Church

Pastor, who had been with us the entire week, wanted so badly for us to come and visit his church. So on Wednesday late afternoon we loaded into Bill's Ford and took out on the hour and a half journey. We stopped along the way to pick up Pastor and I was amazed when the truck came to a halt in the middle of nowhere and Pastor came walking out from a small trail in the wilderness (followed by his mom, waving wildly, obviously so proud of her son. I loved that!), no house in sight, yet still squeaky clean with clothes pressed better than I send my kids to school in each day. Wait. I don't press at all so that's not a good comparison. Pressed just as good as Bobby's work shirts.....that's better :) Here's a little sample of the roads we traveled while there:

Even though the ride was rough standing in the back of that pick up, the scenery made it all worth it. The skies were unbelievable and the mountains breathtaking. It really was some of the most beautiful terrain I have ever lain eyes on.
About midway through the trip we had to cross literally through a river. We didn't go just from one side to the other. We had to drive about a hundred yards down river, make a crazy sharp turn, and then head up one of the steepest hills in Haiti. I made that up. It's probably not near the steepest but when you're in the back of a pick up truck holding on it felt extremely dangerous.
Right when we rolled up I could hear the singing from the church. It is something I'll never forget.
There were so many kids! Kids piled inside and kids just sticking their heads in through the makeshift windows just to hear. We were told this wasn't even their regular church night. This was just a special service just for us so it made the turn out and the singing all the more heartwarming!

This is Haitian Chip Leake (our church's music leader) :) I personally think that every church needs to get an accordion player just to keep things fresh. This guy was awesome!After that service, where I have no idea what Pastor said while preaching but I know for certain he brought it, we headed back to our Ford linked hand to hand because it was so, so incredibly dark. We piled in and drove away being chased by at least 30 kids screaming and waving. I remember driving that dirt road, hands on the top of the cab, wind blowing dust and dirt in my face, and looking up to the sky to see blankets and blankets of stars. Stars like I had never seen before I arrived in Haiti. In that moment there was no other place I'd rather have been.