Have you ever noticed that you can see and experience the same event,or an accident, or be at the same party,  or even just in the same room but see things completely different than the person next to you? One thing I like about having teams come to visit, is seeing things from their perspective. We are in the same location-drilling or interacting with the community each week-but people tend to see and notice different things. And when we come together at night to talk about the day, it’s so interesting to me to listen and hear what they saw and observed from the day.

Sometimes I notice this too when I grab photos from different team members. One set of photos tells one story, and another set tells another story. Of course, there are a lot of the same photos, but you get a different perspective based on who is behind the camera. And so I would like to share another perspective with you, from the same trip and team that came from Liquid Church. I loved Mike’s photos because he got so many candid shots,action shots, sneaky shots, behind the scenes shots. And I love these ones too, Christine’s, they are of the people, their faces, and expressions. Check ’em out…

 

There are some ‘church’ words/terminology/phrases that are just plain strange. But when you have grown up in the church or been going for a few years, you don’t seem to notice anymore. That doesn’t mean it’s not strange, only that when you talk about it some people are probably thinking, ‘what in heck are you talking about?’

The church body or the body of Christ.

If you are not ‘churched’ this would probably sound very strange to you. And even more so than how is sounds is trying to explain it. This is how I interpret the Bible to talk about it: The church is like a body, we each have different parts. Just like you can’t have a working body with no head, no heart, no lungs, etc-each part of the body is very important. And if you are the head of a body, you can’t go around telling your legs, heart, arms that the job they do isn’t as important. All parts are needed for the body to function, work, and thrive. Sure you can function without some parts, you can get the job done with maybe one hand, no legs, even one kidney. But if you could choose, wouldn’t you want a body with all the parts, in working order?

And so what baffles me, is that this concept of the body of Christ doesn’t just exist within a ‘church’…it’s something that happens no matter where you are. You have a “church” and that specific church is made up of all the different body parts-all the people from the church have different functions and roles that should properly work together to make a functioning body.

That fact alone amazes me.

But then you throw in things like having a body of christ with people from other cultures and backgrounds, some that don’t even speak the same language as you do. And that is a beautiful thing to experience people who can look past their own agendas and what they are doing to realize in the grand scheme of things, anyone who believes in Jesus is part of the larger ‘body of christ.’

What I’m trying to get at -I know, sometimes it takes me a while to spit it out-is that one cool facet of living here is experiencing and being a part of the body of Christ-not just the larger Haitian body of Christ, but the larger American body of Christ. Because of our job, we have lots of teams that come to visit, all from different churches, denominations, backgrounds, everything. But the bottom line is, we are still the body of Christ.

This particular team reminded me of that fact. One main reason is that this is the third team that has come down to Haiti from the same church, Liquid Church in New Jersey. I’ve shared before in past blogs about this church, and why they hold a special place in our hearts. (Hint: they are passionate about the Lord, clean water, and they bring us-(and Penny) treats every single time!!) Each team that has come has been comprised of different people, but the theme is still the same: We are in this thing together. And I’ve got to think there are a few reasons behind that. First, they really do understand the concept of being the body of Christ, and how we both need each other to accomplish anything. Secondly, Liquid Church has played such a huge role in the work we are doing in Haiti-and specifically the North, that we are,as a whole, acting like the body of Christ. We have people praying, giving financially, shopping for goodies to keep the crazy missionary couple happy, people visiting to help do the work, people visiting to catch the vision and share with others, and people behind the scenes that no even knows what part they are-kind of like our lungs or heart-you obviously know they are  there, but you take for granted the ease at which it works and allows you to live!

Liquid isn’t an anomaly, there are many churches like them out there, and I love it. They did just come for another visit, bringing along some special visitors, and we had a great week with them. So here are some recaps from the week together.

I’m going to try something new too. These first set of photos are from a guys camera named Mike. He is such a sweet guy, and took some amazing photos. That was fun for me too, since I could just look through them and poach them at the end. Here is the week according to his camera-his perspective. And depending on how long it takes me to load, I’ll show you another perspective!

Our friend, Jack, came up to see us right after Easter. He has worked in and out of Haiti for about eight years now, and in fact he started the LWI program in Haiti! He worked in the Leogane area, just southeast of Port au Prince. He has always wanted to come and see the north of Haiti, and finally took us up on the offer to stay. We had a great time showing him around, and visiting with him.

Did you know that charcoal is the number one way Haitians cook food? Do you know how charcoal is made, or why it is used? They use it because it’s so inexpensive, but sadly that is why almost the entire rainforest that used to be Haiti is gone. To make charcoal you chop a tree down, (with no regulations and no “plant another one” motto in place, a lot of trees are hacked down all the time) cut it into smaller pieces and bury it under dirt. Then you light it on fire and it burns slowly for almost a week. They keep checking it and relighting it when needed. It has a very distinct, strange sort of smell. And the end product is charcoal, used by pretty much almost every single Haitian I know to cook thier food.