I Would Go With You To the Ends of the
Earth
Author's note: Clay owns himself and his own name. I only wrote the words
to the story.
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Day Four - Monday, June 19
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That morning at the Miami airport
Closing his eyes with a deeply satisfied sigh, Clay drew Kate's arms tighter around him, pulling her close as she pressed her face up against his back. It was in moments like this, when the two of them were wrapped up in each other's arms, that Clay felt most content... and blessed. "I love you, Kate," Clay whispered for the second time that morning.
"I love you, Clay," Kate responded, giving him a light squeeze.
Adam shook his head at the couple. "Do you two ever come up for air?"
"Nuh-unh," Clay quipped. "Never."
Sarah smirked. "So at last you admit it..." she snickered as she accepted her passport and ticket from the airline counter attendant.
Clay nodded, a warm smile on his face. "She's my addiction."
"That's my line," Kate mumbled into his back.
"Newlyweds," Will muttered.
Quickly Sarah shook her head. "Will, that's not the only reason they act that way." Finding amusement at Will's puzzled frown, Sarah clarified. "Don't forget how Mom and Dad Kirche are with each other," she reminded him.
"Oh, gads..." Will groaned. "You mean they're gonna be like this the rest of their lives?"
"I hope so." Kate placed a gentle kiss between Clay's shoulder blades.
"Probably," Sarah acknowledged, making Will groan all over again.
Taking her own passport and ticket from the attendant, Sally heaved a relieved breath. "Okay, that's all of us. We're ready for security checks."
Once more the team members were subjected to the usual procedures before they were taken to their waiting room. "Pastor," Frank began, "are we going to see John while we're down there?"
"Yes," Pastor Macy responded. "He's meeting us here at the airport and taking us to the ELCH headquarters before we head out to Jérémie. Later in the week he has one or two visits to make in the Jérémie area. Right now the plan is for him to join us again in Jérémie some time on Saturday. He'll spend the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday with us as we return to Port-au-Prince on Sunday night."
"All right," Wayne grinned.
Clay lightly squeezed Kate's hand to catch her attention. "Who's John?" he whispered.
"John Callahan," Kate whispered back, "is the LCMS long-term missionary to Haiti. He comes from this church."
"Wow," Clay breathed. "What does he do?"
Noting Kate's uncertain expression, Sally continued the explanation. "He's the Communications Liaison for the ELCH and LCMS. Basically he's been helping the individual congregations of the ELCH work together as a united synod. It's a lot of coordination work, a lot of reporting back to the LCMS. He's also been working on a lot of projects to help them become self-sufficient."
Clay gave a low whistle, impressed. "He has a big job."
"That he does," Sally stated. "And he does it really well."
Kate grinned at him. "I met John in 2002 when he joined our team down in Les Cayes. He's a neat man, full of faith and humor. Big teddy bear."
Clay snickered at Kate's last assessment. "How did the 2004 uprisings affect him?"
Sally thought for a minute. "For a while he was forced to headquarter out of Miami instead of Port-au-Prince. He didn't think he was ever going to get to return to Haiti, but God worked it out."
Once more airport personnel came for the mission team, and within minutes the group was seated on the plane bound for Port-au-Prince. Clay fastened his seat belt, trying to keep his nervous energy focused on the time ahead. Soon we're going to be in Haiti, he mused. It's going to be like nothing I've ever experienced. Clay had heard all of Kate's stories and seen her pictures and read her Haiti journal, but even then he wasn't sure he knew exactly what to expect. This leg of the trip, like the Omaha to St. Louis flight, would last about an hour... it wasn't going to be long now.
Shortly after they were in the air the attendants came around to pass out refreshments... and paperwork. Will glanced over the two documents he had been given, a Customs Declaration form and a card labeled "Haiti International E/D Card". This looks fun... Fortunately the group had been given information on how to fill these documents out correctly, and Will tackled them with little hesitation. The Customs form was the easy part - name and address, birth date and nationality, passport number, purpose of trip was pleasure, and he had nothing to declare in any section listed. The International E/D card wasn't much different - address, visiting for pleasure... Once they entered the airport, supposedly the Customs form would be given to the Customs people. Will hoped that he could blunder his way through the rest.
