Thursday, April 11, 1998


Terry woke at 6:20 a.m. and again took a dip in the pool. Her ear was still clogged which made hearing difficult, but experience no pain. After a super meal of French toast and fresh pineapple our group loaded up and returned to the orphanage to hear our guest speaker, Diane Wagner. She was a nurse from Minnesota who had been here for 12 years sharing her medical skills and gentle caring nature. She shared briefly about the sisters work and the ministry of Mother Teresa. During her talk, several of the children spied John from their room and called out "John" and "Papa" to him. Our group returned to the hotel for 45 minutes of free time. Pam, Sally and Terry walked uptown to negotiate for woven baskets from street vendors. We then came back to meet as a group and enter into a time of silence. This was designed to turn our thoughts inward and be a time of relization. Thus it was a rather quite afternoon of sleeping, journaling, swimming, praying, relaxing and meditating. We ate a silent lunch of club sandwiches and Haitian cola. The only sounds heard were those of silverware clinking against plates. Using gestures Terry offered Tim some tobasco sauce for his bread, but he declined. After lunch, we continued our time of silence. Supper time got a bit too solemn so John began kicking Terry from under the table, trying to get her to laugh. He then poured salt into her water glass as another practical joke. Terry had to bite the back of her hand to keep from laughing. We left the dinner table with smirks on our faces. Terry did some reading and then napped until 9:00 p.m. when we met for worship and sharing. With the silence finally broken, we shared our week's experiences with one another and served communion. We finally turned in at 11:00 p.m.

Last updated April 18, 1998