Day 1 continued-- Beautiful Feet

It wasn't long before the men of the village pulled together some corn from the crop that was growing on the mountain. They made a fire with the old husks, and cooked us some corn. Some of it even popped up like popcorn! It was dry and not very sweet, most likely due to the scarcity of water in the region. The sweetness of this corn was really found in the act of sharing. We had brought goodies for them, but they also gave of what they had to us. On this side of the island, we have erroneously believed that Haiti is full of people that always take, and never give.


We then gathered together in the church, and Pastor Samuel told the story of the rich man and Lazarus found in Luke 16. He must have been an amazing storyteller because the people were mesmerized, and the children were completely quiet. We did a program, and a prayer tunnel. We prayed for everyone on that mountain. It took awhile; I think we counted over 200 people squeezed in the little church.

Among those 200 people I saw a woman who was wearing a familiar shirt. I took a second look, and realized it was the same shirt that was given to my boys when we visited Life Church in Roanoke, VA. Now, this was amazing to me because we were really in a remote place. How did that shirt get to somebody way up on this mountain? I asked Pastor Samuel. He was not nearly as amazed, and I loved his answer:

“Sister Rennae, you say that shirt was from an Assemblies of God church. Well this church is an Assemblies of God church, and we are all one family. Pastor Bill (Bill Smith, our AGWM missionary) is always giving us donations to take up the mountain. We load up our back packs and mules, and bring whatever he gives us.”

Each of the kids received cookies, a pair of flip-flops, and the Book of Hope. They were thrilled! Then we began our walk down the mountain. As we walked, some of the children followed, holding our hands to keep us from falling. It was steep going down! I noticed that my little traveling companion had no shoes. Flip-flops would be useless for going down this mountain. I had been regretting the whole day that I was doing this hike in converse tennis shoes knowing that I had a perfect pair of hiking shoes in my closet. My regret quickly turned to gratefulness for my undeserved abundance.



Coming down the mountain we took time to stop and eat our lunch. Granted, it was about 4:00 pm, but there was no way that we could have eaten while at the church with people who had such need. We had brought a few extra sandwiches, but our traveling friends were more than we expected. So we prayed for the multiplication of bread, and God supplied the need. The funny thing was, that just like there were leftovers in the story of the Gospels, we also ended up with leftover sandwiches!!!

Coming down the mountain, I looked around at my tired, smelly, and filthy team. Our shoes were dirty from the hard climb. But one thing is for sure, our feet were BEAUTIFUL!

How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"
Isaiah 52:7