But rule #1 in mission work in Haiti is flexibility. Our team was up close and personal with that rule today and living it gave us some great memories and even bigger blessings.
Let's start with the Sunday morning church service. In America, at least in our church, we have an hour for Sunday School and an hour-plus for worship service. Sunday morning worship service is definitely conducted on Haitian time. We arrived at the church about 9am, and it was my understanding that Sunday School was already over. The worship service was going on, but I don't don't think we'd missed much.
What was in store was four hours of worship to God on a small wooden pew with no cushion (I missed out on the nice plastic chairs that some of our team got to enjoy). We sang (a lot), honored their Sunday School teachers and high achievers, listened to the message from our pastor, honored the high achievers from our discussion session teams during the last week, shared the Lord's Supper, witnessed a baby dedication, and helped serve lunch to the congregation. Our church is pretty busy for it's size, but that's about a calendar month's worth of activities.
Then, we were able to present to the church funds that would help in their purchase of land to expand their ministry. Having the opportunity to stand on that little plot of land on the side of a hill deep in the Southern part of Haiti and pray for their church, the leaders, and the future God has for them was a very humbling experience. You truly do see God when you serve Him with a full, loving heart. In His power, I can only imagine how God will use that land for His glory.
After lunch, we had the opportunity to visit the home of one of the guys who has become like a son and brother to the team. His house was different than any house I'd ever seen, but it was also a home like I've rarely seen before. The sense of family was immediately evident. Love flowed throughout and was seen in the way they spoke to each other and how they immediately welcomed us in. His mother beamed and smiled from ear to ear as her son's friends has come and visited their home. He even climbed a 20-foot tall tree to cut down coconuts for us to sample. There was a sign that in Creole read, "Jesus is the answer." Without all the luxuries as Americans that we perceive as important, that simple yet powerful phrase encompasses the true foundation of a home.
At this point, we thought we just had a short marriage conference some of our team was putting on and then an early quiet evening. Then, flexibility happened. As we neared the church, the two back rear tires went flat. As our team left the truck and walked the remaining way to church, the Haitian pastor, me, and another guy from our team stayed with the truck. This immediately became a scene as a truck was stranded with two "blans" nearby. Probably two dozen kids flocked in the road to stand witness. As a couple of Haitian guys changed the tires, there were more than a few moments when I thought I was going to witness a truck crushing a Haitian man. Using a giant rock under the axle to balance the truck didn't seem like the safest way to complete that project. By the grace of God, they were able to change the tires and there were no injuries.
Little did we know, the most entertaining portion of the day was yet to come. It sounded easy enough. All we had to do was return some borrowed speakers and drum set that we used for the conference we helped put on. Then, flexibility really happened. All was going well as we loaded up the equipment, but we could see lightning flash in the distance. We traveled on and eventually hit what I refer to as the highway in Cayes-Jacmel. We had one of the Haitian pastor's friends following us on a motorcycle. Along the way I saw the headlight on the motorcycle go out, and the bike stalled. That seemed like a problem.
We traveled on and drove to a remote destination that seemed to be sparsely populated. The church was large but clearly unfinished. The pastor and his two Haitian friends walked along the side of the church nearly out of sight with only the full moon lighting the area. The truck was left running with the headlights on, driver's door open, and four "blans" standing in the back. We were quickly and quietly making escape plans. I'm sure I wasn't the only one lifting up a few silent prayers.
After a few minutes, a guy rides up on a bike and parks near the front of the truck. Uh oh, here we go. We quickly recognize him as a kind gentlemen that we'd prayed with earlier in the day. Eventually things were settled, and we unloaded the equipment into the church. It was unlike anything I'd seen. I'm sure in the daytime it was a beautiful structure, but at night in the light of the moon, it was super creepy. However, we were able to unload it all with no issue, and we were once again on our way back to the compound.
Then, flexibility struck again. We were going down the highway when the truck started to slow, and we eased onto the side of the road. We picked up a guy that was walking down the road. Great, a hitchhiker. Turns out it was the guy who's bike had broken down. The four blans started singing "Mock, yeah. ing, yeah. Bird, yeah...". Not sure if our new Haitian friend was a fan of Dumb & Dumber. We made it about a half mile down the road when we began to slow again. I looked to the side of the road and realized we had to pick up his bike.
We put the bike on the back of the truck and were off again. I had to chuckle as four blans, a Haitian, his broke-down bike, and a generator were all hauled on the back of the truck. When we got back to the compound, we had to get a picture to memorialize the moment.
It was a long but fulfilling day. We seen people come to Christ, we'd seen a church and families challenged to follow God's ways, and we'd rode on the back of a tap-tap with a broken-down bike. Every bit of it was filled with flexibility that can only come from the Lord.
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