Saturday Night
Every Saturday night is Youth Night at Temple Baptist
Church. The young people spent an hour
or so playing games and enjoying several activities to start off the evening. They don’t have any other venues, so they
just push the pews back and use the auditorium for their fun time. Several of the neighborhood teens showed up
that have never been before to join in on the activities. Some of the young married couples and young
adults came to help coordinate and participate.
I shared my heart with the young people on one of my favorite verses –
Psalms 37:4 and challenged the kids to “Delight in the Lord…”. There is a huge problem in this country with
teen pregnancy, fornication, and sexual immorality. I encouraged the kids to live for God and stay
pure. Some of them mocked and some of
them really listened. I was reminded
again that teenagers are pretty much the same everywhere. Many of these kids come from broken homes and
I was told that quite a few of them come to church alone; without their
parents.
These Haitian Sunday School teachers gathered on Saturday night to go over their Sunday School lessons. They studied together for over 2 hours in preparation for the next morning.
Sunday Morning
We woke up early this morning and left the hotel at 7 AM to
head to the capital city to preach in the Haitian congregation named Calvary
Baptist Church. It was about a 2 1/2
hour drive and we had to go in two vehicles.
We enjoyed seeing a little bit of the country and the fellowship and
conversation in the truck was also a blessing.
We arrived at the church around 9:30 and the service was well
underway. They start at 8 AM with Sunday
School and children’s classes upstairs.
The kids here love my hair!! They ask to feel of it.
Brother Lane showed us around while the Haitian congregation finished up
their Sunday School classes. He took us
up on top of the three story church building and showed us the city surrounding
the church. It is in a very rough
section of town. Bro. Lane started the
church about 14 years ago.
At the end of
the street he also helps financially support a Dominican school for underprivileged
children. About 80 children are
registered in this tiny 3 room building.
He told me that they sit two children to a desk.
Right outside some old men were playing dominoes. I took a few pictures of them and the we
walked back up to the church for the morning service. This area is very poor and it reminded me so
much of Africa. The sights, the smells,
the people all brought back so many memories.
The morning service lasted quite a while as they sang and
testified and prayed. Bro. Lane had
asked me to preach on Stewardship and Giving, so I preached from Malachi 3 on
tithing and choosing either the blessings or curse of God in their life. Again, I had flashbacks of preaching in South
Africa. The environment and the spirit
was much the same. We said our goodbyes
after the service and headed back to Jarabacoa.
The evening service at Temple Baptist was a 5 PM. Spencer was asked to give his testimony, and
the people all made a big deal of the fact that he was celebrating his 18th
birthday today. Bro. Lane gave candy to whoever could quote the memory verses, and several could. I sang a special and at
Bro. Lane’s request, I again preached on Stewardship and Giving. After the service, the Dominican youth threw
water all over Spencer to celebrate his birthday.
We were grateful to meet so many sweet people
during our time at this church. Afterwards, we ate a late supper here at the
hotel and swapped missionary stories with Brother Lane. Tomorrow we are going to give him a hand with
some of the construction work at the camp he’s been working for nearly 10
years.
