Demons, Death, and Daylight

The last two weeks have been yet again, eventful for Kristin and I. I have either had no chance to write, or the times I have had to write, our internet was down. However, I will try and sum up these last days for you.
 May 18th is a big holiday in Haiti called flag day. It is a day of remembrance of when the first Haitian flag was born, and it represents freedom from the French oppression. So, for most of the week, we had it easy. We didnt teach the preschoolers, and our adult english classes were smaller.
In the midst of our not working a ton, God showed us some pretty crazy stuff.
One of the girls at the pastor's house has become very dear to me. Her and I joke that I am going to bring my little brother over here so that they can get married and she can be my legit sister, so I always call her my sister. I think it was Wednesday, she looked like death. I asked her what was the matter, and she couldn't even resond, but shook her head with tears in her eyes and walked away. Her wisdom teeth have been growing in and have been causing her pain to the point of tears, so I figured it was that and told her I would pray for her. The next night at church she got up infront  of church and they prayed for her, and I couldnt understand what they said it was for, but someone told me it was because of spiritual attack. Then friday came around. Our moto was a bit late and we were sitting at the pastors house and asked how she was doing. One of the other girls said she was doing better but asleep. I then asked one of the little boys (he's 9) in the house what had been wrong with her and he very blatantly said she had demons, and he started demonstrating for us what it looked like, and it was super creepy. As he was talking, one of the other girls came out of her room, and very calmly told the pastor that my dear sister needed prayer. He very gently and calmly went over, got his hymn book out and walked to her room. We asked if we could join in praying for her. We went into the room, and tried to wake her up, it took so much effort just to get her to open her eyes, that I almost thought she had died. When she finally did open her eyes, tears immediately spilled down her cheeks and sobs began to rack her body, again, I dont think she could physically speak. She calmed down a bit. Pastor began to sing over her, and started praying. We all prayed under our breath with him. His voice was so calm and soothing, that I was shocked into atention by the blood-curtling, yet short scream that came out of our sister. We continued to pray. Her body began to tense and her back arched, and she screamed then relaxed once again. We finished praying for her. She was able to sit up and the tears were gone. She was able to speak again, and her eyes were normal. They got her to walk to the living room and sit down. she seemed pretty normal, except for the fact that she was incredibly weak and needed to have someone feed her. It was the most intense thing I had ever seen. Definately not what I ever thought it would be like to pray demons out of some one. My heart was SO broken for her. It literally made me cry to see her in such despair, and it was one of the most calm prayer sessions i've ever been in. I've heard people pray with more fervency over blessing their dinner, and yet the marked difference in her blew me away. Krisin and I came away, not exactly knowing what we had seen, or what exactly had happened, but are so blessed to know that prayer changes things in a big way.

This week we attended another funeral. This time was very different for me. The last funeral we went to, we had no association, except through the brother of the deceased. This time, we had met the woman who died just three days before she passed away, and she was in seemingly good health.  She was the sister-in-law of one of our favorite friends here. What was even sadder is that she had just given birth to twin boys 10 days before. She died of in infection from her caesarian section. Remember me telling you about the wailing at the last funeral we went to? I felt like it was magnified ten-fold. And it was crazy, because I knew most of the people who were mourning her loss, and it absolutely broke my heart to hear them wail as if they had lost the dearest love of their lives.

Although this week brought experiences of things not so pleasant, God showed us a lot. A big reminder to us was that spiritual warfare is real. He tells us that in Ephesians 6:12

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers but against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

It was good for us to hear again, and see so vividly, and to realize that spiritual warfare can affect even us. Halleluiah that Greater Is He Who Is In Us Than He Who Is In the World. I think both Kristin and I were experiencing more spiritual warfare than we had realized, but once we did, and addressed it, we were very much more clearheaded and light hearted. What a fantastic God we serve!

Hmmm…. Some highlights for the past week:

1)      Diana. The Cutest, daintiest little 3 year old lives on a corner that we walk past every day on our way to work. Each morning she hears us coming and comes running at full speed, screaming Kristin’s name and dives off the mound of dirt at their front stoop into Kristin’s arms. After she has filled her quota of Kristin kisses, she reaches for me, and I scoop her out of Kristin’s arms for the most delightful good morning hugs, and the saltiest good morning kisses. I set her down then we walk around the corner. By the time we have reached to other side, she pops out of the fence with a smile reaching from ear to ear, ready for another round of hugs and kisses. We are blessed to have the same warm welcome each afternoon as we head home. There is no better fuel for a mile long walk in 90 degree weather than the joyous love of one of God’s little children

2)      We got to go to the beach on Sunday. It was so nice to have a relaxing day of sitting in the shade of palm trees and swimming in the warmth of the Caribbean. My favorite moment from the beach was one of our pastors swimming out to sea on his back with a goofy grin on his face, and singing at the top of his lungs to the Lord, sputtering every other stroke as water got into his mouth.

3)      Today our friend asked us if we would like a mango, and who can’t resist a good mango? So he did what any good Haitian friend would do, and he slipped off his sandals, scaled the nearest mango tree in 10 seconds flat and started dropping mangos down to us. Amazing!

4)      One day after we finished painting, we said good bye to our painting buddies as they went off to school, and we stopped off at the pastor’s house for lunch.  About 30 minutes later, we stepped onto the street to walk home. Lo and behold! Who are walking toward us, but our two painting buddies carrying legit 6 foot long tree trunks nonchalantly on each of their shoulders.  As they stopped to say hello, one of them let go of his shorts to wave at us, and a machete fell out of the leg of shorts and almost stuck him in the foot. And when we asked why they weren’t in school, they said that they needed to bring fire wood for the family. I like Haitian priorites. It is more important to help a friend cut down fire wood with a machete than go to school. Done and done.

5)      Another joy of this week was sitting in church, this time without an interpreter, listening to the hundred questions about Matthew 5:31-32. Through my broken creole, I’m pretty sure the congregation asked every individual scenario of the terms and rights for divorce. Including, but not limited to “well, what if I move to Miami, and my wife has to stay in Haiti, and I get lonely and want another wife, can I divorce her and not sin?” I love question and answer time J