ANCESTRY DAY. January 2

Yes, Haiti starts out the new year with two national holidays in a row. Really this week will be a week of celebrations in Haiti ending after January 6th, Epiphany.  We plan to use today to 'catch up' on a few school subjects before jumping into full school days this week.

Yesterday's sermon focused on Haiti's Independence Day with a review of their history and the observation that while liberty came 208 years ago that people can only find true freedom in the Lord who not only frees us from sin but the consequences of sin, death.

 The church filled up fast so during the special music Eli, Anna and Cory brought in the benches from the gazebo and our lawn chairs but still children ended up on cement blocks in the back. Think the team needs to make a few more church benches in February.

The church decorations consisted of some plastic flowers out front. A few curtains in the windows or wrapped around the cement pillars. Behind the pulpit, on the wall and covering a door a shinny gold bedspread hung with the matching pillow on the pulpit and the heart shaped pillow on the front of the pulpit. Very festive looking.

Saturday we received two gifts of fresh beef from neighbors and Sunday two dishes of pumpkin soup-Haiti's traditional Independence day meal.

The pumpkin soup is a think soup with noodles, meat, and vegetables beside pumpkin. The French would not let the slaves eat pumpkin which is why it became the food of independence. Yummy!

Occasionally someone butchers a cow on a Saturday morning and lets us know incase we would like to buy some but this has not happened in the last couple of months because people save up for the New Year celebrations.