A New Chapter- Mitchell Fusion

Making a major, life changing announcement is always a challenge and while social media has a lot to offer by way of dispensing information quickly to a broad audience, there are so many things that can't be captured in 140 characters or less. My hope is that this post will give a clearer picture of our latest, life changing announcement as we transition into a new season of ministry.

At the end of January an opportunity was presented to me to consider taking on a new ministry role a the Lead Pastor of Fusion Church in Mitchell, SD. After several weeks consisting of prayer, fasting and seeking counsel from trusted friends and mentors, we decided to accept the offer and we will be making the move sometime this summer. The Lord continues to make me more and more excited about the opportunity and I can't wait to meet the people of Fusion and to see where God will have us journey together.

While there were many things that factored into the decision, the first thing I want to make absolutely clear is that there was absolutely nothing negative impacting my decision to move to Fusion from Embrace. I have been on staff at Embrace Church in Sioux Falls since August 2010 and have been able to be a part of a growing, thriving, innovative church and served alongside people that I love deeply and will miss terribly. In fact, Adam Weber (my Lead Pastor) has been a huge source of encouragement and one of my biggest cheerleaders in making this move, not because he's glad to see me go, but because he wants to see me grow.

Embrace has provided me a place to engage in different ministry areas (care, prayer, service/outreach, small groups, missions, worship) and to grow in my capacity as a leader and to heal and mature in ways that were incredibly necessary in order for me to be able to pursue an opportunity like this. I'm sure I'll continue to learn from what Adam and Embrace are doing and you can bet that I'll be one of their biggest outside supporters as the church continues to work to reach the next person for Jesus Christ.

So, the next natural question would be that if Embrace has been such a great place to work, why would I choose to leave? If I was being completely honest, I would say that the role of senior pastor is one that has been in the back of my mind for some time. I have had people ask me if I'd ever thought about being a pastor many times over my 18 years in ministry. Sometimes the question would come from people that I had only briefly encountered and sometimes it would come from people that had worked closely with me who had the time and proximity to see things developing in me that I hadn't seen myself.

Over the last few years my role has been as the Care Pastor for Embrace which has allowed me the opportunity to exercise certain areas of pastoral gifting in ways that have confirmed a sense of pastoral calling, but have not necessarily afforded me the opportunity to explore others. I have been incredibly honored to be able to provide counsel to people in crisis, help people to connect in areas of discipleship, walk with people through health scares and to help people during times of loss and grief. These have certainly confirmed my heart for people and are some of the most cherished conversations that have ever been entrusted to me.

While those pastoral roles have been important for this season of ministry at Embrace, I have also had a growing desire to teach and to be more involved in big picture decisions in ministry. Both are areas that I feel I have some gifting in, but both are also areas where Embrace has great people already in place. In fact, Embrace has been gifted with some great leaders that fill these roles in a way that has made it one of the fastest growing churches in America. Because of this, I have put those desires on hold and have sought to learn patience and humility until such a time as God would allow me to step into a role where those gifts would be needed from me. I believe that the opportunity at Fusion is one that God has been preparing me for and that this is the right time and place for me to take on such a role.

Much like our move from Hanfield UMC to Sioux Falls 10 years ago, this is a move that is incredibly bittersweet. We leave a church that we love with people that are among the dearest friends we have ever had in order to pursue something that we believe God is calling us to do. Thankfully, this move will not take us as far away and will actually put us closer to some of our family (Amy's dad, brother, cousin and step-grandmother all live in Mitchell) which should help ease the transition some.

We're excited to start a new chapter on a journey we never expected to be on. God has been so incredibly gracious to allow us to experience the things that we've experienced along the way and our hope is that the lessons we've learned and the things that we have seen would make us more effective in ministering to the needs of the people of Mitchell.

