In March of 2016, I traveled to Pignon Haiti along with a handful of my classmates to serve the beautiful people that lived there. We had raised money and brought as many things as we could but I was not prepared at all for what I saw when I arrived. The living situations, poverty and culture were like nothing I had ever seen. Even in the midst of their problems, the Haitians were happier and livelier than many people I knew back home. They had more faith and were more in love with Jesus than I’d ever seen before. I even saw a 106-year-old woman attend mass with no AC and participate more than most people at my church do. Their big faith made me want to be even half as passionate about Jesus as they were. I learned so much from them in such a short amount of time, but the person I learned the most from was a 12-year-old boy named Phidlell.

I met Phidlell on our first day in Pignon. He only knew a few words of English and I only knew a few sentences in Creole, so we began helping each other learn our respective languages.

Our conversations consisted of the few words we did know and lots of hand motions/ pointing. Even with this language barrier I got to know him throughout my time there and we were good friends by the time I left. But it wasn't the language or cultural knowledge that I found most important (even though it was greatly appreciated), it was one short encounter with him that was more important to me than anything else he could have done.

When I was about to leave on one of the last nights we spent in Pignon, I told Phidlell that I had to go. When I turned to go, he grabbed my arm, folded his hands and motioned for me to kneel down with him. So I did and in all Creole, he prayed for me.

This 12-year-old boy from across the world, that I had met a week prior, prayed for me in the middle of the street, in a language I didn't understand.

That might not seem so incredible to some people but it just about knocked me off my feet. No-one had ever done that to me before. And certainly not a little kid. The amount of courage and faith it took for him to do that is amazing. It made me want to have a faith like Phidlell’s someday.

That sounds weird to say, but I wanted faith like a 12-year-olds.

Matthew 18:2 says that unless you change and become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. I understand that now. Having faith like a child means we see God in any and all places. It means we go to God with no doubts or fears, just complete trust and love.

This goes for showing our faith around others as well.

Phidlell wasn’t worried that I would think he was weird for praying. He wasn't worried that I would make fun of him, or that God wasn't listening or any of the other negative things we think about when we pray. He had such a love for God that he wanted to share some of it with me and even though I didn't speak his language, I understood that much.

That one prayer meant more to me than I would have ever thought before going to Haiti. Because of this I became more open to seeing God in my life, sharing him with others and I learned how I need to approach prayer in my daily life, like Phidlell would.