This weekend Rachael and Quinton were able to join us for a short 24 hours. We'll take whatever we can get of them! They came in Friday night and were able to meet some of our friends from Temple and play Mexican Train Dominos. Talk about fun! Those are some very dear friends of ours and it was a privilege for them to get to hang out a little while with them. Saturday we fixed a hot breakfast (a rarity around this house...) and then took Rachael pre-birthday shopping since we'll be in Haiti on her birthday. Emotions were swirling in our hearts. It'll be hard to not be on the same continent for the first time in 22 years, but we were thankful for the time we DID have with her this weekend. Tears flowed after they drove away. They had to get back to their world and we had a wonderful stop to celebrate Emily Scott and her leaving to serve in Uganda for 10 months!
These are two of our youth who became college age students who became adults and GREW up before our very eyes. Emily is between us and Karly is on the end. We love both of their families DEARLY and can't even begin to tell you when our lives began to intertwine... guessing around 1999. We've been through plenty of "hot seat" conversations with them and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE seeing the Lord work in their lives. One of my favorite studies was probably when we went through Radical together. It turned all of our lives upside down! We laughed and cried and celebrated Emily and her decision to follow His leading to Uganda. It was a sweet time. Chris had to say good-bye to Karly (and George and Tami, Karly's rents) until December, but Brynna and I will get to see them one more time before we leave. Still praying that Karly will come visit us this fall. :D
Sunday morning we got up bright and early to attend the early service at Temple so we could squeeze in our last visit with our Haiti congregation in Nashville. What PRECIOUS people The Lord put on our JOURNEY at the First Church of the Nazarene (Haitian Congregation). In the early months of "church (s)hopping" they gave us a place to belong and worship with Haitians. It was an incredible blessing we never saw coming and never wanted to end. The friendships we were blessed with from Pastor Samuel and Nahomie are deep and wide. We have broken much bread together. Chris would meet regularly with Pastor Sam to share the joys and struggles of living authentic Christian lives in America and Haiti. And I have enjoyed many times of going deep with Nahomie. They have challenged us in our walk and made us better as we walked together. They have been huge cheerleaders in our JOURNEY. The Haitian congregation, the Creole class, lunches with our Haitian brothers and sisters will not soon be forgotten. We adore them ALL from Pastor Demassi and his wife, Francesca, Wadson & Mimi, Julianna (Joo-Joo), Brother Fenson, Nurse Betty, Mr. Marcel, Ma-too, Michele and Candice and their hubs.
At the end of the service we were called up on stage to be prayed for. I can't even begin to describe that scene! The entire Haitian congregation were on their feet with their hands reaching out to us praying out loud (in Creole) offering up our time in Haiti to the great and mighty God we all serve. The tears wouldn't stop streaming down my face.
To end the day we listened to many ways The Lord worked in the life of Ryan O'Neal this summer as he spent 10 weeks serving, trekking, and loving on people in India. What awesome stories we heard with excitement as he shared with a packed house and we enjoyed some famous "Mr. Donny's Enchiladas" along with s'mores brownies and home made ice cream.
We received a home made picture for us to hang up in our place in Haiti along with a two page front and back letter from our friends Brandon and Amber Sprinkles. Oh. My. My. My... I cannot even begin to tell you guys just how encouraging it was!!! It's a treasure we will not take lightly or go without reading over and over again. We laughed and cried real hard as Chris read it out loud to us in the car on the way from Temple to Haiti church. What a precious gift this couple is to the world! Amber definitely has a gift of exhortation.
P.S. Some day soon when the tears can stop long enough I want to share with you about our small group that we've been a part of on Wednesday nights. I want to paint a picture of what true fellowship and accountability look like. They have blessed us beyond words. But, I truly can't even say one of their names without just going to mush right now and I'm sure I've exceeded my time today on here .
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