A Sunday in Vaudreuil

A great day of worship and rest - and we didn't travel further than a mile from the mission.  I'm glad to share some pics from today, but first, one more of Sammy from yesterday.  Dats took this picture and wanted to make sure everyone got to see how very cute Sammy is.  Dats gave him an empty Coke bottle after lunch yesterday and Sammy had a blast playing with it ... and licking it, apparently.

Now back to today.  Dats was up, dressed for church and out the door by 7:00 AM - planning to play with the puppies in the Bundys' backyard, I belief.  By the time I had showered and dressed, I found him inside the Bundy house happily sharing in their breakfast - blue berry muffins and eggs.  Since the Bundys all seemed healthy finally, I thought it might be a good time to bring over the small gifts we had transported for them in our luggage - a mixture of Valentines candy and some Christmas stuff that never got to the post office.  Melissa and I felt quite clever when we located some "Insta-Snow" to send to Haiti.  (It was another hot one today - highs in the mid-80s.)

 

 

Then it was off to church.  We went along with some of the other missionaries to a relatively new church plant operating out of the upstairs meeting room at the Radio 4VEH building. 

By the way, we have been staying in the house behind us on the left hand side of the picture, sharing one room with two twin beds.

I enjoyed the service but it didn't seem quite "authentically Haitian" since we enjoyed both air conditioning and comfortable seats!  This room is above all the sound booths and recording studio and offices of the first floor and was built to be used as a community gathering space.  Many wedding receptions are held here - it is one of the biggest and nicest spaces in this section of town.  This morning Pastor Guensen Charlot was preaching about Moses and the burning bush and it was one of those sermons (thankfully translated by our good friend Storly) that seemed to be directed right at ME.  Good stuff!

Our time after church could not have been more enjoyable. This is the pool at Villa Cana. ("Duck House"??) We first partook of a fantastic lunch - I had Creole chicken and a cold Coke.  Then, the whole Bundy family joined us for swimming in the pool.  It was a great deal: only $5/person for three hours of swimming.  The surroundings are gorgeous and it's so close to the mission that Brett says he could access their internet connection from home if he knew the password.  Apparently, it is a fairly new Catholic retreat center.  The water was cool and the sun beat down on us until the close of the afternoon when some rain clouds started rolling down the mountain.

I left the kids and the swimming a bit early in order to attend service at the English Bible Fellowship - which also meets upstairs at 4VEH.  Storly was preaching on Matthew 14 - the story of Peter walking on water.  I love it when a preacher can take a very familiar passage and shine light on it in such a way as to bring out its depth anew.  That's what Storly did.  "Keep BOTH eyes on Jesus."  Not just one eye!

I was glad to have the chance to see my friend Orinel at EBF and to catch up a bit with him - although there doesn't seem to be much new in his life ... unfortunately.  He still has no job and no prospects for a wife.  He desperately wants to have a family.  We gave him a ride towards Cap Haitien where he might catch a tap-tap more easily.  We left him waiting in the rain.

A statue at the Villa Cana depicts a slave with broken chains.  The physical chains were broken over 200 years ago.  I pray the Lord hastens the day when the spiritual chains will all be broken ...