As I wrote yesterday evening, after dinner last night, the Bohoc Leadership Council came out to the guest house to share the evening with us. What a special time this was for everyone, and what an honr it was to have these amazing people come out to where we were to meet with us. Provided below is a summary transcript of the evening...
Participants:
Jedlain, The 410 Bridge (410)
Ronald, 410
Adias, Bohoc President, Leadership1 (BLC)
Edmund (Tompy's brother and our driver), BLC
Destorel, BLC
Jepseh, BLC
Emma, BLC
Filli, BLC
Dave, Team Haiti 2012/April (Team)
Denise, Team
Robert, Team
Tracy, Team
Keith, Team
Bill, Team
Julie, Team
Melinda, Team
Connie, Team
Brit, Team
Note 1: Seven council members were, unfortunately, not able to sttend this meeting; among them, was my friend Jerome Jeffard, who's Vice President of the BLC and who's also Jedlain's father.
Summary Transcript:
Adias...
[Note: All the BLC members, who shared with us, did so in Haitian Creole'; Ronald interpreted for the Team.]
Thank you for coming to be with us.
The same God Who brought you here will take you home...
And then bring you back!
Jepseh...
Thank you for your presence here with us over the last week.
It is very important to us that you left your country to come and be with us.
Thank you to each of you for all your work.
Sorry we couldn't all be with you.
Even though you're leaving, let's stay connected in prayer.
We're going to miss you; please come back.
We wish you a safe trip back home; please give our best regards to your home church.
Destoral...
Welcome!
Now, it's time to thank you all for all you did in coming to be with us.
I'm asking God to pour out His blessings upon you.
Pray for us, and we will pray for you.
Emma...
On behalf of the community, THANK YOU for coming!
You left your community and families and work to come be with us.
We were very excited about you having so much fun with our kids and for your working so hard with us.
We want to see you come back.
Adias...
How was your experience in the community?
Bill...
[Note: All the Team members that shared did so in English; Ronald interpreted for the BLC.]
Thanks so much for your hospitality and for the warm welcome and love you showed us.
Words cannot express the joy working with you and sweating with you and singing along with you brought to our hearts.
I loved the fellowship, the laughter, and the fun we shared; that was, by all means, my favorite part of the trip...just spending time with you.
This trip was VERY short, but VERY sweet.
I definitely look forward to seeing you next year...unless God makes it sooner (!!).
Melinda...
When God called me to come here, I didn't know what to expect. He had a plan and wanted me to see things.
The people here are very beautiful (except for Ronald!); I love their hearts!
I love the work ethic of the people...that they welcomed our help, that we all had fun together, that they let me sing their songs with them (even though I'm not a good singer), and that they let me catch their spiders.
The people opened up; the children were beautiful; God was in all our hearts.
We'll be back next year, and we should know more Creole' by then!
Brit...
Thank you for inviting us into your community.
It's a beautiful country, and it has beautiful people (except for Ronald!).
I applaud everyone on their work ethic.
I loved seeing more and more of the community come out to join us.
Thank you for letting us work with you at doing things we don't normally do!
Thanks for letting us be with the children.
Thank you for being so beautiful.
Tracy...
Thank you for sharing your community with us.
It's very difficult to leave you.
You have forever changed who I am by sharing yourselves with me.
The love you have for one another and for our Lord, Jesus Christ, has changed me, and I will never be the same.
I will miss you all very much, but I will look forward to seeing you all again next year.
Robert...
Thank you for allowing us to spend time with you all.
This was my second trip here.
You never cease to amaze me.
We come from a very wealthy country, but we can learn so much from all of you.
I love witnessing how a community works together in the way God intended.
Connie...
Thank you for allowing us and entrusting us to come in and work together with you.
It doesn't matter where we come from--we're still members of the same body.
It's really nice to work alongside my brothers and sisters to fulfill God's purposes.
I appreciate so much the thought and planning that has gone into creating your community.
May God grant you increased vision and power as you press on.
You have touched my heart deeply, and I have felt very honored to be a part of this team.
I will pray God's blessings on you.
Thank you!
Keith...
Thank you for having us.
There was not one place where I went where i was not welcomed or where I didn't feel the presence of God.
I'll be back!
Dave...
This was my third trip to your village.
I'm so impressed with all of you, and I love all of you so very much.
I consider this a second home for me, and I plan to keep coming back here as often as I can and for as long as I can.
As I observe and think about you, I keep coming back to how you collectively remind me of two characters in the Bible.
The first is Nehemiah...a man who was raised up by God to come alongside God's people in the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem, the rebuilding of their beloved city, and in the restoration of their dignity as God's chosen people.
I believe that God is using you similarly right here in Bohoc.
The second person you remind me of is John the Baptist. Just as we spent this past week, widening and smoothing out the roads in town, and just as John the Baptist made a way for the coming of Jesus, so too are you being used of God to prepare the way for an increase in His presence, favor, and blessing.
I feel so very humbled to be able to see a little of this and, even, to be a small part of it.
I wish to speak a word of blessings into your lives...
May God bless you richly, and may His anointing rest upon each of you as He works uniquely in you to accomplish His purposes and to work in and through you as you work to rebuild Bohoc and to create a new Haiti.
Thank you for letting us be a part of all of this.
Adias...
We are very happy and very excited and feel heart-broken over your words. We are very touched.
So...before leaving us, we would like to stand together with you in prayer. As you are promising to come back, we are looking forward to seeing you again.
In closing, I want to share an old Haitian saying: "Two mountains can't meet, but two people can."
Jedlain...
I am excited.
I am rejoicing to be with you once again tonight.
I have proof that while our skin is different, we have the same heart.
The time we spent here together is not lost time.
We will miss you very much...not just for your work but for our shared love.
Thank you to each of you who came.
Thank you for the way you had fun with us and poured out your hearts into us.
God will bless you for everything.
Give this message to your church: We love them!
---
On behalf of Team Haiti 2012/April, may God bless us all--every one!
Dave
No comments:
Post a Comment