Ways you can be praying:
-Pray for Xander. In many ways, we feel like Xander is giving up the most in this move. He leaves behind friends, a high school that he loves that is unlike anything Mitchell has to offer, and his FTC robotics team that he's been a part of for several years (Mitchell has no FTC team). Pray that he would be able to find meaningful activities and good friends in his remaining three years of high school. I've told him that if God is calling our family to Mitchell that God has something there for all of us, including Xander.
-Pray for Maia. Pray for a good transition from elementary to middle school while also adapting to a new community. Pray for great friends and opportunities to continue to engage in all things artsy in a community that actually has quite a bit to offer her.
-Pray for Fusion. Pray that God would lead and guide this community of believers into a greater understanding of who He is and who He has created Fusion to be for Mitchell and the surrounding area.
-Pray for Brandon Vetter (the founding Pastor of Fusion) and his family as they make the move to Bismarck Legacy in Bismarck, ND. Brandon did a great job in establishing a solid foundation for the future of Fusion and we're excited to see how God will continue to use him in his new season of ministry as well.
-Pray for Embrace. Pray for new leadership in the area of pastoral care and that the right person/persons will emerge to provide for this growing area in the life of Embrace.
-Pray for Amy as she determines where to engage in things in Mitchell. Our thought right now is that she will still be teaching voice at the University of Sioux Falls once a week (it's only an hour's drive), but she will be closing her home studio and assessing how to best use her gifts and talents in our new community.
-Pray for me. Pray I would be faithful, humble and effective in carrying out the call that God has given me and that I would continue to remain teachable so that I can grow to be the leader that Fusion Church needs.

Great Things and an Unexpected Worship Moment

In 18 years either leading or serving in worship ministry, I have had a lot of moments where I have seen God clearly at work. I've seen him at work in churches, in fields, in pole barns, and in living rooms and I've watched him heal past hurts, answer prayers, give encouragement, and breathe new life into hopeless people in ways that leave them forever changed. Even so, with everything I've seen, there are still moments when he does the unexpected and surprises me.

Have you had these kinds of moments? These are moments when He completely captures your attention and puts a living, breathing testimony to his faithfulness in your line of sight and reminds you that these are not just words that we sing, but they are our prayers, hopes, dreams and stories as well as our testimony of who we know God to be because of the ways that he has met us in the depth of our need.

Sunday we introduced the song Great Things (Worth it All) by Elevation Worship. We had already played three services, but at our 605 Service I looked across the stage to see my beautiful bride Amy with one hand on the keyboard and one hand in the air. This is not an uncommon thing as we're both pretty demonstrative in our expression of worship, but this moment is one where God spoke to me so clearly through her worship that I encountered him in completely unexpected ways.

Photo courtesy of Jason Currie-Olson

For those that don't know, Amy was diagnosed with breast cancer nearly two years ago. She caught it early, but it was a fairly aggressive form that necessitated a summer's worth of chemo and surgery. She handled it with strength, grace, humor and a lot of prayer and every check up since has been a reason for us to celebrate. You can read more about her journey on her blog. It's worth the read.

Most days, we wouldn't even think about the cancer if it wasn't for the scars left by a bilateral mastectomy and subsequent reconstruction surgeries. They are scars that are prominent and scars that she finds ugly, but they are also signs of life and reminders of the journey that we've been on.

The moment that I saw Amy worshipping, hand in the air, we were singing:

Thank you for the scars I bear

They declare that You are my healer

How could I have seen Your strength

If You'd never shown me my weakness

Amy personified this lyric for me and I was immediately brought to tears as I was reminded of God's faithful presence with us through her cancer. I was reminded of how he answered prayers for provision through friends, family and strangers when she had to take the summer off from teaching. I was reminded of how he answered prayer for improvement in her platelet levels even though they had dropped throughout the course of her treatment. I was reminded of the countless times that his presence brought encouragement, strength and peace as I pleaded for her healing. God's reminders to me were so strong that I could hardly see through the tears and could hardly sing as my voice broke in thanksgiving.

I'm sure that Amy had been expressing her heart to God all day during that song. I'm not sure why it took me all day to see it. Maybe I was caught up in trying to play the right chords. Maybe I was too focused on the function of leading worship to pay adequate attention to the One I was intending to worship. Maybe it was because I needed to open up my eyes and look for the work that God was doing in our midst. Maybe it was because I needed that moment in that moment so that I could fully take it in and allow it to do the shaping that God intended. No matter the reason, I'm so glad that he surprised me.

I'll leave you with some of our beautiful Embrace Church family singing a simple version of Great Things. Hope it's an encouragement to you.

