New Friends

Day 2

This is written by Josh and Paige Konoza, of Pittsburg, PA. They were married in August and decided to go serve with MH4H in Haiti for their belated Honeymoon. This is both of there first time traveling to Haiti.

The shutters on the house made it seem as though it could still be midnight when our alarm woke us in the morning. We were greeted by Fransly, whom we knew to expect, as he is a very helpful presence here in Pignon. With Zeke’s arrival, we began our tour of Pignon. From the market,

The Spring of which is a source of drinking water, bathing, and a place to wash clothing.

to the spring where people gather to wash their clothes, the new large school being built to hopefully accommodate the primary and secondary students, and the park which is opened for special occasions. All along the way, we were introduced to various friends and family., and the cries of “blan” from the little children, which announced our presence.

Beatrice was introduced to us, and we are so blessed to have her help us with preparing our meals. I wish I was capable of being able to even make a pot of rice as perfect and delicious as she can.  After lunch, Fransly was kind enough to take us up the Pignon Mountain path from which you can see the entire town and neighboring countryside. The path is precarious to say the least, and I can guess that the locals cried out, “be careful!” in unison as they saw me lose my footing.

View of Pignon from on top of the mountain.

I have to guess, as until now I have only perfected such phrases as “Mwen rele Paige”, “M’bien kontan we ou” (nice to see you again), and “Mwen regret sa; mwen pa parle kreyol.” (I’m sorry, I don’t speak kreyol.) Luckily we have Zeke to translate for us, and Fransly, who teaches us new words and phrases as best he can and as best we can remember.

A familiar face to those in Pignon – Fransley.

After our climb, Fransly wanted to show us his house. The personal possessions he has chosen to adorn the walls are what really make it his home. We continued back to the Mission House as Beatrice had prepared our dinner, and we were greeted by Woodson (another friend to MH4H). We took our meal together and spent the rest of the evening playing cards. I’m thankful that today the Lord gave us an opportunity to rest and get to know our new friends, as well as the community a bit better. Things move at a much less frantic pace here, and its nice to be able to put people before plans. With that said, we look forward to seeing how God will use us here in Pignon in the coming days, as we prepare to meet with local leaders to plan the first VBS of our trip.

p.s. Noticed a goat’s head being boiled in the market, and I’m glad the look on my face could provide some amusement to the ladies who spend their day there.