On Monday evening we met with he ladies of the Lutheran Church of Jacmel. Not a one of us knew what to expect. Or whether any Haitian woman would even show up to meet with little 'ol us...  We were delighted to see 15 (or so) women arrive to sit quietly in the  church benches. Each of them had cleaned, even pressed looking, dresses. We had shown up in our shorts and Tshirts.  We discreetly ran back to the guesthouse to change. In a Herculean miracle, we were shined up with girly skirts in a few moments, and ran with abandon back to the church.  We sat in wooden chairs in a semi circle facing the pews, while more and more women trickled in.  Where do you begin this kind of thing??  We decided to begin by telling them one by one who we are and a brief bit about us. We had a translator, and she patiently translated line by line. This went fairly quickly with few questions. Next the women of Jacmel were up.  Interestingly, while we had gone in an orderly fashion down the row we sat in, the women of Jacmel stepped forward as they were ready, in no particular order, and told us their stories.  While we had done the usual; name, kids, job, etc.....  they told their stories and shared candidly: their struggles, heartbreaks, and joys. It occurred to me that we Americans often don't even share like this among trusted friend circles.  There was much laughter, teasing, and yes, even tears. We became friends on Monday March 18, 2013, and it will be so from this day on.

On Tuesday, ay we did so much! Shopping! Touring Jacmel to visit some of the women from the night before. Walking through the marketplace! the sights, the sounds, the smells! I was on sensory overload, and fascinated.... really, I expected to see a monkey doing tricks just around the next corner.....it was like stepping into an Indiana Jones movie!  We accompanied Sydney Kessa, (Pastor Marky Kessa's wife) to the afternoon feeding program that she runs next to the tent city of Beaudoin (the locations we built homes in 2011).  In excess of 70 children showed up. It is difficult to share feelings of this event. The children bring their own bowl, and pass forward to be filled. Rice, beans, vegetables and meat stewed together fill each bowl, and we passed them along hand to hand in a chain.  This is no orderly event mind you, this is chaos in the rawest order, and yet.....I felt it to be a golden privilege to hand these children, with the beautiful sparkling eyes, and glorious smiles.....food. Food that they sat down with and scooped up with their hand and ate, without dropping a single grain of rice. I noticed many stopped short of finishing their bowl, and shoved it into a waiting book bag, so they could take it home, most likely to share with others in their family...

Today we also visited the orphanage run by Pastor Joseph. 20 or so children live and are schooled there. They sang us songs (in 3 languages) and smiled patiently for our pictures. I am more convinced than ever that angels live among us, as Pastor Joseph and his wife must bind their wings to hide them from view. Brave. Loving. Wow.

We finished this evening at a Lenten Service. When the music began at 6:15 there were only10 or so people in the church (other than us), but at the end when we all rose to join hands in one big circle, the church was barely enough to hold all of us! The singing in this church is the stuff of legend...take heart, at some point the good Pastor Marky will visit Urbana...and we should be ready to hold our end of the rope....

Oh, and the guys painted today.....remind me to tell you about that.... :-).  Stay tuned, there's more to come!

Love to you all -