We head out to the Artisans Marche before going to worship. Hand embroidered men's shirts, women's blouses, and table runners. Long strapped purses made of burlap and lined with cotton prints or denim. Everything paid attention to detail. There were pockets in every purse, each with a zipper closure. Small handbags had loops on the back to slide over belts, zippers on top to close, and an embroidered peace dove on the front. There were many paintings, both on canvas and metal. The people of Haiti, carrying buckets on their heads, gathering produce, washing clothes, kids playing, goats on ropes and of course palm trees and mountain views. What a wonderful way to take a little piece of Haiti life home.
Jerry bought a cotton skirt for Erin and a mobile of fish made of paper mache and painted brightly for Scotty's new room. Kassy got a great deal on a carved tea pot, tray and tea cups. Darryl bought a beaded necklace and bracelet, and an embroidered blonde cotton dress shirt for worship. Most of the girls took home a burlap sachel (purse) that slung way down the hip. I purchased one of the burlap sachels, plus an adorable multi-colored hand purse made of candy wrapper litter. Each wrapper was folded and woven into a zigzag pattern and could get wet, due to the plastic nature of each wrapper. I also picked up a paper mache mobile for Dane made of flying hummingbirds for his rainforest bedroom. A beaded shell necklace for Mikayl, embroidered card for Ashley, and a denim embroidered change purse for Erin. Before we knew it, worship was beginning, so we hurried over to the pavilion to join in the singing.
The Haitians beamed as they played the new instruments to the Lord. They sang their hearts out as the entire congregation joined in.
Pastor thanked God for our visit and asked me to introduce the team. Then we sang, and sang, and sang, for almost an hour. Then Pastor asked if anyone had anything to say, a song to sing, or a testimony to give. One person after another stood up and poured their heart and emotion out to God. A young man told us how much God had done in his life and then sang a song to God constantly raising his arms to the sky praising his Savior. An elderly woman said a prayer and sung "Trust & Obey" to God. Two girls came forward and sang, "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High" in Englise (English), and all us Americans chimed in each chorus. Such joy in the air, thanksgiving and grace abounded.
Pastor asked if we had anything to say or sing. So Jerry asked if he could play a song he had wrote and recorded for our church at home. Pastor agreed "WI!" (yes). So I explained how I had asked Jerry to write the song about our values at Concord UMC and how our youth made a video with it. Then Ulrick translated into Haitian Creole. Jerry played "Our Values" on the new sound equipment and everyone cheered afterward. Ulrick then explained how important it is to continue reaching out to the young people and thanked Jerry for doing that with his own music. He also thanked Jerry for helping the church reach out to the young with all the new equipment. Everyone clapped in agreement and thanksgiving.
About an hour and a half into worship, Pastor invited me up to preach. I preached on 1 Timothy 1.12-17, reminding everyone that we've been set free to live a life of goodness and love toward God and neighbor. I used the illustration of animals in Haiti being tied by ropes to weeds and trees in the fields and how God has set us free from sin and death, but we often live like we are still tied up. We continue to eat of the old life: greed, lust, selfishness. Instead, we have been untied and can roam the earth with Christ eating goodness, kindness, mercy and love. When I got to the good news that Satan had lied to us all, making us believe we were still tied up, but in reality we were free through the death and resureection of Jesus, they all started to "Amen!" one after another. I told them to look at their rope. It was neither tied to a weed on one end or their throat at the other, but they were free indeed, free to love God and neighbor. They continued to praise God with "Amen" after "Amen". We finished worship with a few more songs and wrapped up in prayer, led by Pastor Frank. A wonderful beginning to a wonderful day.
Pastor Paul and his wife planned a surprise birthday party for Kassy after worship. As soon as we could break away from all the dancing women in the church, we headed back to Paul's porch for an absolutely incredible homemade cake baked in two solar ovens. The cake was extremely moist and melted in our mouths. The frosting was tinted the exact color of magenta purple that Kassy's shirt and skirt were. No coincidence, I am sure. They saw her get dressed, and must have assumed it was her favorite color. When we asked what flavor was used to make the beautiful color, Ainable (Amob) said, "kool-aid!" We all laughed. We were expecting the name of some exotic fruit or something. Kool-aid. Ha!
