A Day of Worship

Greetings,

What a blessing it is to hear praises ringing to the Almighty God from completely different people groups and cultures - people from all over the world gathered today to worship - the same God! This morning we had the great privelege and humbling experience of going to the St. Marc prison. The YWAM staff has gained great favor in the eyes of this prison and it has allowed them to come and lead a worship service for the prisoners every single Sunday. I spoke at length with the Haitian YWAMer who leads this ministry and he said over half of them have already made commitments after just 1 year. It was a tough thing to see - the prison cells are all 20' by 20' and all of them were crammed full with 25-30 prisoners. It was worse than any of us thought it would look like. Phillipson (the Haitian who leads this) began singing to open the service and I was amazed at how loud and heartily the prisoners sang the songs. What an amazing place to minister the gospel of Jesus - to declare there is hope for these men and a God that loves them. The youth were able to do their drama in the prison and it still moves me everytime I see it. Afterwards we heard that a lady was speaking with men in one of the prison cells after the service and he asked what the drama had been about (he couldnt see because everyone else was cramming the prison bars) and she said she barely finished telling him and he immediately came forth and said bluntly "Pray for me." The Lord is using us in different ways and its rewarding to hear examples of how He is ministering to their hearts. I'm quite sure this is an experience none will forget. We have absolutely nothing to complain about.

We then had the weekly church service here at the YWAM base from 6-8pm. It is such a joy to see the way the Haitians worship the Lord. They spoke often tonight about the need for the people of this country to rise up and seek change in the name of Christ. The Lord is bringing change to this country and we feel honored to partner with them during these 10 days as they push forward. The kids did their drama again in the evening service and did such a good job. It has to be my favorite drama ever. We pray it was a blessing to those who saw it! We continue to feel your prayers and believe they are making a difference. At this point all 27 are still healthy and noone has felt ill. Janelle was able to be up and about today and we're trusting the Lord has it completely under control. Tomorrow we begin a long week of work, work, and more work. We will start to work on the Home of Hope in one of the poorest areas of Haiti and will continue building tin homes for Port-Au-Prince victims. Pray for strength, hydration, and good weather! We've been blessed so far with lots of clouds which drastically changes the heat - pray for more of them. May the Lord continue to be exalted in all that we say and do.