After experiencing Haitian worship in Canaan that morning anticipation of getting to go to church again was building. Rick, the co-founder of theVine.co had a meeting in Jerusalem, Haiti that evening so we were going to head to Philadelphia under the guidance of his wife Samantha. We all piled into another tap tap that our translators had secured for us. This time we were heading into Port-au-Prince at night. Being someone who usually is aware of their surroundings, that and I did research, I was prepared for the adventure or so I thought. We loaded up the remaining food from that morning along with some shoes that had been brought and headed to church. You could tell the air was different,  the excitement palatable. On the way through town we saw another side of the Haitian community. The streets were busier with more tap taps, motorcycles and pedestrians. About half way to church it began to rain. Normally not a problem, of course tap taps are somewhat open so we got a bit wet. Port-au-Prince at night, was a different side of Haiti, one full of energy and excitement as the people gathered in the streets. When we arrived at church,  much like in the morning they were already worshiping. They quickly escorted us to the front of the church where they had seats for us. Keep in mind this church was in a concrete building about the size of a convenience store with no a/c. Admittedly it was crowded and man was it hot. […]

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The sheer joy and happiness on the people of Canaan tore at my heart as we loaded back up in the van to leave. As we loaded up I had a window seat that happened to already be open. While waiting I felt a slight tap on my arm that was hanging out the window. I looked and saw the biggest smile hiding behind a soccer ball. It was the young boy that had won the ball for reciting Psalms 23 the day before. Over the noise of talking and children playing I heard him say in very clear English “Thank you for my ball, thank you for coming.” What was left of my heart melted and stayed in Canaan as the van pulled away. My heart weakened with the gracious smile of a child. Click To Tweet We headed out of the mountains of Canaan in a different direction as we had some new passengers on-board. The pastor’s family rode with us back to the pastor’s house quite a distance away. Between the extra people and our bags, and left over food it was a pretty tight fit and heavy load. Our driver did his best to maneuver the van through the rough terrain. At one point we had to get out of the van so it could make it up a steep hill. Normally this kind of thing would have been concerning, in Haiti on mission it is part of everyday life.   Once we made it down the mountain to the Pastor’s […]

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After what should have been a restful nights sleep, we got our day started early preparing for mountainside church service. I had been up almost 48 hours, had hit my head pretty good getting in the van (normal behavior when I lack sleep) and my head felt like it would explode. The previous night was a bit restless between the sounds out in the streets beyond the walls of the mission house and the squeaky doors inside the house. However the anticipation and excitement of going to church with the locals in Canaan outweighed the aches, pains and tired eyes. Once we got dressed for church and ate breakfast we once again met up with our translators and driver outside the mission house. The van once again was loaded with rice, beans and pasta this time bagged up for distribution at church that morning. This van was a bit different from the one from the day before, the air conditioning seemed to blow cold, which was a pleasant addition to the ride. We all piled back in, dressed for church and headed back to Canaan. Raw worship on the mountainside in a church with dirt floors is God’s pure beauty. Click To Tweet We bounced back up the mountain to Canaan, even though we had traveled the same roads (so to speak) the day before there were many sites still to be seen. Goats and dogs roamed the streets and roadways of Port-au-Prince and Canaan. People were walking about everywhere and the streets were crowded. We […]

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