Liar Liar: Summer Highlights 2015

Here we are again, taking the time to truly answer the age old question “How was your summer?” with a highlight recap!

Bethany:

For me this summer was full of so many good moments. Since a lot of our teams we led were returning teams, we saw a lot of familiar faces – and a lot of new ones with that as well! Some of my all-time highlights:

1. Life stories with Mt. Pisgah – getting to be encouraged by a group so willing to share their life story was so wonderful. They were spirits of edification, it was so cool to be back around their team, since last year I was pregnant and couldn’t be there.
2. My home church coming and partnering with Pastor Elbarre. Getting to meet Anderson’s dad randomly at the clinic and embarrassing everyone with my excitement.
3. Seeing how everyone has changed in 2 years. Since I was out the summer of last year, I missed quite a few of our teams! So, for a lot of them, it’s been 2 years since I had seen them. It is amazing to me how close you can feel to someone, only ever spending one week a year with them. I think more than anything I was amazed at how close the students on the trip had grown with Christ during that time. It was so encouraging to see them learning to walk with Christ closer and closer each day.
4. Experiencing the grace that comes with leading these teams year after year. When your team tells you to take a break or when they pray over you as you experience trials… that is an incredible feeling.
5. I was especially humbled at the gracious hearts of some ladies from the Seattle area who loved on Eric and I during a difficult transitional week for us. They understood when we had to leave their team after being with them for only 2 days and they prayed over us. They didn’t even know me when they came down on the trip. They met Eric last year, but their first impression of me could have been skewed by the events of the week, but instead they chose to love me and surround me with support. Such an incredible feeling.
6. And of course, having Edison with us in Haiti. – which was the best part ever, but I know Eric will talk about it – since he’s told everyone it’s his highlight. 🙂

Maico, Bityah and Edison asleep. Notice B’s holding Edison’s hand? – it’s so sweet I’m gonna die!

Eric:

Well.. looks like Bethany basically covered all the good points! But she is 100% correct The question we always get from everyone when we return home from Haiti is.. “How was your trip?”

Friends ask us, family ask us.. even our coworkers (who also likely just returned from another country as well) ask us. But what we’ve found to be the case is there is a better question to ask. Instead of asking how our trip went (which usually gets met with a quick “It was great!”), the better question to ask is “What’s one of your highlights from the summer?”

If you ask us that, you’ll get a story. And doesn’t everyone love a story?

All that being said, some of my main highlights were:

1. Seeing our pastors and staff again. In the summertime, we get to work with more pastors than usual and more staff as well. Getting to see everyone around all the time was awesome. I really like when we are just driving through the city, see a pastor or staff member on the street and they hop in the car to get a ride. That’s the best.
2. Going to Mirabalais to rescue Annie on one of our weeks off was really fun. Bethany, Edison and I were joined by one of our good friends in Haiti named Smith. He is one of Almando’s long-time friends who Bethany met in Haiti in 2012. He is a big goofball and so much fun to be around. Even with my limited Kreyol and his limited English, we had a blast. My favorite memory is blasting Walk off the Earth’s new album and eating Keneps while Smith bobbed his head in the passenger seat next to me.
3. Of course, working with our awesome teams has to make the list. It’s always rejuvenating to see everyone again.
4. And setting up an apartment for Bethany and I at GSO was so different. Having a place to be kind of “centralized” was so strange for us, but so so great. We both enjoyed the constant flow of kids in and out of the apartment, hearing Mona and Mackadlay laugh at the television at night, teaching our staff how to use the toaster and microwave and cook ramen noodles. Simply being in community every day while living such a crazy lifestyle is so good. Even just sitting on a couch with your friends laughing at a slip-up in Kreyol that you said. (I promise the word was ARM). 🙂
5. But my top highlight was having Edison along on our trips. There are countless more highlights that I could share, but this takes the cake: 

We’ve been working in Haiti for several years now, and have developed some great relationships with all kinds of people there. What I’ve noticed now that we have Edison around is that he changes people.

Even the meanest, toughest, grouchiest of people can turn into a puddle when Edison smiles at them. Not only that, he’s great at getting us discounts at restaurants, or getting the attention of the security guard at the airport so we can jump the line. It’s hard not to abuse such incredible powers. 😉

This summer, I watched Edison bond our staff together in a new way.

I watched him calm down someone I was having a meeting with (who was really NOT happy!).

During a community outreach, he tore down walls people had around their hearts.

The kids at the orphanage took them in as one of their own. (I loved coming through the gates at the end of the day and seeing his blonde hair whip past as Herwine bobbed along with him on her hip.)

Watching him take his cool down baths during the middle of the day and say “Dlo, dlo dlo!” (Which means water.. his first word in Creole!)

What a cool kid.  And what an incredible opportunity for us to have him there with us. I want to say thank you to everyone who loved on him and took him in as your own this summer. We feel so blessed by you.

The summer of 2015 in Haiti for us was one for the record books. Now, we transition into the fall, focusing on our BIG (and we mean BIG) Christmas trip that is coming up – so please be praying for us, that the 3,000 children that come to our Christmas party will experience the never failing love of Christ and his free gift of salvation.

-Eric and Bethany