Soon we headed out for our first major excursion out of the HAPI compound. Basin Bleu is one of the most increadible natural wonders I have ever happened upon. Others that come to mind are Niagara Falls and a river Jerry had taken us to in North Carolina when we visited once. It was filled with larger than life boulders, creating a picturesque oversize playground of nature.
The trek to Basin Bleu was incredible. We walked up one mountain and down another, from ledge to ledge, slipping on loose rocks, ducking around prickery bushes, all while gasping at the God-given view. Most of the way, we could see the entire city of Jacmel, the ocean, the mountain ranges, and the valley below all at the same time. We kept stopping to take more fotos (photos). It was just so incredibly spectacular.
From a distance, we began hearing the voices of others laughing, playing, enjoying the water. All told, it took amost two hours to actually reach the basin. First we saw small tributaries with creek size river water flowing over small rocks. Women were washing clothes, while others were bathing. Children played oblivious to the beauty of it all. This first basin reached 16' deep.
We continued to follow our local guides, stepping from one rock to the next, until it was time to cross a deeper section. The initial plunge to about thigh high took our breath away in 80 degree air. The tributaries began turning and twisting before heading to the second basin. A guide shared that this basin reached depths of 57'. It was the most beautiful blue shades, from currulean, to aqua, to cobalt, depending on the depth.
We continue climbing and turning, twisting and jumping from rock to rock. And then we climb a concrete formed staircase up and up, and up some more until we are on a ledge no more than 3' wide... and with no safety rails! We all lean in toward the mountain and don't look down much. Next thing we hear, there is a rope we need to repel in order to find the third basin.
Pastor Frank was near the front of the pack and I overheard him say, "That's not a rope! That's twine!" Yikes! Then the news started making it down the line and most seemed quite surprised. So one by one, more than twenty of us repelled the side of the mountain rock about 20' to a huge rock below. Once arriving at the bottom it didn't look nearly as bad as it did from the top.
Then a guide helped each of us walk across a rock covered with rushing water between basin two and basin three. Once across the rushing water, we finally got a glimpse of the largest, deepest basin, the one with a waterfall.
It was incredibly surreal, like something you'd see on a sci-fi movie or something. There was a huge prehistoric boulder that most of us climbed up on. It was surrounded on all sides by water that reached 75' deep. From there you could see the waterfall and the multi-level rocks that reached up to the top of the waterfall. We quickly decided it would be stupid for anyone to jump from these boulders. They were probably 20, 30 and 40 feet from the water. Then, before you know it, we see Jerry making the climb to the 40' one. I thought, "No way! He won't!" But he did. All of us got out our cameras and just waited. A Haitian jumped first. That's all it took for Jer. He looked over the edge then backed up, and then ran and jumped! I couldn't believe it. I got a picture of him in pure flight just so I can show people just how stupid a move it was.
Well, one stupid does, other stupid follows. So Tom climbs up and jumps off the same platform. I just kept saying, "I can't believe they did it!" But surely they had. No one else was quite brave enough to even try it, except Jaime. Jerry was smart enough as team leader to tell her no, not until she was 18 first. Thanks be to God!
So all the girls and Cooley swam around the fall and climbed on the lower platform for diving. Jaime dropped a cannonball that was heard around the world! OUCH!!!
Finally, I got the guts to jump off the large boulder and swim across the 75' deep basin to the falls and jump from the lower platform as well. Those who know me wll were quite impressed. I won't even go in the deep end of a pool. But this place was magical. I just couldn't leave without trying. It wouldn't have been right. So we eventually all climbed back up the mountain by using the rope, shimmied back along the 3' wide ridge, climbed down the concrete steps, jumped across the boulders and rocks, waded through the basin waters and returned to the mountain trails whence we came. We had hired a van to pick us up because we were told the return walk took upwards of 3 hours all up hill. The 2 hour mostly downhill trek there about killed us, so we were really proud of our decision at the this point... well, until we saw our van.
It was basically a mini van with seating for about 12. We had 23! So we piled in, hip, to hip, to hip, and were still about four short. We began placing the lighter girls on two laps each, the left thigh of one and the right thigh of another.... up a very bumpy mountain road. It took waayyy longer than anticipated due to the extra weight on board. There was no spring left and the body sat down near the tire tread. By the time we reached home, eight of us had numb thighs, while four had sore heads from occasionally hitting the roof. Had some great conversations though with our many new friends. What an experience. What a basin. What a day!!
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