Wednesday, Feb. 2

Crossing border into Haiti.

Our day was delayed by the enemy, who got a foothold in a family member of our Haitian missionary Miguel. This spiritual attack threatened to postpone our travel across the border and wreck havoc on the plans God has for this mission. But God is in control and we were only put a few hours behind schedule, not a day — or worse.

Because of threatened, election-related violence in politically unstable Haiti, the border crossing was a gridlock. But God saw us clear of any hassles with customs officials and Haitian police manning roadblocks on the highway. We picked up our final team member, the eternally joyful Rosie, and headed back up the dusty unpaved roads leading into the mountains.

We stopped in Thoman to have Dr. Steve look at the mother of one of our church leaders there. She has a hideous tumor growing out of her mouth. In 1½ months it has grown to the size of a grapefruit. She is unable to eat, although she said there is no pain. Steve said he’d never seen anything like it. We immediately began making plans to get her to a hospital in Santo Domingo where, prayerfully, it can be removed. Please lift this in prayer to our Great Physician.

After this heart-wrenching stop we went to the new church at Thoman, which is a thing of beauty. This is the third church Climbing For Christ has built in Haiti, and each one has gotten better. Jordan, Miguel and I will be returning to the church on Thursday for the monthly seminary.

“People like, like, like,” Miguel said about the Thoman church. “For them, it is the first church.” Previously, the church worshiped in a community center shared by voodooists.

Pastor Luterne from the church at Thoman showed us the banana and plantain plants C4C provided three years ago. They are now bearing fruit and we ate the sweetest bananas that I believe God has ever made. The fruit and the church filled my heart with great joy.

From Thoman we traveled to Soliette, where members of the church at Gentilhomme were waiting to help carry our gear and medical supplies up the mountain to the village on a hill where God used us to build our first church in 2006. We climbed in the dark, which was a blessing because it was cooler than the heat of the afternoon. As we walked toward the church, school children sang the song our Mission: Haiti 2009 team had taught them: “Friend of God.“

That we are. And we pray they are, too.