DAY 7 - Finals & Leading Folks to Christ

Patty w/ a beautiful Haitian princess!

Karen laughing her head off w/ some of the girls @ the City Soleil tent city

Presenting the Bolivian folk dance at the tent city City Soleil

The team presenting the gospel drama to residents of the tent city

Sharing personal testimony & the gospel of Jesus to Haitians in City Soleil

Many Haitians accepting an invitation to receive Christ as their Lord & Saviour

Larry w/ a young man who just gave his life to Christ in the tent city!

City applying flouride treatment to one of the little boys in the tent city to help prevent cavities

The dental team of Lilian, Cintha, Karen & Carla getting ready to attend to some more kids in the tent city!

The team started out today with a lot of expectation, but knowing we needed God's help in getting a lot done before the end of the day. The Lord was with us, and it was far & away our most fruitful day of ministry.

The day started out w/ a twist, we'd thought we'd be returning to the small tent city, within walking distance from the base, but as we were walking out the door we were informed that we'd be loading up in the truck & heading back to the well known City Soleil tent city (where we're forbidden to go the day before b/c there were reports of cholera cases there). We were excited, the girls were really happy, b/c they'd wanted to go back there, & were disappointed we hadn't gone the day before (in other words, not really worried about a few cases of Cholera).

We loaded up the truck w/ everything we had - native costumes for the folk dance, gear for the drama, little soccer goals to play some soccer w/ the lads there, Flouride gel to clean the kids' teeth w/ & other materials to minister to kids with. Once we got there, the guys immediately pitched in to help fill in a couple of large mud holes in the ground w/ some filler dirt, so there could be a flat place to play soccer. After making the rounds, shaking hands w/ the 'Prezidant' of the tent city commitee & playing w/ some kids - the team got ready to present the Bolivian dance for the 1st time in Haiti! There was no electricity or sound equipment, so we used the small, portable radio/cd player we'd brought from Bolivia. The sound was terrible, but we were giving the presentation to around 100 people, who're crammed underneath a black tarp, attempting to escape the brutal Haitian sun.

The group really liked the dance & our team immediately followed-up w/ the drama, which was an even bigger hit! After we gave a brief synopsis of the story, & Larry gave part of his testimony, the invitation was given for people to receive the Lord & give their lives over to him. About a dozen women & 1 young, brave man gave their lives over to the Lord this morning. We were all moved to see how the Lord moved in such a short time & how hungry the people were for the God.

Following a brief celebration for their decision to accept Christ, we started up a soccer match between Haitians & our S. America team (3 Bolivians & 1 Brazilian who'd accompanied us w/ his wife as well). Meanwhile the girls got to work, cleaning young kids' teeth w/ the flouride gel to help prevent cavities. We carried on until midday & the morning was declared a smashing success!

Team #5 & eventual, surprise champions of the tourney

Team #6 is ready to do battle on the court

The soccer action gets intense

3 Haitian girls sharing some of their songs & charisma for the camera

I beg your pardon sir

2 precious little ones

Another friend we made who's unique style stood out

Yovana doing some face painting in the back of the truck, as the other girls give Flouride, dental treatment

Cinthia cleaning teeth in the back of the truck

Lilian giving a flouride treatment to a young boy

Analia, maintaining order in the line to receive dental treatment

Presenting the gospel drama as night closes in at the tent city

We had lunch back at the base. Got cleaned up, and ready to head out w/ Christian & Marie (the Brazilian couple), Anasias (our faithful Haitian translator), Dani, part of the YWAM - Kona, Hawaii team, and a new guy who was helping w/ the interpreting called Jean-Wyclef! We packed into the back of the old Ford truck, ambitiously hoping to finish up 4 soccer matches, do our drama, give people an opportunity to accept Christ, clean teeth, hand out the medals & call it a day. We left on time, loaded up w/ the generator in back & set off for the largest tent city in Port-au-prince of 45,000 people. We pulled into the tent city a little after 3:15, the sun was still very strong, and thankfully the organizers from the commitee already had a jump on getting the teams (& goals) in place & ready to play.

Our plan was to play the 4 matches, clean the kids teeth and then present our drama & invite people to receive the Lord & finally hand out the medals. The team agreed the guys would focus on getting the matches played & not dispersing so much in other activities like we had the day before. Enrique officiated again, while Edwin & Jorge worked the lines. The games went on w/o any problems, save one heated argument between coaches during the 1st semi-final match, that one of the players played on a club team. We hadn't set any rules one way or another about that but, they eventually calmed down & played w/o a hitch. One of the semi-final matches & the final went down to penalty kicks. The finals saw an upset & overall the tournament was a success.

While the matches were played the girls lined up the little kids & one by one cleaned hundreds of kids' teeth, having to tend to them in the back of the truck so as to not get mobbed. Crowd control was ALWAYS an issue at the big tent city. The kids would just mob you, and it was nearly impossible to get any space. While Karen, Cinthia (our dentist in training), Lili & Carla treated the kids in the truck, Analia helped maintain some semblance of order with the kids in line & Yovana painted kids' faces. Abdel was constantly surrounded by kids or teens trying to practice their Spanish with him. Patty was overseeing, taking pictures & loving on some of the sweet little girls that had attached themselves to her.

It was a glorious afternoon. The team worked their tails off & showed a lot of love to all present. The games went on right until sunset & after the final penalty was made, we rushed in place to present the drama just before dusk. There was an enormous crowd, & again it was a battle to try & control the mass of people trying to get a closer look at the team while they're presenting the drama. It was without a doubt the most intense presentation the team had done. The crowd went through the whole spectrum of emotions laughing, confused, angry & then cheering the triumphant ending.

The door was wide open.

We gave a brief explanation & invitation to receive Jesus, translated by Anasias, & so many hands went up, we couldn't even count. They prayed to accept Christ in the now dark of the night. The truck made it's way over to the console where Larry & Anasias had been speaking & Patty gave the medals over to the head of the commitee to give to the kids. By this time, everyone was already up in the truck, but the crowds were really pressing against the vehicle. Many of the kids were demanding their trademark, 'Give me 1 dollar.' Anasias had stayed w/ the sound guys & we couldn't figure out why until some of the guys from the commitee started hoisting the large speakers up into the truck. All of the sound equipment belonged to the base, & had to be loaded up. It's pitch black now, the folks are really restless, not used to having visitors this late at night in the tent city, many of them trying to climb on or in the truck where the team was. About that time about 4 UN soldiers showed up, w/ flashlights & an authority that kept the guys at bay. We loaded up the sound equipment and were off.

What a day. Our last full day of ministry in Haiti!

We got back to the base, ate, had our team meeting. Everyone thanked God for His protection today & then had a beautiful time of worship. The perfect day. God is so faithful. Makes you feel unworthy to have been used & have been part of such a wonderful moment. Thanks for praying for us . . . we certainly felt covered in prayer today!