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.