Haiti Trip 2014 Sunday

The morning started much more relaxed than the previous days as we slowly awoke and had breakfast before heading to church. Aubrey, Art, and I worked through a couple of simple song arrangements to do for the service and I was finally going to get to do the sermon that I had written (and rewritten and rewritten some more). We took the familiar walk down the road but didn't have to go quite as far as the church we attended last year. I was thankful to not have to climb that hill again given how sweaty I had been after that climb so that I could avoid appearing like a stereotypical, sweaty preacher on this particular occasion.

We were ushered to the front and filled the first two rows where we observed the service and participated as best as we were able in the singing. They had a small band with electric guitar and drums and the guitar player was particularly interesting as he played in the background of almost everything. Since he was behind the worship leader and main speakers, time and tempo were fairly relative throughout.

Patchuoko translating during my sermon

Gretchen got to do a brief introduction of our team and then invited Aubrey, Art, and I up. Art played guitar and I played djembe while Aubrey led us in worship. We sang "Oceans" and "10,000 Reasons" with the chorus in Creole since Aubrey had been learning it from Darline. When we finished, it was time for me to speak with Patchuoko as my translator. I spoke from John 4 and landed on the promise and hope of Jesus offering us living water. Writing the message was a challenge as I tried to keep things somewhat concise for time and kept language simple and consistent for Patchuoko's sake as a translator. I figured if I ran into a key word that Patchuoko didn't know, I wanted to be able to find an alternative word and plug it in easily throughout the rest of the message. While I would have written the message completely different had I been giving it at Embrace, I felt like it suited the congregation in Haiti well.

After church, we headed back to the compound for a little lunch and hangout time I also took a little time to work on the bikes for Liza again that had been done the previous day because both had flat tires by the time Liza was ready to give them to the girls. I only had one tube left, but Mike had a patch kid that I was able to use as well. My only fear was that I wouldn't be able to patch either tube and while I couldn't locate the leak in the first tube, the second was easily located and patched so we were able to get them up and running.

The boats arrive

The only thing on the agenda for the afternoon was an excursion out to the island. We all suited up and walked down to Robert's house where three boats would haul the team and several of the youth out to the island for a little playtime. I rode in Robert's boat with Kristen, Jenna, Julie, Tom, and Elysee while Robert and another gentleman rowed us out there. It was a fairly breezy, but pleasant day to wander the sandy/trashy beach and wander out on the reef to the drop off. We saw urchins, sand dollars, starfish, and a hermit crab that some of the guys let crawl around on them. I also watched an osprey diving for fish and a white crane for awhile while the rest of the group was on the other side of the island.

Art becoming one w/ the island

I wandered back to the group where a few of the youth were doing a musical performance with some of the trash from the island serving as a microphone and some instruments. They were also beginning to bury Donald in the sand. He was flashing his huge smile until he was pretty much buried, but he was less excited when one of the guys put the hermit crab on his face. He scrambled to get out and some of his friends grabbed him by the hands and feet to help toss him in the water to clean off. Next, it was Art's turn. He was a pretty eager participant until he was covered and guys kept putting more sand on him without keeping in mind where they were touching him.

Finally, we climbed back into the boats for the return trip. Because the wind was up, the sails went up and we cruised back toward Robert's house. Our boat was fairly far ahead until we hit a shallow spot and felt the boat lurch and halt. Immediately Robert was climbing to the back of the boat because the rudder had come off and he scrambled to retrieve it before it got away. We were still hung up on the rocks and the wind was filling the sail to the point where we watched it slowly bend the bamboo boom on the main sail. When it snapped, part of it hit Jenna's thigh, the other sail began to turn us, and I thought for sure we were going swimming. Somehow, we all stayed in the boat and were able to gather everything in so that Robert and his friend could row us in. The other boats had easily passed us, but we managed to get in with Jenna's leg and Robert's boat being the only casualties.

Robert, Elysee, Kristen & me

I was glad to have been in Robert's boat because he is a highly entertaining, talkative guy and the girls on the boat only served to amplify that. He talked about anything and everything and, through it all, showed his great love of his home. It was plain that he had all he needed and a paradise to enjoy it in. It was truly an honor and a blessing to get to see Haiti through his eyes, if only for a little while.

We got back to the compound and hung out until dinner. There was another movie planned for that night and most of the team decided to go down for it, but I stayed back with a few others for conversation. Once the rest of the team came back, we did high/lows and hung out a little more. Liza shared that she was finally able to give the girls their bikes and they were thrilled. I was so glad to have been able to help get those ready and to help make her high point of the day happen.

