Baptisms in Balan

What a day in Balan!

We woke up early and got the kids up, dressed, and in the Isuzu by 6:45 a.m.. We hadn't fed them yet, but brought some food with us, and bought bananas on the side of the road. We drove to Port-au-Prince to meet Pastor Leonel, then drove to Balan. It only took us about two hours to get there from the orphanage, there was very little traffic coming down the mountain.

I knew there were going to be six baptisms, but didn't know exactly how we would do it. The church has no baptistry, and the lake is a good mile and a half from the church. It was pretty hot outside, lots of sunshine, and pretty dusty, as it had not rained for a while. We decided that for the whole church to walk would be too difficult. So we looked at the number of people going, which was 17 counting all of our kids. And then we looked at the Isuzu. For those who have not seen it, it is a 1997 Isuzu Trooper, four door, supposed to seat 5 altogether. There were five in the front two seats. Enough said. After all, this is Haiti. I must admit it was a little difficult driving the stick shift with Jett on my lap (don't worry, it's all dirt roads, never got above 10 mph, and never passed another vehicle...Balan is out in the middle of nowhere). I have been on some pretty bumpy roads before, driven on some pretty rough terrain...but the road to the lake definitely beats them all...if you can call it a road! The whole way to the lake, all of the Haitians were singing praise songs. We came over a hill, and had such a beautiful view of the lake, while they sang "Crown him Lord of All" (in Creole). It was quite a moment, I teared up a little, it was pretty amazing.



The baptisms went as expected. I had read somewhere that there are American Crocodiles in the lake, but we didn't run in to any (thankfully). That would not be good.

It was six girls from the church that were making the decision to follow Christ. It is great to be a part of what God is doing in that church!


During the baptisms, Wilson and Jett decided to walk into the water, too. So with their tennis shoes on, while we weren't watching, they began wading (again, don't worry, it was only inches deep right there). I think their feet were pretty shriveled by the time we got back to the orphanage.

After the baptisms, we all loaded back into the Isuzu and returned to the church. It was quite an amazing experience, one I will not forget, and will pray happens again soon! Next time though, I think I'll drive the big truck!