another mountain-top experience...

Short intermission from the Port-au-Prince updates...

Today Matt, the Hubele family, Pam and Glen (our two visiting professors) joined 8 nationals in the three hour drive, then two hour hike, to Ezekiel's church plant in Baron, Haiti. For Lily's sake, we thought it best that I stay back with her, and while she and I had a lovely day, we missed out on quite the adventure.

They left at 5 am and didn't return until 7:00 this evening. A little insane? Probably, until you hear the story.

A few years ago, there WAS no church in Baron. Tucked into a mountain range far from Cap-Haitien, this community was "out of reach" from Christian influences, and deeply rooted in traditional Voodoo. Twenty-eight years ago, one of our students, Ezekiel, was born there. Years later, he moved to Cap-Haitien, was led to the Lord, and called to become a preacher.

He came to Emmaus to study how, but immediately shared with us a huge burden for his family, still in Baron, and still living far from the Lord. We had prayed with him about this many times, and each month, he would take his motorcycle and make the huge trek to Baron to spend some time with his mom and dad, and to talk to them about the Lord he had found.

Ezekiel at graduation this past May

For two years, he went, we prayed. Then one week he came back to campus ecstatic. That weekend, he had the honor of leading both parents, one after the other, to the saving and freeing knowledge of Jesus Christ. A month later, as scheduled, he returned to see them, only to find 12 believers, newly led to the Lord by his parents. The fourteen had waited 4 weeks for him to come back, so they could hear more, learn more, about their Father.

"I have to go more, I have to do more," I remember him telling us, and he upped his trips to every other weekend, despite the huge hike climbing over mountains and fording rivers. Soon, the number grew, and a true Body of Christ was born. They waited for each visit from Ezekiel, (most of them being unable to read), to learn more and to grow deeper.

Ezekiel graduated from Emmaus in 2009, and finally took "the plunge." He took this growing group of young but earnest believers and started a church, which to this day is nothing more than some bamboo posts and tarp. Every weekend, usually alone, he personally pays for the fuel to drive to the base of the mountain, then fords the river and climbs to Baron, every Saturday night. Then Sunday morning he leads the church services, Sunday school classes and Bible studies, and leaders have emerged to help him.

He's been asking us to come for a LONG time, but we couldn't when I was pregnant, and then when Lily was little, it was still not a great idea. Finally, after he came back to EBS in February to take a final course, we decided it couldn't be put off any longer. He needed the encouragement of someone truly coming alongside of him in this ministry, someone to share it with, someone who could pray in a way you only can once you have seen and been and done and experienced.

What Matt didn't know when they left at 5 was that he would be preaching, that the "good little walk" was actually more like mountain climbing, that "15 more minutes" meant an hour, that the 2 hour car ride would be over 3, that the group of believers would feed them rice and beans and chicken, and give them precious and worked for water, that he should have remembered to pack sunscreen, or that a 14 hour church experience could be SO good.

How sweet to kiss the cheeks of family just met, to worship with brethren so blessed by your sheer presence, to dance with children that have never before seen someone of your color, to pass the day with co-workers that have become invaluable friends, to hike alongside of a man whose heart and sacrifice and life make you want to be more like His Jesus...

Also, we had another man from Port-au-Prince join Emmaus on Wednesday. Please pray for his adjustment and healing and growth among us! His name is Bertil.