Well after a challenging trip here (not sure we’ve recovered from the 6 hour bus ride…ouch) we started our VBS-athon today in St. Louis du Nord. It didn’t take long to realize “Cooper, we’re not in O’Fallon any more”. We were well prepared for the VBS, color pages…check, 200 packs of crayon…check, Bible story and actors…check, and of course Cooper the dog puppet…check. Then the mission interns suggested we add peanut butter sandwiches, so we made 150 of those, not really thinking they were that special I mean we have Cooper. The VBS went fine…at first. We sang, we told the story complete with an action skit to demo, gave out the crayons (I thought…wow they really like this part) then came Cooper…star of the show. Well Cooper’s skit didn’t translate well and the kids looked a little bored. After we finished we instructed the kids to line up to recieve their sandwich and this is were reality set in. We attempted to line them up but they just pushed to get to the door…and they pushed and pushed…little children were screaming from the pushing…it was out of control. Something like a crush at the gate at a Justin Bieber show…crazy. We had kids pushing to get out and kids pushing to get in. We finally got them to sit back down and with each of us at the head of a pew we released them to the sandwiches. How quickly we realized what in their world was the most important to them…survival…food. They sang the songs and yelled Jesus at the right spots but the scream from their stomaches screamed louder. Haitians are respectful, loving people and I don’t mean they were angry at us or violent by nature…they just need. They need our help both spiritually and socially. The Church has a duty and an oppurtunity to speak into their lives and the mission is doing a great job of sharing Christ while supplying needs. We can’t wait to see really see what God has for us this week, the team has already grown from this experience as we Engage Haiti.
