Whew! We ended a great week with class pictures, which are always so fun to take. Thankful for Dr. Bryan for his week pouring into these guys, almost all senior pastors from throughout Haiti.
On top of all that, she played at least 12 dozen rounds of Monopoly Deal with Lily, so, she is some kind of champion :)
Finally, it was great to all meet Mark for the first time and to have him here teaching for IWU. Most of his students are either core staff here at Emmaus or full-time pastors throughout Haiti.
Mark also is a gifted vocalist and everyone LOVED having him sing in chapel a few times:
Add Uncle Don and his daughter Sami, here working on the new building, Bill (who was here this week to take Dr. Gail's class as they continue to work on Jacob's adoption in Canada), Brad and Caroline (here from Canada, praying through the possibility of stepping into a short-term role as Emily and Phil become short-term end of June)...we've just had quite the crew the last week! Everyone is safely home, and Don, Sami and Drew (not pictured, but interning for the next 2 months) are out with the crew this morning!
One day, Lord knows and willing, this will house the two large classrooms we are desperately needing. We need experienced man/woman-power and half the funding to get it finished...if any of this sounds like where He's leading you, send us an email!
Meanwhile, yesterday morning on the way home from church the Lord really touched my heart afresh by a simple reality we've experienced a million times already.
We walked to and from church in our village, and the extreme humidity and heat, rivers of mud, charging trucks kicking up choking dust and motorcycles whizzing past you way-too-close make getting to church alive and unmuddy a rather unenjoyable endeavor.
By the time we got to church we were drenched and dust covered, but as we were walking home after a great worship service with the other 100 men, women and children in attendance, the girls chatting with their friends and everyone greeting neighbors along the way, it was powerful to see the whole muddy road, both sides, lined with believers, walking out their faith.
The path literally narrow, the way literally hard and unpleasant, the large majority of the village hanging out in their yards, sucking on mangoes and listening to the radio, I was blessed by the faithfulness of the believers, in Saccanville and throughout all of Haiti, who rise early and walk far and get muddy and are often laughed at and work hard to gather together and worship.
It doesn't have to be a beautiful sacrifice to be beautiful, but rather a muddy, sweaty one. It doesn't have to be an eloquent or modern path to be inspiring, but rather a dirty, simple one. It doesn't have to be an obvious, great action, but rather a still, small, quiet one, perhaps never seen by anyone but the Lord, to bless Him.
Praise the Lord
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