We scrubbed and scrubbed, but I could not get the suds to come up like MaryLoud did! So, after I "washed" an item, she redid it for me! Haha. But, she was so patient.

But, what a dance she was doing. Her hands moved to a beat. It seemed as if she had choreographed a beautiful routine and was performing it. Her black fingertips worked so fast and she grinned slightly during the entire process. I on the other hand was incredibly off-beat...struggling to find any melody or any notes for that matter! MaryLoud's arms sang and her muscles were so gracefully humming along.

We both sat down on these little chairs...my back and knees and feet totally killing me. MaryLoud looking very comfortable and peaceful.

After a good hour of scrubbing my clothes, I was soo happy to be finished. I had cut my fingers up, my arm muscles were burning, my fingers were prunned up, and my legs were now pretty much completely asleep.

Little did I know, there was more washing to do! We then took this really powerful soap and did the entire process again! No way! I was in shock!

But, by this time pretty much all of our neighbors were crowded around me and MaryLoud...for they wanted to see this white American girl who had never done her own laundry by hand before! They laughed and joked at how bad I was doing! It was pretty funny... The little kids were all trying to show me how to do it...but, my fingers were cut up from all of the rubbing... I eventually found a method that worked and I got lots of suds...but it hurt my hands!!!

After now at least 2 and a half hours...MaryLoud separated the clothes into "needs to be washed again" and "can be hung up to dry." I helped her hang up the clothes to dry (see picture at top)...and she told me to go grab some lunch! Haha! She did the whole process over again with the clothes that "needed to be washed again." I was in awe!

My fingers are still red and cut up...MaryLoud's are strong and soft. Oh goodness...

How inferior I am to MaryLoud! I so often think that because Americans are so crafty, creative, inventive, and have money that somehow we have the answers and that we are superior in some way to a culture like Haiti. Oh do I have so much yet to learn!

It was so obvious how superior MaryLoud is so me! She washes clothes as an art!

I've been thinking so much lately about Economic Development and what Christian's role is in that subject. How do we preserve a culture, and provide basic needs such as food and clothing. Do my ideas of Economic Development only involve creating more jobs so that people have more money. Can Economic Development exist without increasing a country's wealth?

How would Jesus see Economic Development?

Lyrics I'm Humming:

So Fresh and So Clean! Clean!

Makendy

There are about a dozen people who live in the house I'm staying in, and there are about a dozen stories as to why each of them are residing there.

Makendy (pronounced Mackenzie) is one of the stories I first heard about. He is an orphan boy about 16 years old who Yoleine adopted. She was by the sea one day buying fish and she found Makendy. His dad died and his mom, who had too many children to handle, had left him. Yoleine heard his story, fell in love with him, and searched out his mom to ask if she could adopt him. She, happily, agreed.

Makendy is quite the kid though. He seems to always be getting in some type of trouble! But, he is so dang cute. He's a total flirt and I just adore the kid!

So, during the day, I really have no idea what to do with myself. So, I found a friend in Makendy. We've had such a fun time!!

We cleaned the upstairs of a restaurant yesterday. It was sooo gross though! There were bugs crawling from every nock of the building...urg... I had a pair of gloves so I told Makendy we could share them... He said "No! I'm Haitian. You're white! Use the gloves." Haha.

I feel like he is kinda like my watchdog. He's very concerned that I'm not hungry, thirsty, tired, or uncomfortable. It's funny.

Makendy is very competitive though. And, sometimes he is a total punk. Almost every day we play soccer. (Allie, the balls you gave us are a total hit!!!) However, he always calls faults and penalties and is the first to call a goal "No Goal!" if he thinks it was somehow unfair. I just laugh at him. He's pretty good at soccer though, and I think he knows it.

The other night I was talking to him, and he told me that he's always been a problem...that his whole life he's caused problems. I felt so bad for him. He's got such a great heart, but sometimes I think he's just a little immature.

Lyrics I'm Humming:

Macarena (It was totally on the radio during dinner!!)

Voodoo

I'm not sure I have a good understanding of religion in Haiti. I understand what the CIA has to say in its Factbook...but, the reality is still unclear to me.

First, all of the taxis and buses (pick-up trucks with dozens of Haitians piled in!!) all advertise the Glory of Jesus Christ and the Salvation of God. Every truck has some religious message to send. They glorify the sacrifice, live, and death of Jesus on the sides of their cars!

However, I am skeptical of the reality of these messages. I read once that Haiti is 90% Roman Catholic and 100% Voodoo. This is a very interesting, and humourous, statement!

I researched that stat a little and discovered that many Voodoo gods are actually Catholic names...such as Mary, Jesus, Paul... For every Catholic Saint there is an equivalent Haitian Voodoo god, with the same name.

So, the conclusion that could be made is that this ultra-religious appearing country actually embraces the falsehoods of Voodoo and not Christianity. The challenge now arises when you ask someone in Haiti if they know Jesus Christ, everyone will say yes. However, is this the Jesus that Christians embrace??

Well, today I went with Mackenzie to a choir practice for a local church. It was a small room with about 20 little kids. And, the songs they were singing were so beautiful and pure. They sang some in French (which I could understand) and some in Creole (which...well...I'm working on...) And, I really think they were singing about the God I know. It was such a refreshing time for me to be around people who could sing praises with me. I sang with the kids and some of them laughed at me...they all smiled at the least!

I'm really struggling with how to approach this contradiction. Many of the Catholic churches are infliltrated with Voodoo ideas and the culture has taken a forward placement in many of the churches.

But, isn't this what we do in America?? Our middle-class culture often overpowers the basic message of Jesus. We are so blinded by money and things and our ideas are so often because of our culture and not because of Christianity.

So, what makes us different than the Haitians? We are all grappling with the simplicity of Christ against the loud and vivacious cultures in which we live in.

Tomorrow, I'm going to go to church. I'm really looking forward to hopefully finding a glimpse of the Christianity I know and adore.

Lyrics I'm Humming:

This Little Light of Mine...I'm Gonna Let It Shine!

Off to the Sea!

So, today I got to go the sea! It was wonderful!! Bernadette, Francia, and Pernel (a Canadian man) took me out there.

We basically just chilled and did nothing. It was way nice.

Francia and I swam for a little bit...the water was hot!

After a while some guys came to the shore and started fishing. It was so peaceful watching them.

However, the pollution was terrible around the beach. There were shoes, plates, socks, food..it was such a sad sight.

There is so much potential in this beautiful country.