All too quickly the plane began its descent into Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital. Clay bit his bottom lip with nervous anticipation. Kate reached over and took his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. Turning to her, Clay gave her a warm smile. This may not have been his first experience out of the country, but it promised to be a very interesting experience. Clay suspected that this trip would somehow change their lives... though it was too early for him to guess at how. He stole a first glance out the window and immediately turned back to stare in awe. Oh my gosh... Clay gaped at the grubby, run-down appearances of the majority of the buildings as the plane continued its downward path. In some ways many of the colors he saw were bright and stark, but in other ways they appeared dingy and forbidding. Kate placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, telling him with that gesture that she surprisingly understood. After all, there had been a "first time" for Kate as well...
"This place is one big slum," Will breathed from behind the couple.
"Pretty much," Kate agreed, her eyes sad as she too gazed out the window.
The plane landed on the runway at Toussaint Louverture International Airport and slowly taxied towards the terminal. "Oof," Kate complained, her nose wrinkling feverishly with every face she made. "I don't remember it smelling this bad."
Clay grinned at her comments and her expressions. He remembered from his research that pregnant women often had a heightened sense of smell. "Who knows." Heightened smell or not, Kate did have a point. An unmistakable odor hung in the air, one that could have any number of origins. "What is that smell, anyway?"
Waving her hand in front of her nose, Kate quickly speculated. "Part diesel exhaust, part body odor, part sewage, and who knows what else."
Blech. Clay heard the hatch of the plane open, and the smell hit him twice as strong as it had a few minutes ago. He glanced at Kate to see how the increased intensity of the smell was affecting her, and saw that she looked a little green. Uh-oh. Taking her in his arms, Clay gently pulled her back until her head rested on his shoulder. He watched as she closed her eyes to stem the queasy feeling before it made her sick. He did not envy Kate her situation at all.
The team filed towards the front of the plane, and Clay couldn't help noticing the drastic change in atmosphere. Since they had arrived, the heat and humidity had skyrocketed. Clay reflected back on Kate's words regarding the conditions and the health risks the team would face. The possibility of heat-induced illnesses was very high, and the team would need to actively work to prevent such things. To keep heat exhaustion and the like at bay they were recommended to wear hats and sunscreen when exposed to sunlight, force water often (especially the construction crew), and take rest and shade breaks whenever needed. Both Clay and Kate had the necessary supplies in order to follow these recommendations.
Clay and Kate followed the others to the terminal, entering the building just behind Jerome and before Sarah and Will. Everyone quickly collected the luggage and lined up at Customs. Pastor Macy instructed the team to have their passports and paperwork ready for Customs. Slowly the team members worked their way through Customs, thankfully without incident, and made their way to the lobby where a tall and broad-shouldered man in his early fifties waited for them. Considering the warm greetings he exchanged with team members, Clay suspected this was John.
Clay's suspicion was confirmed when the man turned to Kate. "Kate Kirche! You're back for another go around?"
"Darn right I am." Kate gave him a big hug. "Except it's Aiken now." She indicated Clay beside her. "John, my husband Clay Aiken. Clay, the Haiti missionary John Callahan."
Clay grinned as the two of them shook hands. "I've heard a lot of good things about you," he said.
"Wow," John smiled back. "Thank you. So you're Kate's husband," he nodded. "Good for you. She's an amazing Christian woman."
"I know," Clay acknowledged as Kate blushed.
Once John had greeted and met everyone, he beckoned them towards the exit. "I'll warn you new people right now. There are a handful of the native Haitians hanging around just outside of the airport. Some of them are looking for a handout, some of them will want to carry your bag for a dollar. If they so much as touch your bag, they will be wanting that dollar."
"What's wrong with letting one of them help?" Will asked.
"As soon as the word gets out that someone's a soft touch, then that person will find themselves surrounded in minutes. You won't have enough to go around to help everyone."
"Oh," Will said.
Clay chewed his lower lip. "I wish there were ways we could help all of them."
"We do what we can," Kate shrugged. "We share the love of God, and we give them the tools with which they can help support themselves. That's the best thing we can do for them."
"That doesn't seem like much."
"I know," Kate sighed. "It never feels good enough to me either."