We settled in for what would be the last night at the compound for most of us and began to consider what and how to pack as well as what we might leave behind that might be a blessing that the mission could pass on for us to meet a need someone might have.

Haiti Trip 2014 Saturday

Our final morning in Jabouin had us running right away. We needed to get things set up for the festival for the kids and there was a lot to do. We had several carnival games (though we couldn't call them that as Carnival has a completely different, darker connotation in Haiti) and each team member was going to be in charge of a game while the youth were responsible for taking groups of kids to each of the games. I was responsible game where the kids try to knock down a pyramid of cans by throwing a bean bag. It seemed simple enough, so I set up my station and had my buckets of prizes (candy, bouncy balls, and necklaces) ready while kids started filling the school yard.

Our little green friend

As we were still setting up, we watched a small, bright green lizard climbing one of the poles in the big tent that helped support one of the peaks of the tent. Someone had said they would need to keep an eye on it so that it wouldn't drop down on them, so a little while later when Jenna was standing under the spot it had been climbing earlier, it was too tempting an opportunity to pass up. I talked Art into making her think it had jumped onto her shoulder. Worked like a charm.

Also as we were setting up in one of the other classroom areas under the same tent, I caught sight of a small scorpion. I stepped on it, but the thought of the preschoolers that had been sitting right there the last few days, some without shoes, made me even more thankful for the classrooms that were being built.

photo courtesy of Gretchen Shafer

We got into position as the groups ranging in age from probably 3 to 12 (or so) started coming around. I had underestimated how involved my game would be as every kid there knocked down the cans. I had to reset the cans, locate where the bean bags had gone, and grab a prize for each kid which meant I was constantly on the move. For most kinds, it wasn't much of a challenge, but some of the youngest kids couldn't hit the cans on any of their three throws (from just a few feet away). When that would happen, I'd reach over, sweep the cans off of the table with my forearm and give the kids a prize anyway. By the time I was done, I was sweating more than I had on the hike to Jabouin on Thursday.

To my left was Aubrey's station where they had to pick a rubber duck from a small pool to win a prize. Aubrey had her game usurped by Joshua (Patchuoko's son) who was giving the instructions and directing the activities so that all Aubrey had to do was hand out prizes. It was fun to watch this four year old kid owning that game and telling everyone what to do.

Joshua and his helper Aubrey

There were a couple of great moments near the end of the festival. Darline had found the girl from the road on the home visit day (Thursday) and her hair was done up in a bunch of hairbands. The smile on Darline's face was a delight as she picked the girl up for Aubrey to take her picture.

The other moment was after nearly all of the kids had been through the games. There was a grandmother and grandson (about 3 years old) who obviously had a developmental issue and they had been standing off to the side watching the other kids play the games. The grandson didn't have a goodie bag of his own which meant that he hadn't been a part of the festival and hadn't received any of the candy, necklaces, bouncy balls, or other treats like the other kids. Julie obviously noticed as well as I caught her approach the grandmother to see if she could give him some bubbles. She was very grateful for the kindness shown and I was blessed again by the hearts of the people I was serving with.

Things wrapped up pretty quickly and we were soon headed back down the mountain to Ti-Riviere with the intention of returning for one more day of VBS with the kids in Jabouin on Monday. It was much easier going headed down the mountain and there was more conversation since we weren't having to work as hard to catch our breath. Art even got to kill a small tarantula on the road with Lucy egging him on. "You do not want it to grow to be big or it will bite you." she said, very matter of factly.

We made it back to the compound and had a little bite to eat before hitting the showers. I hadn't showered since Thursday, opting instead for baby wipes, Gold Bond, and a lot of deoderant. It had made the last few days a little uncomfortable (with all the activity we had going on), but at least I didn't have Art terrorizing me while I took a bucket shower in a tent while tin sheeting rained from the school roof.

There wasn't a lot of downtime for me as Pam had arranged for a bike clinic at the coffeehouse at 3:00. I worked on a few bikes at the compound that Liza had picked up for her sponsored girls prior to leaving (with a little help from some of the youth) and assessed what we had for parts. After finishing Liza's bikes, we had a few tires and tubes, two chains, two sets of brake pads, and some break cables and housing. I packed these up with a few tools and hopped on a motorcycle with Patchuoko and Joshua to head to the coffeehouse. Several team members decided to come down as well, but were stuck walking with a few of the youth. When we got there on the moto, I had to laugh a little at the 25 or so "bikes" that were there and decided that they probably needed a faith healer more than a bike mechanic. I knew we'd be pretty limited in what we could do, but we would take it one bike at a time.

