what a day!

From the beauty of His earth to the joy of worshipping with our brothers and sisters on top of a mountain, going to church at Coup-a-David was a joy.

The hike, especially with two little ones, was not a joke.  Lily LOVED it and reminded us of a baby goat, wanting to walk by herself almost the entire way, skipping and singing along the trail.

My favorite part about going to mountain churches is having the chance to enter into people's lives along the way.  We walked past hundreds of homes and hundreds of people, giving us lots of chances to connect, share a laugh or some encouragement, and of course learn more about Haiti's culture and people.

We got to talk with little children, old men, cock fighters, nursing mothers, women doing laundry, young men gambling dominoes, farmers, church goers, a blind woman and sheep herders...Imagine if you were able to walk through people's yards to get to church each Sunday!  

Once you finally see this prayer hut, you know you're getting close.  This hut was built for people to sit with God and speak to Him apart from their every day lives...you can see for miles, and as we approached the church, you could see dozens of others heading to worship on all the surrounding mountain ridges.  Many people walked far longer than we did to get to church yesterday!  What a ministry...

At the last river crossing, everyone stops to put their shoes on, as that most everyone hiked to church barefoot to save their Sunday shoes.  

 Upon arrival, exhausted Lily promptly fell fast asleep and slept through the whole service.

If you hike for hours to get to church, it turns out that you really wanted to be there.  The lively worship and rapt audience was a great tribute to this community of believer's great desire to grow and worship together.  After an awesome time of worship and a singing group, one of our visiting professors, Leroy, preached a great sermon from 1 John 3.  

He talked about leading a life free from sin, sharing from John that "everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness.  You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.  No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.  Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, as He is, and the one who practices sin is of the devil." 1 John 3:4-10

For Matt and I, one of the greatest blessings of the day was to be able to be a part of this work that Enick has given his life to.  Working on top of a mountain among the poorest and least prestigious in the world holds no worldly incentive for any man.  It is for the Lord that he pours himself out like a drink offering...there is NO other explanation.

He sleeps in a classroom, hikes the hike several times a week, serves endlessly, prays and works and ministers and disciples hundreds of people from all the surrounding mountains...never ceasing to preach and teach and serve and pray and lead everyone from the children to the elderly.  He is constantly using what little money he has to buy medicine for so-and-so, a Bible for such-and-such, a sewing machine to help someone's family provide, English lessons to help a youth get a job.

Every time I see Enick...EVERY time, he is on his way to or from Coup-a-David, and at any time that you ask him to hold out his hand, you will see that it is shaking.  

"Enick," I always ask him.  "When was the last time you ate something?"

"Oh," he always says grinning.  "It might have been a little while, but come, let me tell you about something that God is doing!"

He was in our first graduating class, and we have seen over the last five year him lay down all of his dreams to get his masters, to work in the Dominican, to be married and to make enough money to provide for his parents (it was Enick's mother who died last month) and little brothers and sisters at Jesus' feet, committing each day to do whatever work the Lord put in front of Him and trusting Him to provide exactly what he needs for each day.

What an example of Jesus for Matt and I...to be more like Christ in Enick.

(chocolate beans, drying in the sun to be pounded and turned into balls of bitter dark chocolate, which can then be sold and melted in cups of milk)

 Another huge highlight for me was getting to hold these triplets! (Sorry about the angle...it was hard to get a picture of all three while holding two.)  

I have NEVER seen triplets in Haiti.  Survival of two twins alone is so rare that to see triplets thriving at one month old was a miracle in itself.  As soon as I saw the mother holding one of them, looking too tiny to possibly be a real baby, she shared with me that the precious girl was a month old, and that there were two more. 

Quickly, grinning siblings ran in the mud house and returned with two more little ones, all three sound asleep in the warm sun and all three seeming to be in great health.  She delivered them, of course, right there in their mud hut with no doctor and no midwife, and I was just overwhelmed not only by the miracle of their safe pregnancy and delivery, but by the families obvious joy and love for the three...something very rare in this culture due to the fact that one child is already such a burden for families that have so little.  Two are typically seen as some kind of a curse...so three could have merited quite the complaint!

I can't wait to watch these little ones grow up as we visit Coup-a-David every few months.  

I have far more pictures than I can share!

Though we're all a bit exhausted and sore today, yesterday was such a huge reminder for us of the power of His hand, the joy it is to be in His service with others, and the great need Haiti and I have, NOT for electricity, not for running water, not for nice roads, not for financial gain, but just for Him.  

Just for Him.

Come see us, and we'll take you!