John led the team through the airport and outside. Once more that pungent odor hit their noses, and Clay grimaced from the smell. And then he looked up. Loitering in various spots in front of the airport were several dozen of the local Haitians - some in seemingly healthy condition, others with various ailments. Clay noticed a handful of older men obviously missing limbs on crutches, and a couple with large tumors protruding from places on their heads. Some of them merely gave him a blank look in return, but some of them started to crowd closer to the group. Immediately remembering John's warning, Clay grabbed a tighter hold on his luggage... but not without feeling guilty for being unable to help.
John led the group to a pair of older vans, where everyone placed their luggage inside and began to climb in. Between the two drivers and John and the sixteen team members, there were nineteen to fit in those vans... and it was beginning to look like a tight fit with the luggage to sit around.
"Go ahead and climb in first, hon," Kate instructed Clay.
"Ladies first," Clay disagreed.
"Trust me," Kate responded, grinning wickedly. "You get in first."
Choosing to do exactly that, Clay entered first and found a seat in the back. He extended a hand to Kate, who quickly climbed in. Bending and twisting to cram her petite figure in to give them extra room, Kate crawled onto Clay's lap... giving them one more seat for another person. Immediately he wrapped his arms around her waist with a smile. "So that's what you had in mind."
"Yep," Kate acknowledged. Glancing at the seat in front of them, she couldn't help noting that Sarah had done the same with Will. "Looks like you and Will have one more thing in common."
Clay chuckled at seeing Sarah planted firmly on Will's lap as everyone stuffed themselves into the vans. "I see now what you and Sally were talking about when you talked about packing them into the cars like sardines."
Kate smirked. "This will be a typical picture, all week long."
Oo, Clay thought to himself as he pulled Kate closer. This could be a fun week.
With everyone crammed into the vans, the group finally drove off. But the ride was far from smooth. Indeed, the ride was bumpy and sometimes jarring in spite of the fact that the roads they traveled in Port au Prince were paved. Sarah's teeth chattered hard in her head as they jolted along. She was very thankful that Will was holding onto her so tightly - otherwise she might have gone flying. Sarah marveled as the drivers around them zipped and darted along without any seeming regard for rules of the road - did they even have those here? Turn signals, passing, right of way, and the like - they all seemed to be irrelevant. And everyone seemed to be quite generous with the car horn... Another bump jarred them, and Sarah crossed her arms tightly in front of her. This ride was turning out to be quite painful to her anatomy.
"You gonna be all right, Princess?" Will asked, having noticed her dilemma.
"Oh, I'll be fine," Sarah scowled. Her voice hushed suddenly. "I just wanted to take steps to prevent a self-induced black eye."
Will clamped his mouth shut to keep from laughing aloud at Sarah's discomfort. Although he would deny it if anyone asked him, he was hoping that this ride was going to last a while...
Kate held tightly onto Clay as the van rounded another corner at a speed neither one of them would have driven back in the States. Once the ride had gotten under way, the two of them had secretly been enjoying every time they bumped noses and foreheads and other parts. She shifted on his lap, having almost slid off on the last turn. An odd smile turned the edge of Clay's mouth upward as she re-centered herself, and he held her a little closer.
Suddenly Kate graced Clay with a highly mischievous grin. Instantly Clay knew he had been discovered, and he blushed. "Sorry," he whispered with a light giggle.
Under the circumstances, Kate understood. With all the bumps and sideways motion making his situation difficult, he couldn't always control things like that. "Maybe sitting on your lap was a bad idea," Kate suggested gently. "Do you want me to sit beside you instead?"
"You're staying put," Clay told her. "Maybe you prompted this little pickle," he began, blushing deeper when he heard Kate's naughty snicker, "but you're also going to help me hide it."
"Hide it or make it worse, one of the two," Kate drawled.
Clay pulled her close to whisper in her ear. "Since I can't prevent it, I might as well enjoy it."
Mildly embarrassed, Kate broke into delighted laughter and hugged Clay warmly just in time for them to turn another rapid corner. What a goof...
Finally the group reached the ELCH headquarters, and after giving some of the team members a few minutes to be ready John gave all of them the grand tour. Once they finished with that, the team stuffed themselves back in the vans much in the same fashion they had before. The two vans started out again, zipping along the bumpy roads of Port au Prince until they reached the highway leading to the southern peninsula cities of Jacmel, Les Cayes... and Jérémie. Fortunately these roads were less bumpy than the Port au Prince roads, and within minutes several of the team members were attempting to catch some sleep. Having all but mastered the art of sleeping in odd quarters and situations after spending months on the road for tour, Clay and Kate were peacefully slumbering in each other's arms within minutes... in spite of being in the same awkward position as they had rode from the airport to the ELCH headquarters.
