HUN Update, January 21, 2007

Hey, HUN.

Dear friends, family, and brothers and sisters in Christ: greetings from Haiti on this fine Sunday morning; I pray that your blessing have been great and that the Lord has seen fit to bestow bountifully upon you his gifts and favors...

So. I was reading the bible today, a favored pastime of mine that I ought to indulge more dutifully, and I read this: "And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like the pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him" (Matthews 5:7-8, NIV). It made me think about prayer in church. It seems that men and women of spiritual prowess, whatever that means, signify their "status" using extended prayers, which apparently isn't a good idea. But that got me thinking: aren't we supposed to pray? Which made me chuckle at myself. Of course we are: and we're supposed to shut up and listen. And that's my spiritual thought for the morning. On to the update.

This week was extra hectic, as evidenced by the lack of updates between now and last Sunday. We've been holding a conference here, and so there's been church every night, all week. So this is my eighth day of church, and tonight's service will be my last for a whole week. Will I be struck down by lightning if I admit that I feel a little relieved? The conference went wonderfully. The topic was "Prosperity: managing your time and assets to become more effective," or something like that. Pastor Jean preached every night. Can you imagine? I'm tired from attending church, but tonight will be his tenth unique sermon in eight days. Unbelievable. I would say that the man is invincible, but I see him at night when he gets home and I think he's looking forward to not having church tomorrow as much or more than I am.

Having said that, I feel compelled to alter my implications. Every day here is hard work, but it's hard work toward something I believe in, and that makes all the difference. I think it would be difficult to go back to the States after six months here and work, say, screwing caps on toothpaste tubes. Almost anything would be anticlimactic

Admission: I borrowed the toothpaste cap thing from the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book. It's Charlie's father's occupation until he gets replaced by a robot that does it automatically, faster, and cheaper. That makes me sad every time I read it; poor Charlie's dad. Just trying to make a living, you know. It's not like anybody really has a passion for toothpaste caps.

Moving on:

The first man I met here that wasn't part of Jean's family is... and look at that, I've already forgotten the name. I'm terrible with names. Anyhow, he's a massive guy (black, of course, but here those goes without saying) that was deported from the United States for organized crime-related felonies. The church has changed his life rather dramatically. I met him because he translates sometimes for me. Because he is from the States, he speaks very good English, and speaks with an accent that is more familiar to me and hence easier to understand.

I had a strange moment today when, as we were leaving, I patted him on the shoulder (Haitians hug and touch a lot--it's still weird for me, and I may never get completely used to it) and realized that he has massive shoulder muscles. He had just finished saying "it was good seeing you," and I blinked in surprise. He gave me a look of concern: "was I supposed to say something else?" I said something in Creole, which automatically excuses me from all inaccuracy, and left before I did anything else stupid.

Is that a weird story? But can you imagine patting a person on the should casually and feeling a muscle so large that it actually distracted you from your chain of thought? Well. I suppose this isn't getting me anywhere.

After all this time, I was thinking you should start learning Creole with me. So here's your Creole for the day:

How are you? : Como ou ye? (Coh-moh-ooh-yay)
I'm well! : Mwen bien! or M'bien! (Mway-bee-eh or mm-bee-eh, all silent "n"'s indicate a nasal vowel in the French manner.)
I'm blessed! : Mwen beni! or M'beni! (Mway-beh-nee or mm-beh-nee)

See? You're already practically a native speaker. And now it's time to wrap it up. Here's my contact information in case you've misplaced it:

Phone Number: 011-509-617-7720
Address for Letters: Pastor Jean Petit-Frére, P.O. Box 407139, Ft. Lauderdale, Fl, 33340
Address for Packages: Pastor Jean Petit-Frére, 2525 NW 55 Court, Hangar #24, Ft. Lauderdale, Fl, 33340

Important: Remember to address it to "Paster Jean Petit-Frére" and put "Attn: Dan" on the back of the envelope or package. Thanks!

God bless,

Dan