A quick tutorial before we started tearing into the bikes

We started with a little tutorial on changing a tube and chain with Patchuoko translating and then we launched into fixing what we could. Patchuoko was helping some, one of the youth who had come along had proven helpful with Liza's bikes and took charge of helping another group, and I was hopping from bike to bike trying to fix bikes without the right parts or tools. There was a lot of improvisation going on which meant that there really wasn't a lot I could have the team help with when they arrived. I felt bad about that, but at least I provided them with a little entertainment not only by scrambling from bike to bike, but through displays of clumsiness as well. I had left my bag of supplies with the team so that I wouldn't have a ton of people grabbing parts and tools. At one point, I went to fetch something from the bag and was climbing the poured concrete seating up to the team when I missed a step that was poured at a different height and went down. I caught myself with my left hand, but thankfully didn't hurt myself. Ten minutes later, I did the exact same thing, only this time, I felt and heard a pop in my wrist. I froze for a second fearing I had broken it, but I was able to move it. I knew it would hurt later, but I got back to business and kept working on the bikes while the adrenaline kept the pain at bay.

Some bikes had more hope than others

All told, we worked on bikes for three and a half hours without a break. One of the bikes that I got to do was one of the bikes that we had given away last year at Millenium after the classes I had done with some of the students there. It had definitely been ridden. A lot. Hard. I replaced one of the brake cables and a set of brake pads that I had replaced a year earlier. The bike was also missing the rear derailleur that I know had been on the bike (and working) when I had seen it last.

I had to tell a lot of folks that I didn't have parts to take care of some of the issues the bikes had. I hated to turn them away, but they are so used to doing without that instead of being upset or expressing any frustration, there was acceptance. One team member told me that they didn't see anyone that left mad. I think that if we did something similar in the US  and had to send people away empty handed, the response would be much different. There is definitely something to be learned there.

As we wrapped up the bikes, the screen and projector were being set up for movie night. Pam asked if I'd be willing to give a short message before the movie since we'd be watching "Mr. Bean's Holiday" and she wanted to make sure there was something of a spiritual nature that happened that night. I gve the same message as I had given in Jabouin, only with Patchuoko's translation and a few less details for the sake of brevity and clarity.

The movie was a big hit with so much physical comedy and it was a great night to spend in the company of the youth of Ti-Riviere. When it was over, we headed back to the compound for highs/lows and I was finally able to take some ibuprofen for my wrist and put a brace on that I had brought with me.

As we prepared for bed, some were making preparations for the next day's activities which would include a trip out to the island for a little recreation. Art managed to get his hands on some flippers and a scuba mask and was walking around the mission house talking about how he was going to wear his "Scuba Steves" out to the island. As usual, he had everyone rolling. I was laying on my bunk listing to his antics in the store room which also doubles as the entrance to the mission house. He was mid sentence when Mike walked in. Without missing a beat, Art stopped what he was saying and said, "So, what happened was..." which was Art's battle cry throughout the week anytime he had to explain his antics or was caught doing something questionable. It became easily one of the most quotable lines of the whole trip because we heard it from him so often.

It was a great way to cap a very busy day and I had no trouble at all falling asleep that night.

Haiti Trip 2013: Monday & Tuesday

Here's the final post from last year's Haiti trip. I'll be posting about the 2014 trip shortly.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Seth on the kitchen roof

Our final morning in Ti-Rivier was going to be one of dividing & conquering. I had another bike class at Millenium, a group was going to do school photos, Julie was going to get a tour and spend some time helping at the clinic, and Seth, Brent, and Taylor were working on putting a new roof on the mission kitchen.

For the clinic, we covered brake cables and brake pads. The cables and housing allowed the students a good opportunity to participate for those that were interested, but presented a bit of a challenge for me as I was dealing with three different brake types between the two bikes and the pads that I had were V-brake pads which would simply have to do for the cantilever and center pull brakes that were on one of the bikes. My biggest concern was that I would have to go over the brake work myself before I would trust the students to ride them. Somehow we managed to get through all of it and they were in good enough shape for us to do a drawing among the students to give the bikes away. The clinics were a definite highlight for me and I hoped that I had done enough to equip a few students to do some of their own work.

