The day after Christmas, the parish organized for the people a gathering for fellowship. This included many poor people of the parish. The sisters prepared a Bingo game with many useful prizes, such as plastic plates, pots and pans, pitchers for water, shoes, towels and soap. The parish also served a big meal for everyone.
On Christmas night we were invited to St. Michael’s parish to meet the youth and enjoyed them singing Christmas songs of peace and joy.
It was a great joy to participate in this presentation and it would be even better if we understood everything that was said and sung. Hopefully someday we will!
Fr. Simon showed us a very interesting palm tree. He said it also grows in Africa and the African people gather its fruits to produce oil, they also eat its fruit. Here in Haiti they do not know what to do with this tree. We tried to eat this fruit and yes, it tastes like oil.
We never realized we are living so close to the Caribbean Sea. On the vigil of Christmas, Fr. Simon took us for a ride and to our surprise down the street this is what we saw…many people in Haiti are afraid of the water and because of that they don’t go swimming. We found out why they don’t like to swim because of their experiences with water, like hurricanes and floods.
In our house along with bugs we have lizards everywhere. We welcome them joyfully because they eat the mosquitoes.
“Today, we like Mother Mary enter the house of Jacmel and greet you.” These were words of greeting we said to the people of Jacmel in Creole at the end of the Mass of Welcome on Sunday, December 23, the Fourth Sunday of Advent, in the Bishop’s chapel. During the Mass Bishop Launay Saturne welcomed us into the diocese. The Children’s choir sang a Christmas carol for us in english, and the youth choir sang a song of welcome. After Mass the people greeted us.
We spent the whole day with the Bishop visiting a few religious communities and parishes. We believe it is God’s providence that we are here in Jacmel to begin the Felician mission in Haiti.
On our first Christmas Eve in Jacmel we shared the Christmas opłatek remembering every Felician Sister, our families and friends throughout the world. We pray that this Christmas the Word may be made flesh in your reality. May God’s blessing be upon you through this New Year!
As we write this blog we hear Christmas carols in Creole, French and English. People everywhere in Jacmel and nearby towns we visited today are preparing their Christmas manger and lights to welcome this holy night. In Haiti the people don’t have wiglia. For supper, as always, we had rice and beans and exchanged gifts with the priests and enjoyed the company of one another.
We are so grateful to the entire Immaculate Conception central convent community, Lodi, NJ, the sisters, employees, benefactors and everyone who helped to “pack the container” to the brim. “May God’s blessings fill your lives.”
After we unpacked and got settled in our rooms, we decorated for Christmas with the manger scene and small tree that was donated by a few of our Felician Sisters. Haiti does not have the custom to decorate trees but we noticed in the entrance of the house the figures for the Christmas crèche are waiting to be placed in the church for Christmas Eve. As we write this, the many choirs that are in Sacred Heart parish are practicing for the Christmas Vigil at midnight outside under the trees, that will probably last a few hours. We also prepared small gifts that we received from the States for those who work in the parish.
Felician Sisters of North America Mission: Haiti 