I realized this morning that in 2 weeks from today I’ll be worshipping in a church in Haiti. I’m pretty excited about that! I love experiencing worship in other cultures. There is something about it that I can’t describe in a single, simple phrase. During my summer in Guatemala, it was… awesome, in the true meaning of the word. Often, people of other cultures worship so much more fervently then us more reserved Americans do. There is a different level of intensity and sheer, outright joy while singing and clapping and dancing… At one church service we attended in a tiny Guatemalan village, the people would hike in from 2 hours in all directions EVERY NIGHT for church. And the service lasted for like 2 hours, and then they’d still all have to hike back home. The people there spoke one of the Mayan dialects, so even those of us who spoke some Spanish didn’t really understand anything, but they would just sing and sing and sing, so loudly, with such fervency. We couldn’t understand the any of words but we just clapped along joyously. It was contagious. The overall message was understood.
Anyway, this is a picture of Pastor Joseph and his family. This is the Pastor of the church we will be working alongside in Petit Goave. And two weeks from today we will get to worship with them as part of this great fabric of a global community of believers.
It doesn’t matter what language we speak, what nationality we are, what our preferences for type of worship music is (praise songs or hymns), what type of building we worship in, or any of that. All that matters is WHO we worship.
And in 2 weeks, we’ll be raising it up, Haitian style!!
“There is one body and one Spirit… one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” -Ephesians 4:4-6
Karen Barnes 
I am looking forward to being there with you worshiping God along with the Haitians.
Me too! I’m so glad you’ll be there with us! It will be a great experience to have together. Love you Dad!