We headed back to the mission house where the guys were still hard at work laying new tin on the small roof of the kitchen, did some chores, packed some bags, ate some lunch and said our goodbyes.

We left just after lunch and planned to spend the night at Ronald's house with is usually less than an hour's drive to the airport. The house is one that Mission Haiti built to house teams in transit and to give Ronald a base of operations closer to Port au Prince and shipping ports in the north of Haiti. The ride itself was fairly uneventful with the exception of Taylor feeling absolutely miserable. All of us had dealt with digestive issues to one extent or another given the drastic change to our diet over the previous week. I had been bound, bloated, and miserable for a few days, but Taylor had self medicated a bit and things had kicked in with a vengeance, so I guess our team experienced some gostrointestinal extremes.

Ronald's house was down a narrow side road with a tall wall and large gate enclosing it. The front yard had a large area to congregated and there were showers and a toilet along one side of the house. Inside was a main living area & kitchen with a few rooms for Ronald's family on one side and two bunk rooms on the other where team members could stay when in transit.

Taylor has the look of a man committed to his art

We gathered in front of the house for a time of worship and sharing. The worship time was especially sweet as Aubrey shared "Your Ways" with us which was a song she had recently written. Taylor also shared a song which was especially cool as I had no idea that he even played. We ended our worship time with Revelation Song and the Spirit's presence was especially strong as we dwelled in an attitude of adoration and moved into a time of prayer.

I felt especially urged to speak some words of encouragement to both Aubrey and Julie. I told Aubrey just how proud I was of her and the growth I had seen in her life. We have known Aubrey since she was a student of Amy's in high school and she is definitely dear to the Morrison family. Watching her grow in her faith, calling, and artistry has been an absolute joy. With Julie, I shared how much I appreciated her heart, both for Haiti and for her friends grieving at home. I knew she was still struggling with not being able to be there for them and encouraged her to trust that God was working in her absence to minister to those that she was burdened for and that she did not need to feel the weight of that burden anymore.

We hung out, enjoying each others' company and Pam shared with us the story of the guy who had ridden with us for security. When Mission Haiti had bought the new bus, they bought it in the US and shipped it to Haiti. When it arrived in Port, they sold the old bus and went to get their papers for the new bus as they had a team coming in. Without these papers, if the bus was stopped, they would be subject to having it taken away from them. When they arrived for the papers, there was no power to have them printed and they were told to come back the next day. They arrived first thing the next morning and ran into the same problem and were told to come back again the following day. Because they had a team coming in, they absolutely needed it that day. They were in a tight spot and decided to see if the police would write up temporary papers for them so they could travel that day. They were told no and left dejected.

Shortly after they left, Pam received a call from a gentleman claiming to be with the police who could get them papers. It sounded a little iffy, but they really had no other options. When they picked up the papers, the officer asked to ride along. Pam was reluctant, but decided they would need to do so in order to secure the papers. They eventually found out that this was one of the highest ranking police officials in the country and one of the most famous faces in all of Haiti. He was better than any papers that they could carry and would keep the team from any roadside delays where the authorities were concerned.

He told Pam that he was more than happy to ride along anytime she had teams traveling from Port to Ti-Rivier and this was the same man that had ridden security for us the entire time we had been on the bus in Haiti. We were absolutely floored by this story and felt even more secure after hearing it.

One final incident sums up my journaling of the trip pretty well. I had been writing constantly at any opportunity that I could and was many pages, but only a few days, in by the time we reached Ronald's house. Seth needed to relieve himself and the facilities were occupied. He decided to pee by the bus and as he did so, he said, "Put that in your novel." Pretty much sums it up.

Tuesday, February 26, 2003

Public transit on our way to the airport.

We got up fairly early and were on our way in the bus by 6:30 for what should have been a 45-60 minute drive to the airport. For whatever reason, traffic in Port was especially slow. There were places where it took us ten minutes to travel a city block and we began to believe that we might miss our flight. Traffic was so tight that Ronald actually made contact with another truck as wheat had been four lanes, merged into three. They did little more than yell at each other as we kept crawling along.

