The Haitian Nation (Social and Spiritual Openness)

Social and Spiritual Openness

An aspect of the Haitian culture that stood out to us was their openness.  One of the first things we were told in preparation for our time in the Haitian culture was that we should throw personal space out the window.  More than just a higher comfort level when it comes to personal space, we experienced a higher level of social and spiritual openness.  Now, I'm no expert in Haitian culture from visiting Port-Au-Prince for one week, and my general observations are going to be a result of my experience.

As foreigners, we wanted to try our best to follow the social norms of the culture.  We were a bit concerned about how we were interacting with the Haitians we met on the street and the children at VBS.  We wondered to ourselves, what does a Haitian man think if an American woman starts a conversation with him?  What does a parent of a child think if their child is sitting on a strange American's lap?  So we asked one of our translators when it is appropriate to talk to someone and when it is not.  His response clarified much of the Haitian culture in our minds.  He said that you can go up and talk to anyone at any time!  It doesn't matter if you are a man talking to a 3 year old girl, or a woman speaking with a single man, it is socially acceptable and people do not read into the interaction (as we in the U.S. probably would).  In comparison to our American culture, the Haitians are much more comfortable in conversation with each other, even with strangers.  

Not only do the Haitians have an openness when it comes to social interactions, they also have an openness about their spirituality.  It was very common to see buses, tap-taps (pick up trucks used for transportation), and signs that were blatantly God-focused.  "Thank You Jesus", "Merci Jesus", and other simple praises were all around us.  Could you imagine the fuss people would have in the states if people plastered their praises to God on their vehicles?  By walking the streets, you would certainly think that Haiti is a "Christian Nation" with all the praises and scripture references.

When we talked to people on the streets about God, EVERYONE engaged in conversation with us and was very quick to have a spiritual conversation.  People were very open to sharing their faith in God, as well as personal prayer request with complete strangers. 

The Haitian Nation (The faith of the Haitian believers)

Kristi and I had the opportunity to travel to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, last week with the Adventures In Missions organization.  We were able to spend a week with 10 other members from our church family, as well as 23 other people from all across the United States.  As we process our time in Haiti, we will be blogging about specific aspects of our trip to share our experience with all of you.  We hope it will give you a glimpse into another part of the world where God is actively at work.

The faith of the Haitian believers

Throughout the week, we partnered with a local church to put on a Vacation Bible School for the children, attend their revival services, and invite the church's neighbors to attend the revival as well.  A benefit of partnering with the local church was our ability to observe and interact with how the church functions, as well as observe the faith of the Haitian believers.  From our observation, the Haitian believers were much more visibly passionate and excited about their faith.  I think they are much more desperate for God, something we are lacking in the states.  As Americans, we have so many other things to find our comfort in, whether it be our busy schedules or all our 'stuff' that fills our homes.  Since we have so much, we often forget that we NEED God.  We have much to learn from our Haitian brothers and sisters.

Above you can see the outside of the church building where we put on the VBS and attended revival services.  Believe me, it is nothing fancy.  Concrete walls and tarps for a roof.  There were minimal decorations, no uniform seating, and even electricity was spotty.  But none of that mattered.  When the Haitians came to church, they were both emotionally excited and physically reverent.  With as little as they have, they put on their "Sunday best" and their focus was the worship of God.  Services would last for hours, and they would sing with passion and gusto.

One Haitian believer that had an impact on me was the man pictured in the photo above on the far right.  This man was at the church 45 minutes before the service began, on his knees, literally crying out to God in prayer.  He sang songs all on his own.  He begged and pleaded with God.  He yelled his prayers.  He visibly shook so much during his prayers that he was dripping sweat off of his face.  He thanked God over and over and over.  Even though I had no idea what he was saying, it was very clear that he had a deep, intimate relationship with his God.  He was desperate for Him.  He knew the power of prayer.

 

 (Vacation Bible School)

The last story Ill tell about the faith of the Haitians is about a man in our neighborhood.  As we were drifting in and out of sleep in the muggy 80 degree weather during our first night, we were awoken before the sun rose at 5:00 a.m. by a man walking the streets and shouting at the top of his lungs.  "Welcome to Haiti," we thought.  The next night, we slept much better, but were awoken before the sun rose by the same man, yelling at the top of his lungs.  This was getting aggravating.  We noticed that the man was saying the same thing each morning, so we asked our translator what he was saying.  Our translator explained that he was shouting, "Wake up!  It's time to get up and go to church to pray!  Wake up!  It's time to go to church and pray!"  

This man did this every day of the week.  As aggravating as it was, he was fulfilling a conviction he felt to call everyone in his neighborhood to start their day in prayer.  Could you imagine someone doing this in the states?!?!  What would you and your neighbors do if someone knocked on every door on your street at 5:00 telling everyone to wake up and pray!  I'm thinking a strangling is a strong possible outcome of that situation.

I want to be bold in how I live out my faith in my neighborhood.  I want to worship deeper.  I want to pray with passion.  I want to be more desperate for God.

We are grateful for our interaction with some of the Haitian believers, and come away encouraged and challenged in how we live out our faith as believers in America.

