Haiti: Day 5 part two :)

What a full day it was here in Haiti.  Classes began as usual at 8:00 after having Haitian spaghetti for breakfast in the campus cafeteria (I vow to include no pictures of my food in these updates!).  Class had an ebb and flow to it today.  We had an exciting discussion as we reviewed the basic steps of Bible study and talked about the faithfulness of the Holy Spirit in that process.  The students, especially those who are pastors, told me on break how encouraged and excited they were about these truths.  We became bogged down in the middle of class and ran into the language barrier as I tried to introduce some Bible study tools to the students.  I had not accounted for the fact that a vast majority of these first-year students have very little, if any, ability to understand English.  This really rendered fruitless much of our attempt to show them the English language Bible study tools that I brought with me.  I felt that I lost them in this portion of the class, and I felt led by the Holy Spirit to get back to where we needed to be in the final segment of the today’s class.  So, we just opened our Bibles, looked at several passages, and talked about Jesus as our motivation for being the Word, Jesus as the Truth and the importance of Truth in the spiritual battle, and Christ being our message.  We talked about being committed to seeking after Him alone in this process of Bible study, and asked the students if they would join us in a commitment to be a seeker.  The room increasingly filled with the sound of students saying “Amen” to these truths, and the class concluded with the students spontaneously breaking out into a worship song together. 

From there we went to the first chapel service of the term, where I was privileged to preach today a message I have been calling  “Call of Duty” from 2 Timothy 2:1-3, presenting Paul’s exhortation to Timothy to pass on the baton and that discipleship is the battle of our times.  I was able to rest after lunch before we went over the main OMS (One Mission Society) campus here in Cap-Haitien to have Bible study and dinner with the other OMS missionaries here.  It was after this that I had the most interesting experience of the day.  Since our van would not start, we had the privilege of riding back to the seminary campus on the back of an open flatbed truck that is used for transporting large groups.  

This was an authentic Haitian experience as we rode the 5 miles back to campus over the rough roads and through the scenes of human need.  At one point, I looked up to the sky and realized I was seeing the clearest night sky I have viewed in some time (not since South American in 1993).  As I gazed at the constellation Orion, the most vivid and detailed I have ever seen it, it caused me to think of everyone at home and to realize that I am looking at the same night sky that my family is seeing at the same time.  We are not so far apart after all.  Above all, we are together in spirit, bound in Jesus.  Thank you for your care and support, and for also being with me here in spirit.  

In Christ,

John