{"id":2012,"date":"2013-03-24T19:38:02","date_gmt":"2013-03-25T00:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/?p=2012"},"modified":"2013-03-27T07:56:48","modified_gmt":"2013-03-27T12:56:48","slug":"joy-disappointment-sorrow-on-the-mountain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/?p=2012","title":{"rendered":"Joy, Disappointment, & Sorrow on the Mountain"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Headed<\/a>

Headed into the mountains<\/p><\/div>\n

JUST MERCY\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/em>made another trip to the mountains March 14 \u2013 16.\u00a0 \u00a0Rita S. and Brian had flown in on the 12th\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>to go with us. \u00a0They and some others have been helping to support the Chapelle teachers for the last year or so. Also on the journey were long time Haiti supporters Len & Suzette C., Manolo and Juani, and Haitian friends and helpers.\u00a0 We were going to attend the graduation of 51 students who had completed\u00a0THE GREATEST JOURNEY<\/strong>\u00a0course from Samaritan\u2019s Purse.<\/p>\n

This is the school whose building was destroyed last summer by Hurricane Isaac.\u00a0 They had been meeting in some stick and tarp shelters.\u00a0 We were surprised to find that for the graduation, some people in the community had taken down two of the poorest shelters and erected a larger, better built one to hold the graduation in.<\/p>\n

After an evening of singing at the school with the people, we headed to our night accommodations, ending up sleeping in 2-3 different small houses in “beds” and on mats on floors. \u00a0Bill and I climbed up on a bed that was about four feet off the ground.\u00a0 Though it was much quieter than Fonds-Parisien, it ended up being a very wakeful night since I had to throw a cat off the bed four times!!<\/p>\n

The next morning, the program started at the school. \u00a0Everyone was dressed up in their best.\u00a0 There was singing, a few speeches, a skit, and the presentation of framed statements to\u00a0JUST MERCY<\/span><\/strong><\/em>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Brian, and Rita, thanking us for the support and help with the school in Chapelle.\u00a0 Bill and I, Brian and Rita, took turns handing out the certificates and Bibles to the children.<\/p>\n

We had brought up groceries to make a meal for everyone.\u00a0 Sherlie and some helpers had worked all morning to cook it.\u00a0 Rita had brought plastic bowls for the 200 children at the school along with Ramen noodles and tuna, which we added to the \u201csauce\u201d for the rice and beans.<\/p>\n

\"Serving<\/a>

Serving lunch<\/p><\/div>\n

As it was being served, I was handed a bowl of food to eat while standing at the front of the structure.\u00a0 Four ragged little boys who\u00a0didn’t\u00a0attend the school were peeking in through a split in the front wall tarp. \u00a0I turned around and started spoon feeding them through the split.\u00a0 They were so shy that after a few bites, they ran away.\u00a0 So I went outside and around the tent to find them.\u00a0 Three of them came back and ate the rest of the food. \u00a0Even though we often feed hundreds of people like the school\u2019s 200 children plus more adults that day, there are always hungry people around you in Haiti.<\/p>\n

After the close of the program, Len and Bill spoke to the graduates and some parents who were there.\u00a0 They taught the gospel story, even illustrating it on a blackboard. We then loaded up the mules and hiked back to Pelerin to spend the night. \u00a0\u00a0Mommy, along with Sherlie\u2019s help, cooked a supper for us of chicken, rice, and beans.<\/p>\n

We slept once again in their small rock house. We had recently hired Daniel to go up and pour a smooth cap on that rough, rough porch and put in some steps. It was so much easier to get into now. \u00a0\u00a0Mommy had been clambering up onto that porch for years.<\/p>\n

On our trip up to the Pelerin school in February to do some specific teaching as a follow up to the Greatest Journey course they had completed, several of the students had indicated to us that they would like to follow the Lord in baptism. Sonel had asked the parents of these students to come to the school later so he could talk with them about it but as it turns out they had not come.<\/p>\n

\"Dellinois'<\/a>

Dellinois’ baptism<\/p><\/div>\n

Arrangements had been made for a small tank and the water to be hauled up the mountain to Pelerin in order to baptize the children who wanted to be. \u00a0Saturday morning we walked over to the school where the tank had been set up for the service. Only one student came to be baptized that morning, but we were glad to see that along with him came his elderly grandmother who also wished to be baptized. Jackson Cine, the seminary graduate who oversees the Chapelle school, baptized them both into Christ.<\/p>\n

At the same time this was going on, across the valley, wails were heard and we saw people running.\u00a0 Sadly, as often happens in the mountains due to lack of good medical care, a young mother had given birth that morning and both mother and baby died, reminding us all that man knows not his time. \u00a0\u00a0What great need there is both physically and spiritually in the mountains.<\/p>\n

We have been in Haiti for three years now and are constantly learning more about the people and culture.\u00a0 We are seeing the need for changes in what is being taught in Christian schools here and how it is being taught, including ours.\u00a0 We are asking ourselves questions like how can we do a better job teaching the children to love God and their neighbor as themselves as much of what we see here shows that young people coming out of these Christian schools are not showing evidence that their hearts and lives have been changed.<\/p>\n

Jackson is making plans to spend three days a week on the mountain at the schools teaching Bible and also having classes in the afternoon or evening for parents.\u00a0 Though \u201cchurches\u201d are scattered across the mountains, many pastors cannot even read the Bible and the level of ignorance is great.<\/p>\n

Please keep us in your prayers as this school year winds down in June and decisions are made about the future of JUST MERCY<\/span><\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 Thank you for your prayers and support.\u00a0 May God bless you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JUST MERCY\u00a0made another trip to the mountains March 14 \u2013 16.\u00a0 \u00a0Rita S. and Brian had flown in on the 12th\u00a0\u00a0to go with us. \u00a0They and some others have been helping to support the Chapelle teachers for the last year or so. Also on the journey were long time Haiti …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","has-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2012"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2036,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012\/revisions\/2036"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmercy.org\/WordPress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}