After hours of long and tedious driving (with one stop in Miragoäne for gassing up the vans, stretch and bathroom breaks) the group arrived in Jérémie. The caravan drove through Jérémie, about 20,000 people large. Clay studied their surroundings, which reminded him very much of what he had seen in Port au Prince. Many of the buildings were constructed from concrete blocks, some with concrete roofs and some with tin roofs. There had even been a building or two made of thatch. A lot of the buildings were still dingy gray, but some had been painted with bright and vibrant colors. Many of the refuse-littered streets were crowded with native Haitians, some loitering aimlessly and others attempting to sell various wares (mostly produce) in order to make a meager living for their families. The occasional scrawny dog, goat, or chicken stood among the piles of refuse to search for a meal.
"I've seen a few domestic animals wandering the city," Sarah murmured, breaking the silence, "but there are certain kinds I haven't seen yet. Are there any cats or pigs?"
"Pigs," Sally began, "were almost wiped out once by disease. They're still rebuilding that population. Cats, it seems, are another food source here. You won't see many of those."
"Eeyoo," Sarah moaned, making a face as Clay repressed a shudder.
"And the cats you will see," Kate added, "will be malnourished at best."
"Just like the people," Will muttered.
"Yeah," Kate sighed, not any more happy about it than the rest of them.
Clay's sad eyes met Kate's own, and he gave her a gentle smile of encouragement before kissing her lightly on the jaw. Even though Kate had been in Haiti before, she was no less immune from their surroundings than the rest of them were.
Pulling into the gate that surrounded the Lutheran church in Jérémie, the
group arrived to meet the local pastor and unload the bags that were packed on
Saturday. They exited the vans to find themselves immediately surrounded by children
from the school. While several of the men of the team took the donated items
into the church where they would be under lock and key, Kate and the rest
started bonding with the local children. Having finished carrying the bags
inside of the church, Clay and the others emerged to rejoin those outside. Clay
beamed brightly at Kate as he spied her balancing a tiny five or six year-old
girl on her hip. Sighing with pure contentment, he immediately walked over to
his wife to surround the pair with his arms. Kate grinned back at him, her eyes
shining with love. The little girl recognized the relationship between them in
an instant, placing a little hand on each of their cheeks and guiding their
heads closer together. Clay snickered under his breath - without a single word,
the three of them had spoken entire volumes. Who says that you have to know
the language in order to communicate...
After spending some time with the pastor and some of the children, the team climbed back into the more roomy vans to ride over to their hotel. Pastor Macy and Sally entered the hotel to check in for the group as the rest of them exited the vans with their luggage.
"Whoa," Jerome exclaimed as he suddenly found himself face-to-face with a modified shotgun. Glancing at its owner, he recognized the man as a member of the hotel security he had heard so much about. Jerome may have been the larger man, but the guard definitely had the advantage with the shotgun in his hands. Jerome took a subtle step back to stand closer to the Aikens. Let the guard do his job, and Jerome would do his.
Lisa placed her bag beside Clay and Kate's luggage. "When do you want to get together to plan tonight's devotion?" Lisa asked Clay.
Clay glanced at his watch. "Would an hour give you enough time to unpack and relax a little before we meet?"
"Sure," Lisa nodded. "We can meet just inside the restaurant."
From things Pastor Macy had told them, he knew that the restaurant was open-air like many other restaurants in Haiti. "Sounds like a plan to me."
Pastor Macy and Sally returned with keys in hand. Scanning their lists, the two of them passed out room keys to the mission team roommates, one key per room. The team roommates quickly took their luggage to their rooms to unpack and relax a little before dinner.
Clay followed Kate to their room, pausing briefly as she unlocked the room and flung the door open wide for him to enter with their bags. He placed his suitcase on the bed before taking Kate's and placing it beside his. Kate sat their backpacks nearby where both of them could unpack and reorganize those as well. "Let's see how quickly we can get these taken care of." Clay glanced up at the dresser, noting that the front of it was decorated as if the whole thing were made of bamboo. The rest of the furniture seemed to have a similar motif, which gave the entire room a very appropriate tropical flavor. He giggled lightly as he unzipped his suitcase. Leave it to his mother's influence to help him notice things like that. Not that it rubbed off on him that much - their own house décor had mostly been decided by Kate. Mostly... she had strong-armed him into expressing his opinion when he would have rather trusted her judgment as is.
