Oh What a Journey

As I sit here at our kitchen table this morning I hear the sound of children singing at a nearby school.  A majority of the words are unclear but the AMEN that is shouted at the end of each verse is music to the ears.  After a couple weeks of travel and experiencing life in Haiti we are excited to be back to our home on the mission.


We spent the past week and a half with Pastor Ellison and his family.  We LOVED getting to know the sweet sweet people in the mountains of Haiti.  The families all live in the same area with the Grandparents living right next door to the children and so forth.  Trey said, on more than one occasion, that we had brought Corbin to Haiti.  I will never complain about that.


The days were hot and the nights were hotter.  The Lord was so gracious to us and we were able to learn quite a bit of Creole and still have a lot of fun.  On the first day we were sitting out on the front porch studying and one of the guys who lived on the compound came walking over to us with a toilet seat.  We were very surprised and asked him what he was doing.  He informed us that Pastor Ellison sent him to get a toilet seat for me with hopes of making the bathroom more enjoyable.  After spending some time in the outhouse I had never been more excited to see a toilet seat in my life!

About a 5 minute walk down the gravel road was Pastor Ellison's church and school.  We would spend some mornings there learning Creole.  Pastor Ellison does not speak English but he was a great teacher.  (He would smile all the time, except in this picture.)  Baptist Haiti Mission builds schools alongside the churches they plant.  There are over 800 children in Pastor Ellison's school.  They have two session of school per day to accommodate all the children.  Pray for the teachers and the students of this school, it is A LOT of work.  The job of a Pastor is never finished.  We were encouraged to see how many house visits Pastor Ellison made and how loved he was by his family and community.  He truly loves the Lord and this is evident in his servants heart.

The afternoons were very warm, it was the perfect time for bathing!  The kids showed us a nice private river that was about a 7 minute hike back through the fields and pig trails where we could bathe.  The first time we went it was just the two of us.  The second day we had some visitors...

It is not everyday you see blan's [white] bathing in your river.  We were quite the site to them.  When we would visit a new place the children would shout "Blan Blan."  I would respond by saying, "Pa blan, mwen rele Chelsea" translation...I'm not white, my name is Chelsea.  They would then laugh and say "Chelsea!"  We loved spending time with the kids and playing lots and lots of games!  The quicker the game was and the more clapping the game involved the more they loved it.  


Our evenings consisted of hanging outside with all the kids and families nearby until bed time.  This was our favorite part of the day.

The kids loved Trey!  They would always sneak up behind him, but would run away screaming and laughing when he would notice them.  It was truly a blessing to have such a warm welcome.  We look forward to continuing our relationship with Pastor Ellison and his sweet family.

Pray for us as we are now figuring out what our role specifically looks like with Baptist Haiti Mission.  We are eager to learn and be used in a way that is pleasing to the Lord.  Pray that we continue to make studying the language a priority!  Thanks for keeping up with us.  We look forward to staying in touch with you via facebook and skype.  Know that even though we are in Haiti we are constantly thinking and praying for friends and family in the states as well :)