Trip to Ansephalor

I finally took a day to get off campus & go for a trip. I went for a couple reasons…1. to get off campus & get back into culture, I can caught up in my own little world of the Miriam Center & lose perspective…2. to spend time with my fellow missionaries since so often I am in my own little world…3. I wanted to go to Ansephalor since I had not been their in a few years. I wanted to be reminded of the spiritual warefare we are up against & spend some time in prayer for this country.

I had a wonderful day. It started off with an hour tap-tap ride there…which call me crazy but I love tap-tap rides. I put on my MP3 player with worship music hopped in the back of the truck & enjoyed the very scenic off-roading trip. We were going to 2 different Vodoo places that I had never been before.

1. Twin Basin
It was about a ¼ mile trail to the cave that had a 15 foot drop off inside that at the bottom was full of water. At the beginning of the trail they believe you have to stop at this one rock…light a candle & ask that spirit if you can enter the path to the Twin Basin. Once you reach the opening to the cave you have to climb up in & lower yourself down into the basin of water 15 or so feet below. This was a place that people go when they need to deep cleansing. They believe a snake with 2 heads that is rainbow colored is the spirit snake that lives there. They go into the dark hole of water & scrub their entire body down cleansing themselves. They then must leave the clothes they wore in & put on new ones. They usually go from here to the monument then to the temple. We were unable to go in the cave to look down in the hole because there were so many people there.

2. The Monument
After Twin Basin, 4 of us decided to hike up to the monument as one of our staff had never been their & since it has been since 2007 since I have been there. On the way up to the Monument we saw a lady on her way back down who we saw leaving twin Basin. All the way up the mountain to the monument there are little stops to give burnt offerings to the spirits. At the top of the mountain is the bottom post to what used to be a huge cross. IT is believe anywhere from 100 to 200 years ago during a lightening storm the cross beam was struck down by lightening & at the same time is when the doll they worship in the temple fell from heaven. They took this as a sign Satan defeated Christ. The bottom of the monument has a place carved in the rocks to do burnt offerings. People come up here to pray for a variety of things anywhere from healing or help to asking the spirits to curse or even kill someone. It is really heartbreaking to know it used to be a cross that sat on the top of a huge hill that looked out over the entire city. It is sad that people have been taught this their entire life…that this is what they perceive as truth. It is sad to think that they see all these ritualistic practices as freeing when really they are so enslaving.

3. House of Spirits
When we got down from the Monument we headed to the house of spirits which is a hike up a very steep loose rock mountain…that as you climb rocks crumble down on the person behind you. You climb up…over then down in these amazing caves. The adventurous side of me got really excited & went down in these dark crawl space caves with some other mission staff. We explored for about 20 minutes before we all met in the center of the big cave where we had a picnic lunch followed by each of us reading a verse or 2 from our Bible on Spiritual Warefare, God’s conquering power & victory of sin/death. It was really powerful as their were grown men their with dolls obviously before we got there praying & worshiping Voodoo. I was just reminded of how real this battle against Satan is especially in a country so caught up in Voodoo. It is so heartbreaking to know the truth that sets you free & see so many people who think they know the truth but live in bondage & a religion that is a list of rules that enslave you.

4. The Beach
We ended our day by going to the beach for a few hours. I forgot my bathing suite so chilled under a tree & read my Bible & did my Ruth Bible study, then took a walk. When I got back from my walk a few young men came up & wanted to listen to my MP3 player & asked if I would read from the Bible for them. So they gave me passages they wanted read & I read them to them. It was fun.