Kate stood by the dresser as Clay handed her some of his things from his suitcase. "Hon, there's a closet over there with shelves in it too. How much of this would you rather put in the drawers rather than the shelves?"
Oh. Clay studied the contents of his suitcase for a minute before shrugging. "I don't know."
"Suggestion?"
"Sure."
Kate separated his shirts and shorts or slacks from the other items in his suitcase. "These go in the closet while everything else goes in the drawer."
Clay grinned at her. "Works for me."
Walking over to the closet, Kate arranged his clothes there on the shelves. "That's what I think I'll do with mine - especially since we share some of our supplies." Once Clay's suitcase was emptied, they started to unpack Kate's in much the same manner.
"Honey..." Clay began as he pulled the brand-new box of Ziplocs out of her suitcase. He studied the box as Kate grimaced with guilt. "Is there something I need to know?"
"Um," Kate winced. "There probably is, but I don't know it yet."
"Another rainstorm?" Clay drawled.
Kate giggled at the mischievous twinkle in his eye. "Maybe. The team did get caught in one up in Gonaďves back in 2003."
Clay tapped the box thoughtfully. "Make sure to let me know if you
figure it out." He passed the box over to Kate, who placed it in the
drawer with the rest of their things. Within moments Kate's suitcase too was
empty, and Clay placed the two suitcases together in the closet and out of the
way. He chuckled as he saw two separate rooms for the commode versus the shower
and sink facilities. It must be an American thing to put all of it into one
room. He glanced at his watch - he still had about half an hour to kill
before he needed to meet Lisa to plan tonight's devotion. Rummaging through his
backpack, he pulled out his journal for the trip and a pen, and started to
write. He wanted to record his impressions of
Kate grabbed her backpack and sorted through it, deciding which of these supplies she wanted to put into the drawers versus keep in her backpack. At the very least she wanted to take out the men's swim trunks and her new two-piece swimsuit - but she would wait until Clay was gone before she did that. Thankfully she had placed them into a plastic bag that wasn't see-through... something that wasn't unusual for Kate when she packed. Aloud she said, "I wonder how long it took for Sally to find the pool."
Clay snorted. "Not that long. It was kind of hard to miss."
"Yeah." Kate grinned wickedly at him. "But you missed it."
"There's a difference," Clay mumbled, "between missing something and avoiding something."
"Aw..." Kate teased, wrapping her arm fondly around Clay's neck from behind as she placed a kiss on his ear. "You know I'm just giving you a hard time."
"I know." Clay smiled up at her, and the two of them shared a sweet kiss. "I'm going to finish this up real quick before I go meet with Lisa."
"All right." Kate released him to let him continue his journaling, picking back up on her own task as well. Before long she had decided what the contents of her backpack for tomorrow morning would be and arranged the bag accordingly. Pulling out her own pen and journal, Kate also began to record more of her own experiences and musings from their trip.
Finished writing, Clay returned his journal to his backpack in exchange for his Bible. "I'm going to meet Lisa down in the restaurant. We probably won't take that long."
Kate handed him the key. "Looking forward to seeing what the two of you come up with," she smiled, winking lightly at him.
"Don't be too impressed just yet, hon," Clay shook his head. "We've had all day to decide what we're doing for tonight's devotion, and I still haven't come up with anything."
"Give it time, Love," Kate told him. "Maybe with the two of you working on it together, you'll come up with just the right thing."
Clay chuckled under his breath. "I hope so." Giving her another light kiss on the lips, he headed out of the room and down to meet Lisa in the restaurant.
Within moments after Clay exited the room, Kate heaved a sigh of relief. She
considered herself lucky that he had only asked about the Ziplocs. Then again,
contact solution and Aloe Vera were not unusual items to pack. Now if she had
found herself trying to explain the swim trunks... Kate pulled the dark blue
plastic bag out of her backpack and opened it up. Taking her new swimsuit and
the sari out of the bag, she hid them under her delicates in the drawer before
wrapping the other swimsuit back in the bag. She walked over to the closet
where the rest of her clothes were and slid them underneath her T-shirts,
arranging the T-shirts to camouflage the bag entirely. There. Why she
was supposed to bring a man's swimsuit to
Stretching out onto the bed with a groan, Kate rubbed her face wearily. It had been a long and draining trip, and Kate still felt like she could use a bit of shut-eye. Maybe just a few minutes...