We arrived about 25 minutes before our flight was supposed to leave and I'm sure they had already begun to board. We gathered everything quickly and headed to check in. I was the first to arrive and the lady at the counter said in a very amused voice, "You are late." I told her, "I know." and gave her a smile as I gave her my passport. Thankfully, things moved quickly and we were able to board. We took off for Fort Lauderdale thankful beyond words that we had made it.

This tap tap pretty much sums up our trip

The only other thing of note from the travel home was that I got hit on by a drunk, deaf guy at the airport in Fort Lauderdale. An interesting experience, but I only mention it to remember how funny it was, not to etch it into my memory. ;-)

We arrived back in Sioux Falls at about 10:30pm to a welcoming party of family and friends. We were much relieved to be home, but much changed by those we had met and by the start of a beautiful new mission for us in

Haiti Trip 2013: Sunday

Here's another post from last year's trip with Mission Haiti. I'll begin posting more from the trip in February of this year once I have finished last year's posts.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

The path to the church

We woke on Sunday anticipating going to one of the local churches. Aubrey had volunteered to make pancakes for breakfast and we enjoyed a pretty relaxing morning before heading out.

We dressed for church (polos & Khakis for the guys, dresses for the girls) and started the hike down the road. Aubrey and I planned to do You're Beautiful by Phil Wickham and Troy was preaching, so Aubs and I made plans along the way. We arrived at Antoine's house and took a left off the road and headed up the path to the church. After a fairly lengthy climb on a warm morning we arrived at a pink building inside the skeleton of a larger building where worship was already well under way. I'm not sure if the larger building was something being built or was the remains of something falling down, but we stepped over the cinder block threshold into what seemed more of a courtyard at this point.

We were guided around the side of the church and brought in a side door where we could fill the first few rows and a good number of seats on the platform. I was soaked in sweat from the walk and was glad for the slight breeze coming in the door while Aubrey and I finished our planning. The Haitian worship was spirited and incredibly loud with songs usually lasting close to ten minutes. One gentleman was playing a tambourine that was missing several of its bells and looked like it could fall apart any time he would strike it.

The time came for Aubrey and I to do our thing. I played guitar while she sang and one of the reasons that our planning took so long for such a simple song was that we had originally planned to trade verses, but decided that it would be best to put it in a key that worked well for Aubrey's voice. Of course, she sang beautifully with me adding harmonies. The congregation quickly caught on to the interlude of "oohs" and joined in after each verse. It was absolutely gorgeous to hear them carry those parts and when we reached the end of the song, we let them sing those out as an expression of their worship.

Troy & Patchuoko working through a translation issue

At that point, Pam did a short lesson followed by Troy's sermon, both with Patchuoko translating. After church, there were many hugs and kisses from the Haitians before we made our way back down the hill and back to the mission.

Our only activity for the afternoon was to head out to the island for a little play time. We headed down to Robert's house where three boats with blue tarps for sails were to carry us to the island. We loaded 5-6 of us in each boat and did all we could to stay out of the pilot's way. The boats rode incredibly low and watching the other boats, there were times we worried that they'd take on water. The boat ride was about 20 minutes long and took us to a small island that was mostly sand with a little bit of brush, a few trees, and a whole lot of trash.

We made our way around the island to scope things out and found a jellyfish that had washed up. The jelly was a deep purple and was moved to the brush where it would be out of the way as we began to explore the waters. The water was only knee to waist deep for at least 100 meters before a large drop off that you could see the waves break against. We were on the lookout for more jellies and also urchins which we had been told we might encounter. I wandered out with Aubrey and eventually we did find an urchin. I took a shoe off, scooped it up and we got a closer look. We enjoyed the sunshine, the breeze, and the surf in the background as we hung out near the drop off for awhile before heading back to the island.

We all began to congregate on the landward side of the island where some boys were diving and bringing up starfish for us. They were a red/orange mix and were mostly 8-10 inches across and before long we had a collection of ten or so on the beach. Aubrey proceeded to get down on the sand with them for pictures and was absolutely in heaven. We took a group pic in the water in front of one of the boats before piling back in and heading back to the mission.

Once back to shore, we were walking back to the mission when one of the youth invited us to see his home. We proceeded to go through the gate and, before we knew it, we realized that his mother was just outside the house doing laundry. Completely naked. We stayed for an uncomfortable minute or two while she did her best to cover up and we did our best to respectfully avert our eyes.

