Sunday, June 26th: Valley of Hope Church Service and a Haitian Wedding

                                                                                 Pastor Maxeau preaching on Sunday morning

                                                                                         Members of the choir singing

                                  A Haitian wedding-- Pastor Maxeau's children, Fred and Alisha are in the wedding service of the Pastor's sister

                                                                                                         The beautiful bride

Sunday, June 26^th

Today we departed at 7 a.m. for worship service at Valley of Hope Church (Pastor Maxeau’s church) in Bernard, Haiti. It is another 2 hour drive from our lodging to the church, but we are starting to learn landmarks along the way that help to gauge how long it will take to get to church.  I (Mandy) stopped wearing my watch today to experience how the Haitian culture focuses more on the relationships rather than just the time to be from point A destination to point B destination.  Case in point, after the church service today, the pastor’s sister is getting married. 

Though his children, Alisha and Fred are in the wedding and his wonderful wife needs to get ready for the wedding, they take time after church to prepare our meal. Pastor Maxeau also shares about God’s call on his life and his excitement about our program for the women on Monday.

Following the worship service, the pastor invites us to his sister’s wedding.  We load up in the back of the truck to let the pastor’s wife and family ride in the front. They all look so beautiful in their Sunday best for the wedding.

A Haitian wedding has an interesting twist on how children are involved. There are multiple pairings of boy and girl children from smallest to teenagers who walk down the aisle to a song and dance.  We also had a group of flower girls perform a dance down the aisle.  There were multiple songs, speakers, and a sermon about Adam and Eve.  Love was spoken of often and the joyful crowd rejoiced in this beautiful marriage union.  Pastor Maxeau explained to us that there is no divorce for the middle or lower class people in Haiti. They stay together and work things out. They marry for life. 

Our drive back to our lodging was joyful as Bernard, one of pastor Maxeau’s church members and his four children rode in the back of the truck with Steve, Kristine, Amanda, and me (Mandy).  Bernard’s daughter, Allison, is 17, the same age as Christine and speaks very good English. She told us that gospel singer Kirk Franklin is her favorite.  She sang to us the song the Hillsong chorus of “This is the air I breath.”  What a beautiful voice as the evening sets in on day two.

We finish the evening with some trail mix and our team’s evening devotional.