Clay re-entered the room a little over thirty minutes later and found Kate fast asleep on top of the bed. With dinner in fifteen minutes, he knew that he should probably wake her up. Carefully he crawled onto the bed beside her, trying not to jar her with his motions. He reclined beside her on the bed, enjoying the peaceful expression on her face as she slept. Their bed was big enough to hold both of them, Clay reflected, but it seemed to be sagging in some spots and lumpy in others. Silently Clay gave thanks that the two of them had a bed at home, and a good bed at that. Not everyone here in this country was so blessed.
Reaching up, Clay slowly ran a gentle finger over each of her eyebrows before caressing her cheek with the backs of his fingers. Kate stirred lightly, pulling in a deep breath as Clay continued to slide his fingers over her cheeks, chin, and nose. Tracing her lips with a fingertip, Clay leaned forward to place a gentle kiss on her eyelid. As soon as Clay pulled back from kissing her, Kate opened her eyes and smiled at him. Clay blushed, knowing that he had been caught admiring her again. "Sorry to wake you, hon."
"No problem," Kate sighed, yawning. "It's probably almost dinner time anyway. What time is it?"
"Ten til."
Kate made a rasping noise with her lips. "Yeah. Definitely almost dinner time. Thanks for waking me up. I'd rather not miss the first Haitian meal with you and the rest of the team."
"How are you doing?" Clay asked gently.
"Tired," Kate admitted. "Remember they don't celebrate Daylight Savings Time down here."
"I wish they would," Clay muttered, having noticed that it was
already getting dark. According to Pastor Macy, today's official time for the
sunrise here in
"Yep."
Running his upper hand down her arm, he smiled at her. "Ready for dinner?"
Kate stifled a groan, but nodded. "Yep."
"You sure?" When Kate gave him a mild glare, he chuckled at her. "Come on." Clay crawled off the bed and extended a hand to help her up. Keeping his Bible in one hand and Kate's hand in the other, he led her towards the door of their room.
Clay and Kate quickly joined the rest of the team in the open-air restaurant. Several tables had been placed together to arrange them into one large group, and their places were already set. Clay and Kate sat somewhere in the middle of the group, finding themselves sitting directly across from the Hansons.
"Ready for your first Haitian food?" Sheila asked Clay, smoothing her napkin across her lap.
"Yeah!" Clay exclaimed excitedly. "As long as they don't use any mushrooms in their cooking, I should be just fine."
Pastor Macy sat down at the head of the table. "I gave the staff a list of your food allergies and told them that it was very important not to use those things in preparing our meals."
"I appreciate that."
Kate squeezed Clay's hand. "We brought a supply of EpiPens just to be on the safe side."
Clay leaned to whisper in Kate's ear. "I still say we didn't need a full dozen. A couple would have been fine."
"Hey," Kate grumbled, "I take anaphylactic reactions seriously. It's my job as your wife."
Rolling his eyes, Clay sighed. While it still didn't hurt to be prepared, most of the time he was just fine as long as he avoided the problem foods. But he wasn't about to fault Kate for being concerned about his health. "All right, all right. A compromise - I'll take your possible pregnancy seriously, you'll take my food allergies seriously. Deal?"
Kate nodded. "Deal."
"How long have you known all this stuff about food allergies, anyway?" Clay asked, curious. "You seemed to know everything about them long before you met me."
Shrugging sheepishly, Kate glanced up at him. "As soon as you started writing me. I figured if there was even a remote chance of the two of us meeting, I had better be prepared just in case."
Clay snickered, shaking his head slowly. They hadn't even met, and Kate had already been trying to look out for him... "You seem like you were awfully sure of it."
"The information would be valuable to know even if we had never met," Kate insisted. "One never knows what kind of health concerns they're going to meet along the way. I don't know a lot about any one thing, but I know a little about diabetes, epilepsy, CPR - "
"I get the idea," Clay chuckled, finding amusement at his wife's quest for medical knowledge. He didn't know how extensive her knowledge was, but he did see the value in it.
