May's Weddings

We went to two different weddings two Saturdays in a row. The first was the wedding of a friend we've known literally all our lives (our parents new her parents before either one of them were married). Her name is Susanna and she married Sam.

The church where the ceremony was held. 

The reception

Bethany and Bethany dancing along with other wedding goers.

The bride and her father.

Kimberly and Bethany in the back and Bethany, Lydia, and Daisy in the front. 

The pretty cake with birds on it. 

Sam and Susanna

The beautiful roses

Yesterday we went to the wedding of another friend that we've known for a while but not quite as long. Her name is Lindsey and she married Zachary.

The beautiful bride and her sisters. 

Zachary and Lindsey with a nephew and nieces. 

The clubhouse where the reception was held. 

Inside the clubhouse. 

Zachary and Lindsey. 

Pie and cake for dessert. Yes! That's a LOT of pie!

One of the best parts of the wedding was the groom and bride toss. 

Well there goes two more people to the land of marriage. 

In about a month, my sister will be among them. 

More From Haiti

You thought I was done with this topic, didn't you? Well, I'm back at it.

My team leader, Barbara, sent me some pictures that she took while there, so I thought you might enjoy seeing them. So all the photo credits go to Barbara in this post.

This was at the young girls' orphanage. 

Inside the young girls' orphanage. We were about to hear the Jericho story. 

Our team on the orphanage roof. Left to right is Barbara, Beth, me, Erica, and Kendal. 

Our team be the river at Valley of Hope. 

This is me and my translator telling the Bible story at the church. 

You may remember that I did NOT want to leave Valley of Hope on Sunday. I told you that right before we had to leave, I sat down and some little girls braided my hair. I didn't have a picture of that, but Barbara did, and I love it!

Here we are at the Wahoo Bay, eating our delicious meal. 

And, finally, the beautiful, smiling, photographer, Barbara (I guess the photo credits go to someone else here but I'm not sure who). 

In the Mountains on Mother's Day

On Sunday, Mom wanted to go hiking for Mother's Day, so after church we went to Hanging Rock State Park and hiked the Cook's Wall trail, which is really beautiful. These are some pictures I took along the hike.

The beautiful, winding path. 

We saw a deer along the trail. 

This was one of the cliffs by the path. 

Near the top there is a lot of green grass. 

Pilot Mountain. 

The end of the trail. We continued on, however. 

The rocks became very jagged when we got off the trail. 

Dad, Mom, and Lydia.

Mom and Dad coming back after our little detour. 

The steep rock wall. 

A close-up of the rocks. 

With my super power, I was able to push these rocks apart. 😉

Lydia walking in the grass. 

Sheer ecstasy. I could stay at this place for quite some time. 

Bethany in a clear, sparkling creek (that looked much better in reality than in this picture). 

The grass growing in the creek. 

Mom's gifts. Apparently we all thought Christmas or winter gift wrap was the best. 

Have a good one!

I Challenge You...

Are you ready for some fun? Do you ever feel like you just need a month without something? I sure do, so I made a list of things we don't really need.  I challenge you to pick one or more of the following things and have a month without.

1. No selfies. Might sound stupid, but if you think about it, we take so many pictures of ourselves, and why? Because we're really into ourselves, but it doesn't make us any better or look any better.

2. No YouTube. What?! I can't do that! We spend way too much time looking up one video after the next, why not take a break?

3. No sweets. This is something I need to do!

4. No coffee! Now, this is not something I struggle with, but I definitely know people who could stand to have a month without this beverage.

5. No soda. Who needs this sugary stuff anytime?

6. TV. Some people just turn on the TV without even thinking about it. We don't watch TV (we just watch movies), so this isn't really an issue, but you could also say no movies.

7. No computer. Now this may be difficult for people who have to keep up with their e-mails or do work on their computers, but there are some kids who could really do with much less computer use.

8. Texting. Some may excuse themselves that they keep up with people this way, but I'd say, "Call your friends!" This texting age just about drives me crazy sometimes.

Well that's all I could think of for the moment, but if you have any ideas, feel free to comment. If you decide to take me up on the challenge, I'd love to hear which one or ones you choose to do. Just for the record, I am taking selfies out of my life. You might not think I have a problem with this, but I find myself taking stupid pictures of my self all the time (stupid, because there's no point to take them).
Have fun, and enjoy the freedom from some of that extra stuff that holds us down. In the meantime, you might have more time to read the Word and actually be with people.
Time to go outside!

"Hey You!"

I'd like to end my account of Haiti (you probably thought I was done in the last post) with a poem I wrote about the Haitians. It's among my worst poems, but it represents them pretty well. I calculated that at least 10 lines are basically word-for-word what the people have actually said to me (down to the "You're handsome" line). The other lines are concepts they seem to believe or things they imply by their actions. Try to enjoy!

“Hey You!”

“Hey you, hey you!

You are white,

You are light,

Your hair is long and straight,

I'll braid it while you wait.

“Hey you!

Give me one dolla,

Bless me, bless me!

I like your colla,

Kiss me, kiss me!

“Hey you!

You're American,

You are rich,

You ain't Haitian.

Jump over the ditch!

“Hey you!

Are you married?

Got a boyfriend?

You could have tarried,

Has your visit come to an end?

“Hey you!

I like you,

You're handsome,

And smart too.

Buy a drum.

“Hey you!

Where do you live?

Will I see you again?

You always give,

And I want your pin.”

“Hey you!

Orevwa!

I love you,

Give me a ca',

Please do!

~Elisabeth Leake, 4/23/2017

Summary

After all that, I'd like to summarize my thoughts about my missions trip to Haiti in several points. These are observations, lessons, etc. I hope you enjoy.

1. Being a missionary can be hard. I mainly learned this the day I was sick. Being a missionary isn't all about fun and games. You get sick, you feel lonely and depressed sometimes. You experience things you don't ordinarily experience in the U.S. The good thing is that if you truly know God, you'll get over those difficult times, and the good times will seem even better.

2. Being a missionary can be boring. I know, that sounds really bad, and truly, we should never think of the Christian life as "boring." But I'm trying to make a point. When you go on a missions trip for a week or two, you go through a tornado of activity, and you get all pumped up and excited, but the reality of a missionary's life is very different. I learned this lesson while I was sick and at the guest house all day. You send e-mails, you hang up laundry, fold sheets, help with the cooking, take a nap, etc. In fact, when I titled day three as "Finally, On to Mission," I made it sound as though that day was wasted. But I believe differently. God had a purpose for that, if it wasn't just to remind me what being a missionary is really like.

3. You may have to learn to do things you would never do in the U.S. This became clear to me at Valley of Hope when we stayed there for three days. One thing is using a bathroom with men and women. There is only one bathroom and there was a lot of people. The strange things was, I don't think I thought much about it at first, until shower time came. Yes, there are stalls, and walls between the showers, but it sure is odd to hear women and men voices talking while they are taking showers.

4. Haitians are very affectionate. They are much more affectionate than most Americans, especially myself. They hold hands, hug, kiss, hang over each other. Even grown men hold hands with no embarrassment and no connection to homosexuality. It is really sweet to be around people like that.

5. Being a missionary is wonderful. I could probably think of many other points and lessons learned, but in order to not bore you, I though to end on this note. God can do amazing things in your life during a missions trip. Even if you have never felt the call to foreign missions, I believe you should go on a foreign missions trip at least once. You never know how God will work in your life, and you never know, but you may even receive the call to something you never thought you would want to do.

Thank you for sticking with me during this adventure. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing about it, and I hope to go back before too long. 

God bless!

Elisabeth