An awakening heartbreak

After two to three decades of First Fruit Haiti working with international organizations or other institutions, the summer of 2017 was the second edition of First Fruit Haiti's mission trip and we were honored to do it with Baptist University of the Americas. BUA is the first university that we have worked with from Texas.
This blog was written by one of the BUA students that was a part of the summer mission trip, Ellijah Espinosa.

Unfathomable. This is the word I want to use to describe my first international mission trip in Port Au Prince, Haiti. More and more the anticipation grew, beginning in the Austin airport up until my phone read “no service” as we landed in another country. I always thought of going to another country as a very distant thought, one that I never gave that much attention to. So to finally be in a third world country ignited all my senses at once and downloaded into my core an overwhelming and unchanging reality. I couldn't change the channel this time or turn my eyes to a much more favorable location, because all around me was this blinding reality of poverty. Leaving the airport, I was immersed into a world full of different faces and different ways of life.

The pictures I had once seen in many magazines and other media coverage were now in the forefront of my eyesight and I couldn’t blink. The first experience of riding in Pastor Miradieu’s truck was extremely bumpy but not too much to handle, I actually expected worse, so my expectations were fortunately not met at all. The traffic in Haiti can be extremely overwhelming for some people because there are no lights, stop signs, or things of that nature. It’s just being very maneuverable with your vehicle and learning “patience” in the words of Pastor Miradieu. The extreme loudness of the country is displayed on the roads; Just imagine listening to a multitude of large and small commercial and residential vehicles and motorcycles all backed up on one single street everyone performing on cue their specific honks as if it were a grand symphony. Even one of my friends from there shared with me on one of the days how when he returns to the United States, one main thing he misses from Haiti is the noise.

​The guest house we stayed at provided by First Fruit Haiti was incredibly welcoming and comfortable. They made extra effort to provide air conditioner to their American occupants. They provided basically all of our meals and they were always filling and warm.

The 12 days that I spent in Haiti taught me several lessons and left a burden to return and serve there in the future. In Haiti, I was a part of a mission team from Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio to serve in key projects including VBS, Youth days, pulpit supplying, worship, and service opportunities. These experiences all had important things that ministered deeply but there was one specifically that I want to share that took place on August 3rd, 2017 in Pernier at Calvary Baptist Church. We arrived at the church around 10am and began making preparations for our long detailed day ahead of us. When worship began we started singing a couple of songs and the amazing thing was the response from the youth. As soon as they heard their familiar tune, “Gadon Bondye” which I probably butchered very badly with my TexHaitian in the words of Pastor Pha. The young people began to jump and dance around as if it was a Pentecostal church, but it was Baptist.

So I realized if this is how a Baptist service in Haiti is, how would a Pentecostal one be? Later on we went through our program and made three teams out of all of youth there. I had the best team in my opinion which was called “Nou se Champions”! We taught “Big Booty” to the youth and had them learn it in their own language; they caught on so quickly and included us in their group with great sweetness and love. They started to give us an impromptu lesson of how to say everything that was on our plate. Chicken, meat, rice, soda, and plate accompanied with our numbers from one through ten in Creole. After our meal with our group we began playing a game with them and as I was about to get up and let them play in creole, I got a thought, “I can do anything that I put my mind to in Christ”.

I told myself I can learn this game in this language and have fun by putting down all my walls of safety and bracing for a new cultural experience. I was flabbergasted with the fact that I had lasted so long in new territory and realized with God all things are really possible.
 
Matthew 19:26- Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
​
Ellijah Espinosa

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