At last the entire team was gathered for dinner, and Pastor Macy led them in
mealtime prayer. Shortly the hotel wait staff began to bring out the meal,
starting with hard rolls and soup. The hard rolls reminded Sarah very much of
the kind of rolls she found in
"Dunno what kind of soup it is," Kate admitted. "I just remember that I liked it last time."
Sarah tried another spoonful. While it may not have been her first choice in soups, she wasn't about to pass it up. Slowly she ate the soup, sharing conversation with Will and the others around her.
"After devotions," Sally said, "we should probably do a little planning for tomorrow's lesson."
Kate glanced at her cousin. "What's tomorrow's lesson?"
"Creation," Sally replied. "We're making flowers out of tissue paper and pipe cleaners for the craft."
"Sounds like fun," Sheila told her.
Sally nodded back at Sheila as the wait staff brought around small salads for everyone. "We also get to start teaching the songs tomorrow. The local teachers have already translated them for us, and they're going to help us lead them."
Clay grinned excitedly. "I'm looking forward to the singalongs."
"It's the skit I want to plan tonight. I want to make sure everyone has an idea what's happening." Sally skewered Jerome with a wicked grin. "Want to play God?"
Will cut off a chuckle before it could escape. That's a loaded question
if I ever heard one.
Jerome's eyes lit up, and everyone could see that the suggestion intrigued him. "What do you have in mind?" he asked her.
"Oh, nothing much - just create the universe," Sally quipped.
With a merry guffaw, Jerome nodded. "Sure. Why me?"
"Several reasons, in no particular order," Sally told him. "The first being your size. You're the biggest guy here, and it makes sense to have God be larger than life. The second is your personality. In spite of that size, you're still approachable - I want to portray a God that may be larger-than-life but is very loving. The third is the tendency to create God in our own image. No racism meant, but except for you, Lisa, and Will, the rest of us are all a bunch of white Anglos interfering in a country and a culture that isn't ours. I want to model for those kids that we are made in God's image."
Jerome nodded thoughtfully. Every one of those reasons made sense to him. "Got it."
"But is that last point important?"
Sally shrugged. "It's important to some." A slight smile turned the corner of her mouth. "Personally I believe God is above race, but I don't want to make that issue a stumbling block for some kid who might otherwise come to faith."
Shortly the main course was brought around to the table. Clay poked at a small chunk of heavily-peppered meat he had pulled from a pile just like it, next to a separate pile of rice and beans. After hearing that felines were a local food source, he was almost afraid to ask what it was.
"Before any of you ask," Pastor Macy told the group, "I am told that we're having goat and beef tonight. So for any of you who overheard the conversation in Sally's van, you don't have to worry."
Whew, Clay thought to himself as he took the first bite. He really did prefer to know what he was eating. His brother-in-law Andrew admitted in one of their Christmas-time chats that when he had gone on a military mission in eastern Asia, he had eaten a domestic animal or two. The family dog had avoided him for a month... Clay wasn't looking forward to Raleigh's reaction if he ended up eating something odd. He glanced at the mixture of rice and beans on the side of his plate. Apparently rice and beans was a staple of the typical Haitian diet, and sometimes it was the entire contents of the only meal of the day. When in Haiti... Following in the culinary-adventurous footsteps of his wife (who would try almost any foreign food when given the chance), Clay ate a sample of the rice and beans as well. Chewing them thoughtfully, he gained a new appreciation for the variety of tastes and options available back home.
"What do you think?" Kate asked, interrupting his reflections on the food.
"It's all right," he shrugged.
Kate nodded her agreement. "I hear you there. I can eat them while we're here this week, but I'm sure glad that I don't have to live on them."
Clay smiled - she had taken the very words from his mouth.
With the group almost finished with dinner, Pastor Macy caught their attention again. "Everyone, why don't we meet by the pool in fifteen minutes for devotions?"
A visible shudder rippled through Clay at the very idea of being that close to the water. "Do we have to do them by the pool?" he asked Pastor Macy quietly.
Pastor Macy studied Clay thoughtfully, having seen his reaction. "N-No. There's that set of patio tables up on the second level. Why don't we meet at those instead?"
Clay heaved a sigh of relief. Once more he had managed to avoid coming anywhere near the pool. Of course he would have to deal with it sometime this week if he wanted to see Kate in a swimsuit... Pulling his Bible out from underneath his chair, Clay waited until Kate was done before the two of them got up from the table. Taking each other's hand, the couple slowly walked up the stairs to where the group was meeting for devotions.
