Mesye Mompoint (#tbt)

Here's a throwback blog post that still holds true today.

One morning during our January trip, one of my favorite moments in Desab occurred. A few team members and I were sitting on the porch eating breakfast, around 8:30am or so. A Haitian man, whom I had never seen before, showed up and sat on the porch. “Bonjou,” he greeted us. Then he just sat there for a few minutes. Jeanty came out and talked to him and then told me it was Mesye Mompointe. I had never met Mesye Mompoint, but I love his wife, Finelia, so I was very excited to get to meet him. Jeanty said something to me in Creole. I understood “priye”, which means “to pray”. Mesye Mompoint had come to pray with us? Jeanty said with a smile, “Wi.” I didn't quite know how to respond, so I just said, “Ok.” Mesye Mompoint stood, so we all followed suit. He raised his hands and prayed what sounded to be a wonderful prayer. I understood the words “love”, “understand” and “learn”. When he was done, we all sat down and we served him breakfast, then he left.

We had never met Mesye Mompoint. But that morning, he got up and walked 20 minutes from his village, Tima, just to pray for Stone By Stone. That both amazes and humbles me. Not because he's so poor and I'm not and I should praying for him, or some other white person guilty thought process. But just for the fact that he came to meet us and pray for us. I don't do that. Nobody I know does that. It humbles me to think that what we are doing matters so much that someone would make such an effort to come and pray over us. And it has been amazing to see some of the things that have transpired since that prayer.