I can’t even think of where I should begin. This weekend has possibly been one of the best weekends of my entire life. I have passed more than 1,326 weekends in my life and this one definitely stands out as one of the top 3, although, I can’t remember any other weekends that may have even ranked among it. To sum up this weekend, I would say that it was blessed by the Lord and that is why it was so good. I could give you each and every single little detail, but you still would not understand the magnitude of joy and gratefulness in my heart for what God did for us. It is only something that can be explained by knowing how good our God is, and that even in the darkest of times with Him there is joy, and in the most lovely of times in the world without Him is emptiness.
Saturday was Kristin’s Birthday. Now, if you know me well, you will know that when it comes to things like Birthdays, I am a person of great intention and desire to bless, but have an even greater lack of ideas or follow through of how to make anything blessed happen for the person I love. That said, this weekend, I wanted nothing more than to make Kristin feel overly loved and appreciated… and yet I forgot to even write her a card. Praise our Lord God that He had it all worked out and didn’t forget a single detail… and that He never forgets a thing.
Saturday started out with a party in our room, because one of Kristin’s dear friends from Oregon had packed her a Birthday “Party in a box” that she had to wait till her birthday to open. We then headed out with our Moto driver friend, Jean-Mary to go to the market to find “American food”. We spend every Saturday with his family and they spoil us with tons of food and even more fun. So this week we decided to make them BLT’s and show them how to roast marshmallows. We have been to quite a few markets in Haiti, but the one he took us too out ranked them all. If you have ever been too Santee alley in LA you might have a slight feel for what this market was like. It was blocks and blocks and blocks big. And each tiny nook and cranny of this outdoor market was crammed with some sort of good for sale. From flip flops to cow carcasses, we saw everything. We succeeded in finding the lettuce and tomato we needed, but then had to go to 3 other small little stores to find the bread and bacon to go with them. We went to their house and had a blast getting to cook for them and sneaking around their back yard looking for sticks to roast marshmallows on. Then we watched the new Karate Kid in Spanish.
One of the sisters of the family was out of town for the day visiting her boyfriend’s brother in the hospital. So we figured we would have a mellow birthday day for Kristin. Someone made mention of going to bathe in the river, and it being an incredibly hot day, we excitedly asked if we could come too. We ran home real quick and changed into our bathing suits. 4 of us walked maybe an eight of a mile through the lushest tropical land I have ever seen or imagined and come to the river where lo and behold, there were a plethora of people without clothes sudsing up, taking baths. I don’t think when Kristin and I asked to “go bathing” we realized that literally, they were going bathing. We found out that our friends bathe in a warm, clean river every day. Unbelievable! We all played around and bathed (fully clothed and appropriate) for maybe an hour or so in one of the most epic of God’s creations. One of the guys mentioned that his dad’s horse was tied up just on the other side of the river and asked if we wanted to see him. Who wouldn’t? so we hopped out of the river and ran barefooted and swim suited across the river, to even more fertile, lush land where there we dozens of cows, horses and goats tied up. It was like the community feeding ground where people take their livestock to graze for the day, and they tie a rope to a tree and leave them. We came to their horse, and he untied the rope from the tree, wrapped it expertly around the horse’s mouth to make a bridal and hopped effortlessly on the horse’s bare back. It kicked and bucked for a bit and he stayed on as if it was nothing. We pet the horse for a moment then he got off, tied the horse back up and fetched us some mangos from a nearby tree for us to go back to the river and wash and eat.
Then Jean-Mary told us to go get changed real quick and he was going to take us back to the market so we could look at stuff. We rode toward the market, but then he passed it. And kept driving. He took us quite far, through the most beautiful country side I have ever seen. We drove through a narrow winding dirt road that ran through a corn field until it ended at a breathtaking Cliffside that led to the ocean. The night before I had asked him to think of things that we could to bless Kristin on her birthday, and he said that this place was the idea that God gave him as he was lying in bed that night. And I do not doubt for a second that this was a God inspiration. I have never experienced the ocean the way we saw it there. We walked around for a while just breathing in God’s creation. Both Kristin and I were overwhelmed by God’s glory to the point of tears and couldn’t speak.
After that, we didn’t think the night could get better, but then went and had our favorite food, Patay (its like a deep fried hot pocket with pretty much a whole chicken inside, bones and all) with 3 friends and played games until we were ready to fall asleep.
Sunday the Pators took us to the beach where we relaxed and enjoyed God’s creation. That night Jean- Mary told us he was going to take us for another drive, this time to Carrefour (which is a 3 hour drive through the mountains) for Kristin to see our friends there. Instead, he took us to his house where his sister had planned a huge feast for us where we enjoyed great company and the most giving people imagine able.
This weekend God made us fall so in love with the people here and His glorious creation. This weekend we experienced blessings poured out over us form the poorest people on the face of the planet. They have taught us so much about what it means to give unrestrained.
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