Day Two of Fet Bondye (Big Party by the Sea)
This morning started early with roosters crowing about 5am. We were up soon after and getting ready to go for our day. We arrived at Trinity House (location for camp) at about 7am. We ate breakfast together. As these kinds of servant activities go, it hasn’t taken us long to strike up friendships with those we work alongside. We’ve learned to depend on each other quickly over the course of these short days together. Human community is such a gift that provides strength, encouragement and possibility. We one is weak, the other is strong. I’ve been seeing that a lot with this group.
After breakfast, it was off to set up and get ready. Julie, Fabiola and I set up our story telling room. Today was the Good Samaritan story. From there, we went to the open field and greeted the children as they came to camp. They were so excited to see us. The music DJ started up some dancing music and the morning celebration began. One little girl grabbed my hand we started a dance resembling salsa. We then had other girls joining us. It was so fun! Then we switched to line dancing a bit. It was a great cardio workout to start the day! From there we started our opening worship. I got recruited to play guitar. There was an extra guitar at camp, so I tuned it and started playing. The guitar looked familiar to me from the start. And then I remembered, Ben and Renee Splichal-Larson had donated this guitar years ago. You may remember that Ben’s life was lost in the Haiti earthquake in January 2010. Here it was, their guitar donated, being played for a camp. Ben would have loved it!
After our opening time, we led our different sessions. Everyone was working so hard! The relationships with the children were being forged left and right. Regardless of a language barrier, our youth were reaching out with smiles and high fives as they served. Through our community today, we were living the Good Samaritan story – reaching out to each other, crossing national, cultural and language barriers. In it, we were seeing the face of God and the gift of the Holy Spirit uniting us.
In our final closing, we sang Jesus Loves Me. To start the song, our leaders, Maya and Pastor Rick shouted “Who loves you?” and a Haitian adult who is assisting with the camp shouted with her fist pumped in the air – “JESUS!” As the chant grew, the open field was transformed into a people filled with God’s love and praise.
I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the day.
Peace,
Pastor Rhonda
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