Day 6 - Montfort Institute Visit

After a morning devotion, hearty breakfast, and prayer for our safety for traveling, we piled up in the tap tap and took off for the Montfort Institute for the day.  We were able to view another part of Port au Prince, and it was busy with people selling things, buying things, and bartering.  When we arrived at Montfort Institute, our team met the students and they welcomed us by asking our names (over and over!). They were excited and curious about us and asked us many questions.  They also asked us over and over if we were deaf ("soud" in Kreole), and if the two team members were hearing.  They were just amazed that deaf and signing people from America would come and visit them.  The students also taught us a little about their culture - one of the married couples on our team was asked for their ages and they were surprised to find out that the wife is older than the husband and they thought the wife was the "head of the house" because she is older.  We later found out that in the Haitian culture, if the husband has a job, the wife submits to the husband.  If the wife has a job and the husband stays home, he submits to the wife.  If both of them have jobs, they are equal.

One of our team members loves dance and shared her dance moves with some of the students and the students shared their "Haitian" dance moves with us.  Some of us played the well known deaf game - the Elephant Game!  Our team brought activities - white boards for writing, blowing bubbles, sidewalk chalk, a parachute, jumpropes, and soccer balls.  One student loved the white board and constantly drew pictures and drew a beautiful picture by copying the design on our Healing Haiti T-shirts.  A couple of the kids jumped as the staff swung the jumpropes. We had two different sign languages there - American Sign Language and Haitan Sign Language - so communication was a challenge at times, but we made it through!  When the students interacted with the team, we used a lot of gestures and learned from each other different signs in ASL and Haitian Sign Language.  When it was time for the students to eat lunch, we left saying "I love you" as they lined up for lunch.  God is so good, giving us the opportunity to spend time with His children.

We are grateful to have had the opportunity to meet and visit with the students at Montfort.  The feelings we had in that environment were beautiful, priceless, hopeful, and joyful.  The team prays that the students continue their growth and education so they can become successful in the future.  We (and the students too!) look forward to when we will see each other again.

On the way back to the guest house, we also had the opportunity to shop for beautiful metal art.  The different designs on display by the vendors were gorgeous, creative and mind blowing.  There were many pieces of art that had beautiful Bible verses, words, images and symbols.  Creating such art from metal oil barrels takes great skill!  We had to find the perfect pieces of art for our friends and family back home.

During tonight's devotion, we discussed God's Vision from the book of Revelations. Our devotions have been on God's Story from "Sticky Faith Service Guide".  We had already discussed Good, Guilt, Grace, God's Family, Gratitude and now it was God's Vision.  The fact that we "get to" be a part of what the Lord is doing in this world is a wonderful truth to ponder.  We commented that we are a great team and have been working collaboratively this week.  The word of the day was shared by each team member and every word of the day from today is underlined in this blog.  Enjoy the pictures!

Tomorrow, we go to Grace Church in Titanyen, and then visit the children at Haiti Deaf Academy.  We truly appreciate your prayers and thoughts.  We feel God's guidance this week.  Please keep your prayers coming!!