Haiti: Day Three.

Today we went to the Valley of Hope for church. This was also the Sunday that they were going to dedicate the church. What a service it was.
We got there early, which I was glad about because it gave us some time to take pictures and look around. The church looks amazing compared to the last time I saw it in October. There is now guest bathroom! Pastor Maxeau also has an office (made out of a Samaratian’s Purse tents), which has a little store attached to it.
The dedication practices in Haiti are different that than are in the States. From what I could understand, all of the people gathered at the front of the church along with Pastor Maxeau. Pastor Maxeau then knocked on the door and a voice from the inside said something to the extent of “This is the presence of God entering your church.” I have a feeling that there was more to it than that because this went on for a good five minutes. Following that we all entered the church.
The service started with some songs of praise, and then a song of worship. Pastor Maxeau then got up and spoke for a while, then three choirs sang, then our team went to the front to introduce ourselves, then Mr. Donald introduced Pastor Ted and he preached. Following his sermons Mr. Donald and Ms. Barbie went to the front to accept gifts of thanks from the church for the help that HUG and NDI had given then. I think there was more singing after that, and then all of the visiting pastors (I think there were 9), along with the mayor got up to speak. Then the choirs sang again, and someone from the church spoke and sang, and then Pastor Maxeau talked for a while longer, followed by more singing and a prayer. That summary was horribly written, but considering that the service was four and a half hours long .. it was hard to keep up with the order of events.
Following the service we had lunch, which was as amazing as I remembered. I have got to figure out how to make that beet potato salad!
After that we rode back to the house. While we were riding, I took some great pictures. I can’t wait to post them!
Once we got back here, we ordered pizza .. and I was sleeping by 7:30. :)

Blessings,
Han