After my pastor left we drove into the city to meet with Holly again about the new "mommy" program at Life is Wealth. There are still so many logistical things to work out with that program so this was yet another brainstorming meeting with a plan to then go to Life is Wealth to observe and work with Pastor to begin to formulate a plan of action so we can get these women into the orphanage as soon as possible .
But, like often happens in life (and especially in Haiti) things didn't go as we planned. The brainstorming meeting was great but then as we were driving to the orphanage we saw some debris on the road-put there to alert people to slow down. As we slowed we saw a man laying on the side of the road in a fetal position rocking back and forth. There was a crowd down the street looking in his direction but car after car kept driiving past him without even a glance. I have to admit even getting Redgi out of the car to talk to the man was difficult and he explained later how it is just that Haitians have seen too many situations like this and are afraid to get involved. (that seemed to be the story with the group down the road because once we got out of the car they came over and were even a bit helpful).
Anyway-after talking to the young man he told us that he was from CHANTAL (the closest town to Chaveneau-our former ministry site five hours away). He had run away from home after a fight with his family four days prior and was now in Port au Prince with no phone, no money, had not eaten in a day and he just wanted to go home. Oh how he cried and seemed so lost and sad.
He told us his family would welcome him home if he could get there. So we helped him into the Jeep and took him to the place where he could catch a bus to go south. On the way we found he had been laying in the street four to five hours before we stopped. Both Holly and I talked to him ( her in Creole and me through Redgi). We mentioned that "Bondye renmen ou". (God loves you) but I have to admit conversation was limited so we really barely talked. Later while Redgi was out of the Jeep buying food and a bus fare for the man, he turned to me and said, " i would like to accept Christ". Praise God Holly was in the car because she explained things to him to be sure of his intentions and then led him in prayer while I sat beside him praying for his life.
I would like to tell you how we presented the gospel to this man and how we led him to Christ but honestly we spent more time finding details about where he lived , who we might mutually know since I know people there with his same family name, asking him his story from the past four days, etc.... Besides telling him that God loved him we said nothing more about Jesus prior to HIM asking us if he could accept Christ. It was all so fast... but the Holy Spirit did prompt me to give him the phone number for a good pastor I know in the Chantal area. Redgi also gave his phone number to the man. We prayed that he will indeed return home and that his family will accept him back. We prayed that his decision to follow Christ will be true and real and he can connect with my pastor friend to grow in his relationship with the Lord .
Just another example of how God doesnt expect us to do anything but be obedient and available. HE will do the rest. Praising Him that we listened to the voice inside that said, "stop-there is a man in distress there" and were not too focused on our agenda that we missed this blessing.
(note: We got to the orphanage too late to have the meetings we had planned so I stayed there for a few hours of time with the children while Redgi took Holly home. Today is another day. I wonder what He has for us all? I pray we are focused on HIS agenda and not ours.)
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