On this day I found myself in Haiti with Dana and Marilyn White, Irving and Sandra West, and my son Tim. We were in the middle of a 10 day trip there to help our Friends rebuild their homes destroyed in the earthquake on January 12, 2010. This was my second trip to assist in these activities, and as in the first trip,
Sundays are always very special days of fellowship with our Haitian Friends.
We began our day, by leaving the convention grounds in Cabaret at 5 AM for a 3 hour trip to Jacmel for Sunday morning meeting. There are two meetings at Jacmel, but Dan planned for us to go into the mountains north-east of Jacmel to Jean Rabel's home for meeting. We drove for over 45 minutes (8 - 10 miles) into the mountains, parked our Nissan Patrol, and walked the final quarter mile to the meeting place. Dan and his co-worker Yves, and the 6 of us joined about 25 Haitians for meeting that morning. ( There were 6 Haitian Friends who actually spoke in the meeting that morning.) Dan interpreted their testimonies into English, and our testimonies into Creole. We enjoyed a very rich spiritual fellowship meeting with those people.
Yves' spoke from the Book of Ruth some things that appealed very much to me. He said that life within the Family of God ( Israel) is unlike any other life experience on earth. He said that when Naomi began to return to Israel from the land of Moab, she knew this, and turned to her two Moabitish daughters-in-law, and told them that there was nothing in Israel that would appeal to their flesh, and she instructed them to return to their people. Orphah returned, but Ruth indicated to Naomi that she wanted to go into the land of Israel, saying that "your people shall be my people, your God shall be my God, and where you die, there will I die." Yves said that the Lord hears our words ( purposes), and opens all of the treasures of His Kingdom to us as we keep true to our purpose to dwell with Him. Yves said that nothing can take these things away from us. For Ruth it meant that she would become the wife of King Boas, and part of the human lineage of Jesus, and as Naomi, she would live and die in Israel.
As I listened to Yves testimony of Ruth's experience, my mind went back to the many times Sally would speak from the Book of Ruth, and specifically the many thoughts that she would have from Ruth's experience. Over the years, as Sally would speak of Ruth, I began to see that she saw her own experience as a similar experience. When she was 15 years old, the Gospel came to her mother, who was not satisfied with the form of worship that they had. After Sally's mother came into the Lord's Family, her father returned to the church organization that they were previously part of, but during the years that followed, Sally showed, that she too desired to enter into the Lord's Family, and enjoy the things that she saw her mother enjoying.
After meeting, the remainder of our day was filled with wonderful experiences with our Friends in Haiti.. We had two complete dinners before leaving Jacmel. We visited with young Friends, with families, and even with contacts that Dan had made when he brought the Gospel to that region years before. Only after the day was well spent did we begin our 3 hour journey back to Cabaret. We arrived long after bedtime,
very weary from all of the riding ( 9 of us packed into the Nissan Patrol), but filled with rich memories of the Gospel Work in these wonderful people. Everyone immediately went to the bunkhouse for a nights rest.
I actually had gone to bed when I realized that I wanted to thank Yves for his testimony in the morning meeting, so, getting back up I went over to him and thanked him for what he spoke. I explained why the Book of Ruth was so precious to us.. During the course of the conversation, Yves asked me,
"How long has it been since Sally passed away?" Hesitating for a minute, I asked Tim who had his cell phone in hand,
"What is today's date?" He replied,
"September 19th." I replied to Yves,
"Today is the second anniversary of her death." Yves testimony this day was a wonderful tribute to Sally and brought us great comfort and joy on this anniversary of her passing.
Alan, Dick, Yves
Postscript: My days are filled with the greatest blessings and joys one could have in this life. I do miss Sally, but I am grateful for our Heavenly Father who sees and knows, and cares and provides more abundantly than we can comprehend.
