We were at a prayer meeting at the end of a dark rural road in an area of Haiti known as the Plateau Centrale-- the poorest part of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The church we had come to visit had no facility of its own, so the congregation met in a room provided by the local medical center-- about a mile beyond the "middle of nowhere." The name of the tiny town was La Victoire (The Victory).

The medical center had a generator, so the small room was dimly lit by a single low-wattage bulb hanging by a bare wire from the ceiling. A slight breeze would blow intermittently through the open windows, bringing momentary relief from the heat and causing the light to sway gently, casting alternating light and shadows on the sweaty faces of those who had come to worship. The room was packed with as many people as it could hold. The doorways were crammed with faces-- people stood four deep in the hallway outside.  read more...