Contract for a Soul

 When I take my language lesson, the thing I enjoy most is learning about Haitian culture.  There are some things I learn from the book, but other times I just ask our instructor a bunch of questions :)  Do kids not knock on the door before they come into your house??  What kind of toys do they have to play with?  Do people have running water in their houses?  I get a lot of interesting answers....maybe more on that some other time.....

So the other day, we were learning about the lottery in Haiti.  Falens said that a lot of people play the lottery, spending very little money to a lot of money at once.  They think they'll get rich, but it usually is a waste of money.  (Sounds the same as in the States!!)  Then he went on to explain about the numbers in the lottery system, and how sometimes if a person has a dream about an animal, they will find the number that animal represents and play that number in the lottery.  

Sometimes people will also go to the witch doctors to get winning lottery numbers.  The person will be able to win the lottery and make a lot of money, the problem is, they have to "sell their soul."  He explained how the person will make a contract with the witch doctor that they will win the lottery, but then they will die in a certain number of years.  Or in other cases, some may "sell" another person....their wife, someone they know....and after that period of time, that person will die.  "But," Falens said, "They can't make a contract for me, because I am a Christian, and the witch doctor can't have me."  Jesus is still stronger than the Devil!

It was crazy to hear him talk about this really happening, but he said Haitian culture is so full of voodoo.  And I got to thinking that really, we all make a contract for our soul, whether with God or with the Devil.  It may not be as stark as going to the witch doctor and selling your soul for a winning lottery number, but people all over the world do things in exchange for their soul all the time!

Thankfully, God also lets us make a "contract" with Him!  A few months ago, the pastor in church announced that the next weekend there was going to be baptisms of 15 people!  We were all excited to experience a Haitian baptism, so we got up early the next Sunday morning, and drove down to the river....

The line of people going to be baptized...dressed in white and black.

And everyone else following behind!

It was a beautiful day out, and it felt like we were back in Jesus' time when John the Baptist would baptize in the river!  The church members sang songs on the bank as the people would one by one go into the river to be baptized.  The pastor would talk with them and pray, and then they were baptized.  There were even a few little old ladies that were baptized that day!  It was really a neat experience and we are so glad we went!

"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" 

Matthew 16:24-26