The view from the top of the mountain…the perspective of Lisa Bullock
It has been an amazing week so far. We have walked all over the village visiting with people and making new friends. This morning a group of us got up early, around 5:30 a.m. If you know me, you know that this is a feat for me since I am not really a morning person. Jan, Evan, Chris, Kaden, Brandi, Brittany, Taylor, Gaia, Anya, and our interpreter Tony were going to travel over the mountain to Jerusalem II Church. The hike is a long hard climb with constant incline over rocky terrain. Brother Chuck tells us it is very, very hard and you will feel like your heart is beating out of your chest. Though I wanted to go, let’s be realistic, there is no way I am in any shape to climb a mountain like that. So Olivia, Wendy and I decided we would escort the group part of the way up the mountain and find a place for some quiet time to do our morning devotions. We found a quiet space to sit and, what a view! It is beautiful! Sitting there listening to the sounds all around us…goats, cows, people off in the distance talking…the gentle breeze…it was a perfect place to sit and talk to God.
As we sat there doing our separate devotions, people walking by would say good morning “bonjour” and we would say it back. We stayed until some boys came along with their goats; best we could tell they wanted us to leave, so we did. On our way down Livi mentioned that her devotion was about getting lost and taking the long way…mine was about being the light in the darkness. Here we are surrounded by darkness in the midst of voodoo and with some Christians mixed in. On our way back we stopped at the well to pray with the kids pumping water. Livi pumped the water for the young boy, then we carried on until we heard familiar voices off in the distance. We looked back and here came Jan with Taylor. Taylor was struggling, so Jan sacrificed her trip across the mountain to come back with her, to make sure she was safe and made it back to the group. It was a good thing – Jan and Taylor had some good conversation on the way back down. If you know Taylor, you know she doesn’t open up to people, and she was having a good conversation!
We came to the fork in the road where we go left back home to the mission house, or right to…we don’t know where. Livi says to me, “Want to go this way?” So, naturally I said “Of course, we are supposed to get lost and be the light in the darkness, let’s go!” We walked for some time and came upon a man out in his yard with his pig, we told him “bonjour” and he replied the same. Livi asked me should we pray with him? I said of course we should, we are to get lost and be a light, this may be what we are supposed to be doing…so we did. Promptly after that we met a man on the trail named Charlie, he spoke some English and we found that he is a school teacher just like Livi! We asked where the trail we were on leads, he told us to go the other way…so we turned around.
The team just arrived back from the hike over the mountain! It is 10:06 a.m., they made really good time! They all report that it was a trip that was well worth it…maybe one of them can tell you all about it tomorrow! Until then, God bless you all back home or wherever you are. We are all well here and send love to you all back home!