The Beginning of May through Today

I (Kristi) am officially on Summer Break! I am so excited for a much needed break from lesson planning, grading, and the challenge of balancing my teaching work with our ministries here in Kenmore.  Here are some things we've accomplished in the past month.

1. Josh ran in the Indy Mini again at the beginning of May! I was not able to get the day off work, so Josh headed to Indy with his friends Kevin and Drew this year and met up with some others along the way. His next race will be a full marathon in the fall!

2. We planted our garden for 2012! We're hoping it's more successful than last year, as we are learning a bit each year. We enlarged our planting area and added some extra nitrogen to the soil.  Here's hoping to lots of veggies to can and freeze!

Our first garden success--strawberries! We began with four strawberry plants last year, and now we have a large strawberry patch with lots of delicious berries! (You can see our patch in the previous picture behind the white trellis.)

3. My parents spent Memorial Day weekend at our house helping us redo some flower beds and planting flowers.

4. My closet is finished! We have been planning on redoing it since we moved in, but kept putting it on the back burner until now. It used to have one rod across that was broken and held together with duct tape. Now I can fit so much more and was able to clean out a set of shelves that I was using in another room for some of my clothes.

Before:

After:

5. We made a last minute trip to Huntington over my birthday. It had been a year and a half since Josh was there and about six months for me. It's hard to believe we spent six years of our lives there. It was bittersweet leaving the town where we had so many incredible college memories and first fell in love and started our life as husband and wife. We were able to see many friends and realized what made those six years so incredible- the people there. We wish we could've stayed longer...

Heading out on the road to Huntington

Josh took me to Huntington's famous Nick's Kitchen for my birthday breakfast.

Josh was able to spend an afternoon at the Boys and Girls Club where he worked for four years.

Several of my friends were able to come to town for an afternoon, all the way from Grand Rapids, Colorado, and Canada! We celebrated a new baby and a baby on the way and enjoyed being together again.  (No, that is not my baby I'm holding!)

We're looking forward to Summer 2012!

On Spring Break, Memories I Did Make

April has been an exciting month so far! I started the month with my Spring Break week. It was definitely a blessing to take a break from lesson planning and grading and spend some extra time with people I love! I began my break by meeting up with two of my friends in Mansfield for a couple of days. Katie and Courtney are childhood friends from my church growing up. We've been able to take a trip together every year since my freshman year of high school. The past few years have been camping trips with our husbands, so we decided it was time for a girls' weekend. After Mansfield, I headed to Findlay to meet up with two college friends, Steph and Elissa. It was just what I needed on my spring break as we spent two days hanging out and relaxing together.

The rest of my Spring Break was spent at home hanging out with Josh, attending Goss' Holy Week services, doing some spring cleaning, and getting caught up on some school work. Our church also has a sunrise Easter service that the youth are in charge of, so we made a movie with several students from our youth group and Josh preached the sermon for the service. We celebrated Easter with Josh's family on Friday, and headed to West Jeff to celebrate Easter with my family after church on Sunday. And we were able to spend some extra time with our niece and nephew too! We wish we were able to see them more often! It seems like they change every time we see them.


Josh and I also spent this past weekend in Pittsburgh. On Friday we went to see Michael Jackson's Cirque du Soleil show! It was amazing! When we arrived at the show, we realized our seats were in the fourth to the last row. Then right before the show, an usher came and asked us if we would like to change seats. He moved us to the second row! On Saturday we walked around a part of Pittsburgh called Squirrel Hill, made an Ikea run, and stopped to see some friends in Youngstown.



It is hard to believe that the middle of April is already here! Our summer adventures are quickly approaching. We will be participating in Project Shine (a week-long mission trip to Akron), taking a Caribbean cruise, hiking in Hocking Hills, and going on a mission trip to Haiti! It will be a full, exciting summer!

For our Haiti trip, we must equip!

We are so grateful to announce that we are almost fully funded for our short term mission trip to Haiti this summer. We are humbled by the support that we have received from our family and friends, many of whom we do not get to see very often. It is our goal to keep you involved with this journey through our blog, photos online, and conversations. Your prayers and financial support cause you to be a part of this journey with us.

Although at times it is difficult for me to prepare my mind and my heart for this trip, I know that it will be here soon. One beautiful thing about working in full time ministry is that this trip will essentially be an extension of what I am already doing and not something completely outside of the ordinary. Don't get me wrong, I am sure that Haiti is much different from Akron, Ohio, but I think living missionally is something that I am slowly learning.

Adventures in Missions provides lessons and discussions for our team as we meet to prepare for the trip. One lesson that has stood out to me so far focused on the idea of living IN the destination, not living FOR the destination. In other words, we shouldn't be living one way, and then turn on a switch when we get to Haiti and live a different way. Do I have as much concern for the lost, hurting, and desperate around me right now? Do I seek out opportunities to encourage believers and nonbelievers right now? Or do I try to safely package my duties of evangelism and service into structured weeks only?

In 112 days, we will be serving missionally in Haiti. I hope that our hearts and actions would be of little difference during that week than they are now.

Thank you for your generosity and love.