checking in from "the Cap"

Salud!

Internet options have been rare over the past couple of days; so sorry for losing contact! Actually, this morning I was kind of crawling around behind the little desk in the “office” where I am staying into this chaos of wires to help them reestablish their internet connection here. I guess all those months of fighting with the problems we had in Quito have been redeemed – and the people are unusually appreciative about “how much (I) know about computers.” Hilarious, huh???!!!

Shoot; where do I begin? I wish you could have seen the translator last night. He does so much more than just translate the words. He “amplifies” the emotion and excitement to an acceptable “Caribbean” level. The dude is crazy and he gets flat-out drenched from head to toe. Every once in a while he pauses to whisper in my ear in broken English, “ohhhhhh, dis is a gooooood message.” It is kinda like a little nudge from God for me, saying, “Keep going; deliver the message; let me use him to make it fit their culture and hearts.”

Attendance at the crusades has been much lower than the leaders had hoped – but people just don’t seem to get down about anything here! They believe it simply comes down to the fact that people do not have any money at all to even think about getting to something “extra” like this. The poverty is beyond all western comprehension. Even Pastor Adam says things are much worse than when he left. Port au Prince (the capitol) was the only tiny glimmer of industry and/or employment and with it still upside-down the whole country is reeling. Plus, the neighborhood the crusade is in is pretty “dark” in all ways. Apparently many people are not happy with a church “hurting”” their neighborhood. The whole area is pretty much without electricity so when we drive out at night, the candles on tables in front of the homes give it all kind of an extra ominous feel. Plus, the rains have returned – which is a huge relief on one hand – but tends to keep even more people away in the evening. Still, when it comes to the “crusade,” the people that come seem so full of life and faith and the direction of the crusade seems to be turning more to encouraging them and building them up than welcoming people who do not have any clue about God.

On the other hand, this morning I was invited to a “prayer meeting” at the biggest church in Cap Haitien. Talk about being yanked out of my comfort zone!!! There were several thousand people there – and for about an hour it looked like a mixture of a Caribbean aerobics class and mosh pit (prayer meeting, huh?). Then it turned into what I can only imagine happened in the first days of the New Testament. There were shrieks and screams and people would hit the dirt and flip and flop and tremble and quake and then go perfectly still; some for 20 minutes or so. They kept an open area up front for people like that and the job of some of the “ushers” was to carry collapsed people into the open area for prayer and care. Just like EFC, right?

Then this visiting Mexican evangelist got up to speak with a translator and it turned into an even bigger time of “healing and deliverance.” I have never, ever seen anything like it live. All kinds of things were going on inside of me – but then I remembered the portion Jeff taught from the Sunday before I left…the one where John and others went and whined to Jesus about “others” doing things “in His name.” Jesus simply told them to leave those others alone to do their work. So, I chose to simply watch in amazement, pray and learn. The whole thing had been going on for about three hours at that point. Then came another “surprise”: the 35-40 minutes they wanted from me (be ready, in season and out of season, huh?). The lead Pastor translated – and I could not believe how words simply came to me and flowed. After, the Pastor asked if I would come back and bring a message on Resurrection Sunday. I was scheduled in another church that day but Pastor Adam said this church would really “love to have (me) open the word with them again.” How the heck do you say “no, sorry” to that?! Simply another picture of the insanity of all of this! Now the li’l white dude from the Canadian prairies will be bringing the message on Resurrection Sunday in a very Caribbean/black/Charismatic church. How can you not laugh?

Oh, yesterday we went out of Cap Haitien to see a church and school that Pastor Adam started about six years ago. After being hammered by the conditions of the city for the first three days I was not at all prepared for what was waiting “out there.” I can only describe it as the Christmas party at the Zambiza dump – for miles on end! Still, the kids stunned me. Everywhere, they come to me; most timid at first but once the first one takes a bold step they all get into it. Even when we just pull over to the side of the road the kids crowd around. It hit me yesterday on the way home that I was the only white dude I had seen since I got here. On the one hand, that is kind of exhilarating. On the other hand, I definitely see why Jesus’ model was normally to send people out in at least 2’s!!! I try not to think too much about what I would do if I needed anything of significance along the way. I don’t know if I mentioned it but they put me up in a room (simple but quite nice, I must admit) in a building a couple of miles away from Pastor Adam’s home (you would have to see his home to appreciate why there wouldn’t have been room for me there) – so I am pretty much by myself from the time we get finished the crusades each night around 10:00 until Adam comes to get me the next morning.

By God’s grace I did just meet this dude from New York with a small NGO. He is actually trying to do something with sanitation here. Talk about an Everest-sized task! I hope to connect with him more when I get home – and help him try to raise some cash. He has an astounding dream!!! I just realized yesterday that there is absolutely no trash system here. Things are literally thrown everywhere; once a pile gets big enough (wherever it is), it becomes a “local dump.’ It is staggering! On top of that, the “sewer system” is a series of channels that run along the homes and the streets…leading basically anywhere and nowhere. So, a bunch of them kinda converge in random places. As close as I can tell, there are about 500,000 people in this city – so I cannot describe the cumulative effect of it all (words, pictures and even videos don’t capture what goes on in your other senses!)!

The language is soooooooo frustrating! It is normally a complete mix of Creole and French so I barely get anything at all! Still, I have met a few people who speak some English or Spanish so I have not been completely in isolation.

Oh, speaking of the trip out of town yesterday -- instead of the bus, a guy that one of the Pastors knows offered to drive us (for a fee); and his car has air conditioning! The little “gifts” from God along the way continue to humble me to the core. I have quite a list of them already!

I cannot even begin to talk about the kids. They are simply indescribable; precious; gorgeous. I have taken a few pictures but as I said earlier, it really feels inappropriate to be looking at their lives like a “spectator.”

Anyway, that is more than enough for now. One bizarre thing that has been happening is that I seem to collapse into a coma-like state for an hour or two in the afternoon – in spite of (or maybe because of) the heat. I don’t feel physically tired but it is like all my senses are so overloaded my whole “being” shuts down. It is dangerously close to that now – so I hope this makes some sense!!! Once I hit the “post” button it will be too late and I will only be able to look at it tomorrow and shake my head at how it came across.

On the Potter’s wheel (Jeremiah 18),
Len