Trip 24 – Profound Moments, and Humbling Reflections
(Photo above: Madeline Augustin, one of the little girls at the St. Michel Orphanage)
(Most of you who’ve been to Haiti with us will relate to multiple things here – hope this brings back some memories!)
It wasn’t any one big thing, but rather a lot of little things – moments, really – that immediately brought me back to that feeling of being “home” again.
Moments like:
The stewardess on the Delta flight from Atlanta to Port-au-Prince on Friday who looks at me and says, “Hey, I know you, you’ve been on my plane before!” (something about that, weirdly, made the 7 month gap since my last trip seem not quite so long)
Settling in at the Palm Inn, our favorite Port-au-Prince “home away from home,” for our one-night stopover before we head up to St. Michel on Saturday
James and Alberta, servers in the restaurant, each of them (at separate times) seeing me and saying, “Misteh Gweg!”
The guard, who we had brought the Children’s Story Bible in for last November, grinning hugely and saying, “Alo, Pasteh!” (and me laughing to myself, thinking that I’m sure Haiti is the only place that anyone will ever call me “pastor” – sure won’t happen back home!)
First night dinner: Creole goat, rice and beans, plantains (ahhh, yeah, I really am home now…)
Noticing that there’s an Asian woman working in the restaurant now, and all I can hear in my head is Nicole Meilinger saying, “Asians? What are Asians doing in Haiti?” (Sorry Nicole, that’s still a great story)
JT telling us he’ll pick us up to leave for St. Michel on Saturday morning at 11am, and then he and Bwa actually picking us up at 12:41 (so when he had said “11am” he obviously meant 11am HST – Haitian Standard Time)
Bwa’s grin – that mischievous look on his face that makes you think he’s always looking for some kind of trouble to get into
Riding in the truck with JT and Bwa, me and Jim in the back seat, and realizing once again that I laugh more, and I laugh harder, riding in the truck with JT and Bwa than I do anywhere else in my life
Arriving in St. Michel, and being welcomed by our usual greeting committee – the crowds of children clustered in front of the church building on the left, and the gate to the school building on the right
Sharing a home-cooked meal together in Rolin and Madanm Rolin’s tiny kitchen
During the meal, hearing a group of children in the church building singing first “Hosanna,” then “Bondye fè pwason naje,” then “Yon moun lespri bati kay li sou woch” – all songs which our teams taught the children there – JT, laughs, leans over to me and says, “They want you to know they remember you…”
Riding in the back of the truck in the villages at night
Standing in the courtyard at Labelle Marie Hotel after all the lights are out, feeling the incredibly cool, dry breeze, and looking up at the stars – more stars than you ever knew were up there, and all of them shining brighter than you ever imagined possible
Sunday, 3:17am – that one darned rooster in St. Michel that I’m convinced must be blind and/or have circadian rhythm disorder
5:51am – the sound of roosters (how many roosters? all the roosters)…a donkey (where’s Sarah Reinhardt when you need her?)…37 dogs that suddenly start barking for no apparent reason, and then stop just as suddenly 30 seconds later…and a nearby radio that must be set to some Christian program, because I’m hearing “I Surrender All” in Creole
Sitting out in the cool morning breeze on the porch at Labelle Marie, keenly aware of the fact that I have an incredible sense of peace that I haven’t felt in months
A not-so-pleasant one – that all too familiar feeling of being right “On the Edge” of dehydration (Lady Gaga allusion specifically for Jason Ayers), knowing that I better start slamming the electrolytes or I could go south fast
Sunday morning worship in St. Michel – first time any of us have ever been here on a Sunday
One cat and one rooster, wandering through the church building during Jim’s sermon
The singing in the villages (man, it rocks)
After worship in St. Michel we drive out to another church about 45 minutes farther up into the mountains – once again I’m blown away by Bwa’s seemingly innate ability to navigate the craziest of conditions – ruts, ravines, gullies, and drop offs
(JT’s niece Tonia is with us – she’s completely freaking out, certain that we’re going to flip the truck – I just lean back and laugh to myself, once again aware of the bordering-on-irrational faith I have in Bwa’s driving skills, and the feeling of being completely safe in any conditions as long as he’s behind the wheel)
Sunday afternoon at the St. Michel orphanage – that one child that you make some kind of special connection with, and the feeling that it was not you who chose them, but rather they who chose you
Sunday night service in St. Michel – again, singing totally rocks – the children dancing around over on one side of the aisle, that group of old ladies dancing around over on the other side of the aisle
The whole church sings “Sou Bwa Kalvè” (chills…)
Two baptisms following our preaching service in St. Michel
Sunday night post-script: Earlier in the day when we’re going out to that other church, I comment to Jim that everything looks incredibly dry around St. Michel – there are no mud holes, all the river beds are much lower than usual, and all the foliage looks much more brown and dry than normal. When we get out to the little church, the preacher there is explaining to JT that the whole area has been in a drought for some time, and the people there are facing serious famine conditions where very soon they will not have enough to eat. So while we’re there, JT says a special prayer for the congregation, that God will bring rain to this area and put an end to the drought.
Fast forward to later in the evening – we’re at the St. Michel church building, me and Jim sitting up front w/JT. Just before the evening service begins we hear the first rolls of thunder moving in from the West, and a few moments later we hear the tap tap tap of rain drops on the tin roof of the church building. Jim and I look at each other; I lean over and say, “I ain’t gonna lie, this is giving me chills.” The rain quickly crescendos to a heavy downpour, and Jim says, “Well, we know who to ask if we need somebody to pray for something.”
It’s now a little past 10pm, and the rain is still coming down – not that quick “blow through and it’s over” rain, but a nice slow, steady soaking rain…
