I was up before 5:00am again, and
feeling the need to be alone I went out and worked my way to the hammock
near the beach. This was a nice, isolated spot that was not clearly
visible to the rest of the compound, and as such was a great spot to
think and pray. And I needed to do both, desperately.
The Mission Possible compound hammock was in a perfect location for isolated thought. Photo by Stephen Hermer
Occsionally, a Haitian or a small group would walk by, but for the most
part they ignored me. I remained there, until perhaps 6:30 am, when I
was driven back to the common area by a persistant begger. I don't blame
the Haitian for begging, but considering my struggle with the poverty
versus my own riches, it wasn't helping me feel any better. I remained
in the common area until other team members started waking... and not
wanting them to see me crying, I returned to the isolated corner with
the hammock. I skipped breakfast with the group, but managed to get
enough control to see the American team members off... this was their
travel day back to the U.S.A.
After we were left alone, I changed into the best clothing I had with me
and waited. Eventually our team was all ready and we walked with Pastor
Herve to the Lanzac church. We took our places towards the rear of the
church, as we were somewhat late, then were asked to introduce
ourselves. I was caught off guard and said something to the effect of
"Thank you for having us, and you are in our prayers" when it was my
turn. The service itself was quite and experience, beautiful and
different what I had previously experienced.
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Music sample from the Lanzac church service on November 21, 2010.
I did not bring a video or still camera to the service, out of respect,
but did record the music. Sadly, the volume in the church overwhelmed
the tiny recorder, so the quality isn't fantastic, but the above sample
should give you an idea what it was like.
After the service, we returned to the compound. I did not feel like
eating, or conversing, or doing anything except pray by myself, but the
others on the team were feeling more social so I didn't have much time
during the rest of the day to think and pray by myself. We did get to
spend a fair bit of time with Pastor Herve, which was amazing, and he
gave us a tour of his library for the Bible school. We also moved into
the married quarters, which were much better accomodations than we
enjoyed in the dorms.
The married quarters were much nicer than the dorms. Photo by Stephen Hermer
I did not take much in the way of video or photographs either, but after
collecting sea shells and going for my last abortive swim in the ocean,
I did take some photographs of the "pirate" sailboat (the one with the
torn foresail).
Even when I am choked with grief, I can always appreciate the beauty and grace of a sailboat. Photo by Stephen Hermer
We played Euchre in the evening, and I went to bed a bit early.