1) I’ve got a bad monkey. Yeah, you read correctly. In the unfolding mystery that is the Creole language I learned today that the word(s) for “hangover” is “mal makak.” This literally translates as “bad monkey.” So if you find yourself waking up with a splitting headache after a night of heavy drinking don’t blame it on those meddling kids and their dog. Blame it on the mischievous monkeys.
2) I feel slightly unappreciated in Haiti at times. Due to my inability to speak Creole and the Haitian inability to pick up on English sarcasm, my sense of humor has been underutilized and unappreciated. However, my fortunes may have begun to change for I landed my first joke in Creole today in church. Pastor Patrick was introducing me before I delivered my sermon when he noted that I am, “Patrick without mustache.” This is the primary way that we are distinguished from each other. While it seems to me that they are more glaring differences that could be referred to, the mustache has been the primary characteristic that has stuck. Anyways, after Pastor Patrick’s mustache comment I promptly stepped up to the microphone and informed the audience, “Mwen pral genyen yon mustache tale” (I will have a mustache soon). The crowd loved it. Perhaps they were merely laughing at the notion of me being able to grow facial hair? Regardless, I’ll take a laugh anyway I can get it.
3) I saw something this week that I never would have imagined possible: a black man wearing a Lynard Skinner t-shirt. While I’m relatively confident that he had no idea what he was wearing, it was unnerving nonetheless.
4) Driving in Haiti is challenging. Now throw into the mix that the word for right is “dwat” and the word for straight is…drum roll please…”dwat.” This has not helped my cause when I am attempting to navigate the Haitian roads and someone blurts out “ale dwat,” (Go right…or is it go straight?).
5) The random t-shirt of the day goes to a man working at the Wall’s Guest House who proudly sported a bright red t-shirt that read, “Welcome to Geezerville: Population: Grumpy.” What made this so wonderful is that the man wearing the shirt was approximately 25 years-old.
6) Today I preached in a church in Delmas. I was asked to talk about family. After giving some initial, practical thoughts on the importance of parents in developing the moral system of their children, as well as demonstrating healthy relationships with their spouse, I moved on to the reading from Matthew 12:46-50. In this text Jesus is told that his mother and brothers would like to speak with him. Jesus responds, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” I don’t believe Jesus was rejecting his biological family. Instead, he was challenging the audience to rethink how they understood the meaning of family. The same question should be posed to us today. Who do we include in our family? Who do we exclude? When Jesus touched lepers, ministered to the disabled, dined with prostitutes and tax collectors, and preached good news to the poor he radically challenged the notions of who was included in God’s family. I believe Jesus answered his own question of what constitutes a family not only through his verbal response (“Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my sister and brother and mother”), but also through his actions. In reaching out to those on the fringes of society Jesus taught us that everyone belongs in God’s family. Our commitments in life should resemble this truth. The quote of the day comes from liberation theologian Javier Torres, “If the hunger of others is not my own, if the anguish of my neighbor in all its form touches me not, if the nakedness of my brother does not torment me, then I have no reason to go to church and to live.”
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