SIMPLENESS

(This is another guest blog of Beth Johnson who just returned with her husband Brett from a HopeForce International Mission Project in Sous Savanne Haiti.)

 

The drive to the village of Sous Savanne. The long winding road up in the hills, the road with streams running through it and rough terrain. The scenery is very beautiful. Everywhere you look you see cows, goats, chickens, pigs (all the pigs of course I named Bacon) fruit trees like bananas, mango, lemons, plantains, etc....hills and mountains everywhere you look. Women washing clothes in big wash tubs or the streams, people of all ages fetching water at the wells, dominos is the big game in Haiti. Everyday we passed a group playing. kids everywhere. As we walked thru the village it gave a better picture of their day to day living. There were really only 2 roads within the village. Everything else was footpaths. When we would venture to job sites we would walk with all our supplies. Ladders, Paint, Brushes, rollers, and water jug.

 

As you passed by peoples homes they were always so polite. Bonjou (Good morning) or Bonswa (Good Afternoon)

 

We got very good at those words! If we finished one house we would pack up all the supplies and walk to the next one. Always children everywhere. They would see you coming and would be right by your side. Holding your hand! There is nothing like walking thru a village, hauling supplies, with children following, singing “Yes, Jesus Loves Me”

 

Simpleness, although they are in need of so much, they live so simply because they have to. Fully relying on God, their Hope.

 

I then think of our society and all we have at our fingertips and how busy our lives become because of it. Rushing here, have to do this, no time to do that, doesn’t fit into my schedule today……

 

So as I reflect back on my time in Haiti, I want to reorganize my life and unload all of that craziness I create for myself. I am reminded to keep it simple, put God first, be thankful always and He will take care of the rest.

My Trip To Haiti

This is a guest blog from Beth Johnson, a member of the Grove Mission Team and just returning from Sous Savanne Haiti and her first mission trip out of the country.

Haiti 2012

04-Dec-2012

Bonjou (good morning)

As I reflect back on our time this past week in Haiti, I was thinking about the church service we went to in the Village of Sous Savanne. It was our teams first experience of the area in daylight. When we arrived in Port au Prince the night before it was very very dark so we didn’t get to see to much of the scenery. 

As we entered the Church building there was some young kids (consisting of about 6-8 kids) sitting up front practicing for the praise and worship part of service. Clarinets, trombone, trumpet, guitar, and drums. We were told these instruments had been donated from the states. There were two women who sat in the very front by the little orchestra who led the singing of the songs. The power came from car batteries that were located on the stage in front of the church. We all sat on wooden benches and some even brought their own chairs to sit on. The women sat on one side of the church while the men sat on the other and they all showed up in their Sunday best. As the service started of course there was a bit of a language barrier being they speak French Creole! 

As I sat back and observed I was just amazed. Here I am a very long way from home, in a village, sitting in a church service that I cannot understand a lick of what they were saying. However, it really wasn’t about understanding WHAT they were saying. It was all about seeing, observing, and participating with them in worship, hearing the music, listening to them sing, hearing the kids play the instruments, watching them praise God, raising their hands, men clapping their hands, beautiful voices being lifted up to our Lord, OUR LORD, it really didn’t matter that we were many miles from home or didn’t understand Creole. We were worshipping together. 

As they sang hymns and you could recognize the hymns and sing along in English I could not stop the tears from flowing down my face. I was really overcome with emotion to experience worshiping in that setting. 

The service lasted about 2-2 ½ hours and it was really awesome. As one of the leaders in the church did some interpretation for our group he had asked if any of us wanted to say anything and meek little me was compelled to get up and share. I didn’t realize I would have to go up on stage!! So off I went. I shared with them that the love they showed and the ability to worship with them was very overwhelming to me. I thanked them so very much for the opportunity to be there with them. It was short and sweet but God felt and of course the tears flowed again. 

We ended that service with “All is well with my soul”.

After the service everyone greeted everyone with either a handshake, kissing on each cheek, or both! As I sit back and reflect on all they don’t have yet ALL they DO have in the Lord, I am humbled. We really are blessed with so much yet sometimes we are blinded to it. I am so blessed with so much and I pray that I will forever remember what God has allowed Brett and I to experience thru this trip to Haiti.

Here are a few pics from the trip. The first two are from the new church.  Unfortunately it was taken later in week when the gate was shut to the church.  The 3rd pic is from the church they used to meet at before the earthquake which is no longer safe to use.  The 4th pic is one of our team pictures. I'm the one in the middle with the bandanna.  My husband, Brett, is in the back row with his sunglasses hanging around his neck.

What You See Is What You Get?

Had a humbling day on Thursday.  After attending a chamber networking event I decided to go out to breakfast.  I love to support the local, small businesses in our community so I ventured over to one of my favorites.  It was 9 am so the breakfast rush was gone.  Other than one table of regulars I had the place to myself.  That meant that I could engage the waitress in more meaningful conversation than regularly during a rush.

Before I could say much, she asked me if she knew me from somewhere.  I thought she looked familiar but before I could say anything she said "Rukos" you come in on Sunday mornings!"

She was right, that is a restaurant I will frequent on Sunday mornings after the church is open and things set up.  I take my iPad and go over my message notes one last time.  So I said she was right and that I'm a pastor and I go there to review my message for the day.

Then she, without hesitation, cut me to the quick, she said, "Yeah I thought you were just a jerk!"  She then proceeded to explain hat she meant.  She would try to be very attentive to me when waiting on me, asking if my meal was Ok, and if I wanted more coffee.  Her comment was, I'm glad you have explained what you were doing because you always seemed so not pay any attention to me, so I just assumed you were a jerk."

She then perked up and explained how she was looking for a church, wanted to know the worship times, do we have anything for kids - really interested.  And while I was excited at the prospect of a new family coming to The Grove, her comments, "I thought you were "just a jerk" was ringing in my ears. Unfortunately she isn't the first person to sarcastically say that I am a bit too serious or focused on Sunday mornings.  While I may feel justified because I want things to go right and especially want to be all I can be, I guess I can come off as "just a jerk".

So I've determined in my mind, and resolved in my heart to be more attentive, loosen up, and relax more.  God redeemed a relationship that had no chance of being a valid witness for Christ as long as I was presenting myself this way.  Pray for me - and for this young woman and family that we can laugh about this as her family gets reconnected to the body of Christ.

The Jerk

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God — even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved."
(1 Cor. 10:31-33)