Looking up from making sure that Kate was comfortably seated close by, Clay grinned with amusement at seeing Jack and Sheila Hanson also walk up the stairs hand-in-hand. "On your second honeymoon?" he teased them.
"Second?" Jack asked, giving his wife a loving glance. "We never ended the first."
Clay laughed warmly, winking at his own wife. "That's what we hope for ourselves... everlasting and eternal love for each other."
Giving him a mischievous grin, Kate held out a hand to him. "Why don't you sit down a bit, sweetheart? You don't have to stand around waiting for everyone."
"All right." Clay started to move towards a second chair close to Kate, but cast a puzzled look at her when she pulled on his hand. He paused uncertainly, attempting to figure out what she had in mind. Kate pulled on his hand again, indicating that he could sit on her lap. "Honey, I don't think that's a good idea."
Kate rolled her eyes at the suggestion. "Clay... you know that you only outweigh me by about twenty to forty pounds," Kate drawled. "Just make sure most of your weight is supported by my knees and lower legs, and we'll both be fine."
Clay sat gingerly on the lower part of her legs for a minute before relaxing. He had to forcibly remind himself that Kate was not as fragile as she seemed, and that her inner strength usually surprised them both. Kate's arms wrapped around his waist, and he smiled down at her as he caressed the topmost arm.
Sheila's eyes twinkled as she watched them interact. "So far you still seem to be in the honeymoon stage..." she told them.
"We are," Kate replied as Clay continued to absentmindedly run his fingers over her arm. "We have five and a half months of marriage under our belt. At the end of June it will be a full six."
"Just a pair of kids," Wayne tsked.
The rest of the team quickly gathered around the tables, and Clay opened up his Bible to the fourth chapter of Colossians to read. "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."
From her seat among the group Lisa began the rest of the devotion as Clay closed his Bible. "This is the beginning of our time in Haiti. Clay and I agreed that we wanted to focus on the idea of bringing the message to the people of Haiti, and praying that we will know and take every opportunity we have of sharing the gospel of Christ with those who need Him."
"The Word of God is a lifeline for those without hope," Clay continued, "and with voodoo being the chief religion of this country, many of Haiti's people are without hope. We are here to share that Word of God, that gospel, in a living and meaningful way with the people around us, and we want to pray for the chance to share it with others. And because the mission isn't just here, we also want to pray for the opportunity to share it with family, friends, coworkers, and everyone around us when we get back."
Pastor Macy nodded. "It's our blessing and our joy to share in God's work. He doesn't need our help to spread the gospel - we are liberated from the duty of converting souls for Him. Only God can give a heart of faith to His children. He chooses to share with us the blessings that come from telling other people about Him and His love."
Clay smiled slyly. Couldn't have said it better.
Lisa invited the team to join her in prayer, and she led a prayer for blessings upon their mission work for the week ahead. She prayed for many children and workers to hear and see their message, and to come to a saving faith in Christ. Requesting health and safety for the team and their families back home, Lisa closed up the prayer to end the devotion.
With the devotion finished, the vacation bible school teachers quickly got together to finish planning tomorrow's lesson. That done, they split up for the night.
Tapping Kate on the shoulder, Sarah beckoned her friend over to whisper in her ear. "Try not to keep each other up too late, all right?"
"Wha... what do you mean?"
Sarah raised an eyebrow. "You know what I mean, Katydid. I saw the way you two were eyeing each other all night." Turning towards her own room, she waved the couple goodnight.
Clay walked over to Kate, whose jaw was hanging slack. "Problem?"
"Sarah knows me too well," Kate mumbled. When Clay gave her a confused blink, Kate took his hand. "I'll tell you back in the room. Come on."
Clay unlocked the room for them and let Kate enter first. "I thought for sure we might have heard from your mom tonight."
"Tomorrow morning, I guess."
"So why do you say Sarah knows you too well?" Clay asked.
Kate blushed deeply. "She knows how we're planning on spending the rest of the evening... and without me saying a single word."
Reddening at the thought, Clay shook his head. "That one doesn't take too much thought, hon. Keep in mind Will and I had the same problem on that van ride..."
"Oh."
Go to the next day, Day 5 (June 20)
Go to yesterday, Day 3 (June 18)