Once we got back to the mission, we played a little more basketball with the kids before stopping for dinner. It was shortly after that when we received word from back home about a family from Sioux Falls Christian that had died in a car accident back home. We had two people on the team who knew the family well. Julie worked with the mom at Sanford and Brent's son was in one of their son's class at school. It hit them both very hard and it was a long, sobering night where we all processed loss and helplessness as we thought of friends and family back in South Dakota.

Haiti Trip 2013: Saturday

I'm continuing to recap last year's Embrace Church trip to serve with Mission Haiti. After I've finished with the 2013 trip, I'll get back to posting from the 2014 trip. This one is also much shorter than the previous post as it was the first of the journal entries that I finished in Haiti this year. ;-)

Saturday, February 23, 2013

The first event of the day was the 5K we were hosting. The course had already been mapped out and the hope was to get going before it got hot. My job was to stick with Pam in case she was needed for anything. This proved much harder than it sounds as there were multiple times that I turned my back for a second only to find Pam 50 yards away walking quickly in the other direction.

Taylor nearly ran down Elisee 

The race course had been measured out and an ATV was to go out to serve as the turn around for the runners. We had several members of our team running and most of the rest of us were either taking pictures or cheering runners on. Seth was doing balloon animals for the kids which was fun to watch as kids would just light up when he gave them the balloons.

The race started and they were off like a shot. We began to relax a bit and wondered how long it would be before they would be back. It turned out to not be very long as the first runner came back around the corner after about two minutes. We obviously knew that they hadn't done a full 5K, but we scrambled to be ready for them at the finish line anyway. It turned out that the ATV hadn't gone out as far as planned, but since everybody played by the rules and ran the same distance, we decided it was as official as the results were going to get.

Julie & Rachael were good running partners

After the race, we had a little downtime before heading to Antoine's house for a prayer visit. Antoine runs the coffee shop where we would host a movie night later that day and also has a daughter (Melanita) who had suddenly become unresponsive several months earlier. She had been taken to the doctor a few times, but they were unable to find anything medically wrong with her. They were either dealing with a condition unfamiliar to the local doctors or there was a spiritual element to it. Pam wondered if it was a matter of a voodoo curse that had been placed on Antoine's family. That may seem strange to our enlightened, educated, American minds, but there is a reality to spiritual battle that we have become numb to that is very present and much more out in the open in Haiti and it is more than simple superstition.

Jeff had been teaching on voodoo and spiritual warfare and took us through a time of prayer for Melanita. We left fairly certain that we were dealing with a curse of some kind and were unsure of how or when God would answer our prayers for this sweet little girl.

From Antoine's house, we walked back toward the mission, passed the turnoff, and went to a piece of property that Pam had acquired to build a new school for Ti Rivier. Jeff again gave us some instruction and we began to walk the grounds, praying for the work that God would do there.

Me and Totes, my goat

When we arrived back at the compound, we found that the prizes for the 5K had arrived in the form of 8 or 9 goats and a handful (almost literally) of chickens. The goats were tied around the yard eating any vegetation in their reach and the chickens were tied and hanging by their feet. The plan was to bring them all to the coffee house (about a two mile walk) and give them out before the movie started.

We had a little downtime before we headed out, but before we left, we all staked our claim to livestock and made sure to get plenty of photos with our new friends. When it was time to go, we started the herding process and paraded our goats down the road. I can only imagine what was going through the minds of the Haitians as all of the crazy white people took their goats for a walk.

Brent & the boys

Adam & Gretchen in the Coffee House

We got to the cafe and found places to tie up the goats while we made final preparations for the movie and hung out with the kids. The movie would be projected onto a bed sheet and we would all sit either on plastic lawn chairs in a few rows in front or on the poured concrete seats of the amphitheater overlooking the hillside that led down to the water. Before the movie started, the prizes were distributed to the race winners and the seats filled for a showing of Courageous dubbed in Creole. The place was packed and it was fun seeing the Haitians laugh at the Americans in the movie, especially during any of the police chase scenes.

Once the movie was over, we helped clean things up and Adam finally had a chance to give away the glow sticks he'd brought with. We then headed back to the mission house in the dark to grab another night's sleep to the sweet serenade of the rooster chorus.