Easter Sunday Update

Good afternoon. It is 1 pm on Sunday. This is Mark...

Yesterday we drove into the city and had an incredible lunch at the Hotel Christopher, one of Cap Haitian's nicest places. As we pulled into the walled complex, it was like stepping onto the set of the Hotel in the movie "Hotel Rwanda", complete with UN vehicles, a nice pool, and open-air patio, and an Enterprise Rent-A-Car sign at the front desk. We had steak or Creole chicken, fries, rice, and cold drinks. Then we headed to the Tourist Market, which was basically a row of about 30 side-by-side small sheds near the garbage-covered bay. We were the only clients yesterday afternoon, and we bought various trinkets, pottery, and of course the guys picked up Machetes.

We headed back to Don and Karen's and then over to the EBAC orhanage to interact more with the kids. Anna and Mindy got their nails painted, Mark and Ben took on some guys on in 2-on-2 basketball, and Jon, Jon, Alex, and Tony played 4-v-4 soccer against some 14-year-olds. An hour or so later, we were all drenched in sweat and dirt, especially Jon Miller, who took an acrobatic tumble over the 3-foot tall metal soccer goal. It was lots of fun, and sports have served as a common ground to get to know the boys at the orphanage.

This morning it was up at 5:30 to attend a missionaries-only sunrise service at the neighboring missionary school and complex. We think that about 50% (about 50 people) of all of the "blancs" (whites) in Cap Haitian were at the service. After a pot-luck breakfast, we were back at EBAC for the 9:00 am Easter Cantada Service. About 250 people packed into the building, with our group seated in the balcony. The 2-hour service, a combination of congregational singing, choir pieces, drama, prayers, readings, and a sermon, was in 100% Creole. We survived, and we all were actually quite impressed with the attention span of the many children who were present.

This afternoon we plan to visit a newly-forming orphanage being started by former orphans from EBAC (pretty cool, huh), and tomorrow we hope to do more food delivery in the morning.

Thanks so much for all of your comments - we have been printing them and passing them around.

Happy Easter! Jesus is alive and He rocks.