Where He leads...: Learning flexibility with Sherwood Baptist

Learning flexibility with Sherwood Baptist

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Our team this week is from Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, GA. They are a team of 8, half of which are boys who just graduated from high school and the three leaders are in their 20s and 30s. It’s been a great week so far though it has turned out quite differently than planned. This week has been a good demonstration of my philosophy… “Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be broken.” No, that’s not in the Bible, but flexibility is an important attitude when you live and serve in a country like Haiti. I encourage every team to adopt this attitude while they are here.

The initial plan for this week was for the team to run a sports camp at a nearby church every afternoon and go to an orphanage each morning. We’ve known for a couple weeks the orphanage would not be an option but last week we discovered another need they could help with in the morning. Pastor Milo’s church just down the road from us has a school that is still not complete. In a couple weeks we have a construction team coming to work solely on that project. There is some prep work to be done, so we decided this young team could help get things going. We went there Monday morning and helped clear some rocks and spread out the dirt to level where the foundation of a new classroom will be poured. We were there less than two hours and finished what needed to be done. School was in session so we had many curious eyes watching us. One little boy was brought over to us. He had fallen and had a deep gash in his chin. I started to clean him up but realized that he actually needed stitches. We were about to leave anyway, so we dropped him and his teacher off at Doctors Without Borders hospital near our guest house. That afternoon we went to Pastor Abraham’s church to start our sports camp for the week. We had gone there Sunday morning for the church service and were blessed to sit with his church under the mango tree and worship together. Probably around 100 kids came out for the sports camp. We rented basketball goals, played soccer, had a giant parachute, jump ropes, and other activities. The team told the story of Daniel and the lion’s den and then we headed home. But from then on, our plans for the week changed. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, we did not continue the sports camp.

Someone from Sherwood Baptist had donated 500 pairs of reading glasses. We initially thought that we’d leave them at the house and the next time we had a medical team, we’d throw the reading glasses in with everything else. But the idea came to us to use this group to give them out, so the rest of the week (since the sports camp was cancelled and the prep work at the school was finished for now), we went to three different churches and had an “eyeglasses clinic”, similar to the medical clinic we had had the week before. The first church was “in the boonies” as I’d call it. It was situated on a hill with a great view all around. We had over 100 people come out for the reading glasses. We wanted to spend time encouraging them spiritually as well. We had a big EvangeCube and used that as our primary method for presenting the Gospel. For those of you who don’t know what it is, it’s a pictorial rubik’s cube type thing that folds and unfolds while someone tells the gospel message. Roland and some of the other guys spent hours telling and retelling the story using the EvangeCube and an interpreter. We would take people three at a time, they would sit first at that station, then after that would go individually to three evangelism stations… just like the ones I mentioned we had with the medical team last week. Each station had an interpreter. The first day alone the team reported 20 salvations! After the team members spent time talking to and praying with each person, they would come to the eyeglasses station. I was at this station the whole week and did the majority of the exams myself. Our two drivers for the week, Leslie and Ti Chauffer, were a tremendous help to me as well! The test consisted of a diopter chart, basically a series of lines where the font increased with each line. I adapted the test from one I found online, and translated Bible verses into Creole. Each line was a different section of a verse or promise from Scripture. Whatever the smallest line was that the person could see most clearly was the strength of eyeglasses we would begin to fit them with. We’d then go down in strength and let them choose the one that was best and most comfortable for them. For me to have no previous experience with this, I was very happy with the test and how well it worked. I can’t describe how much joy came to my heart every time I saw someone light up and with a huge smile say how clearly they could see the instant they put on the pair of reading glasses! Many of them had said they needed reading glasses in order to read their Bible. What a beautiful gift to give them a blessing of sight and a reconnection with God’s Word through reading it clearly for themselves. A couple of them had beat up reading glasses they’d had for years. I was so happy that we could provide them with a brand new pair. Each person received a card from Williamson at check-in. On these sheets of paper we wrote their personal information, prayer requests, reading glasses strength, and also took their phone numbers if they requested a Bible and of course we’d make a note if they accepted Christ that day. Ti Chauffer was keeping up with the papers at our station and anytime he saw “ACCEPTED CHRIST” he would point it out and say, “This is our sister!” or “This is our brother!” He was as excited as anyone to meet a new brother or sister in Christ and wanted to tell me each time! :) And to go back to the Bibles for a moment… I can’t even tell you how many requests we had this week for Creole Bibles, both from the pastors on behalf of their church members and from the individuals themselves. We have added this to our “Items Needed” page on the Baptists 4 Haiti website. This would be a great way for you or your church to get involved with the needs in Haiti. If you want to help, you can purchase the Bibles (online or through your Gideon friends) and mail them to our office in Georgia. Email me for more information.

Before I close, let me just brag on the group. On Wednesday we went to Pastor Gerald’s church “in the valley”. His tiny makeshift church is located on the side of a mountain. You have to walk down from the paved road down a steep and rocky trail. The view is breathtaking from the moment you start until you finally arrive at the church. The climb back up is breathtaking as well, though for a different reason! The crew did great and didn’t complain once. The next day we headed to Pastor Eliassaint's church. His church is up a different mountain. Again we got a good workout climbing, but we were all thankful this time that the climb was at the beginning of the day and not at the end after we were all exhausted from the eye clinic.

This week has been yet another example of how our best laid plans can be changed in an instant and transformed into something even better. Though my heart was saddened that we could not continue the ministry with the children at the sports camp, I accept that for whatever reason, God had other plans. Our week couldn’t have worked out better for this young team, eager to serve wherever they were able. In total, 26 people came to know Christ this week through the eye clinics. Praise the Lord! This group reminded me of the verse in 1 Timothy chapter 4, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity,” (v12 NIV).

The giant parachute was a big hit at the sports camp!

I love seeing how our teams interact with our Haitian staff! Here's a couple of the guys about to get scored on by Peterson.

Water break!

Climbing back up the mountain after the eye clinic at Pastor Gerald's church. Look at that view!

Pastor Gerald's church is smaller than most of our bedrooms...

Roland and Junior and their EvangeCube marathon. :)

When is the last time someone has asked how they can specifically pray for you and your family? I think most people would agree you would feel special and cared about if someone did. I hope that each Haitian we had the opportunity to pray with felt loved and was encouraged by their time with us.