Language barrier didn’t hinder missions trip

PHOTO BY TAYLOR LOGSDON Elijah, Monica and Deeaca became friends with Logsdon’s 3-year-old son, Elijah.

SOUTHSIDER VOICE PHOTO BY NATHAN PACE Taylor Logsdon points to Haiti on a map at the One Mission Society after returning from her missions trip.

SOUTHSIDER VOICE PHOTO BY NATHAN PACE Logsdon at the One Mission Society sign in Greenwood, where she is a marketing associate.

By Nathan Pace
Online editor

Taking a weeklong missions trip to Haiti with your toddler may be a wild idea for some, but not for Greenwood resident Taylor Logsdon. Logsdon and her 3-year-old son, Elijah, returned in July after a successful trip to the Caribbean nation. 

“My son did so much better than I expected,” Logsdon said. “I don’t think he even realized we were in another country.” 

While attending a church that One Mission Society helped plant a few years back, Elijah took the opportunity to do some exploring and met two new friends. 

“Two little Haitian girls (Monica and Deeaca) were sitting on the outside of the church and my son sat next to them,” Logsdon said. “It’s funny because we cannot communicate at all. I do not know Haitian Creole, but as humans we can communicate with facial expressions and love. And to see that my son had no barriers and just loves people was tremendous. He just sat next to them and played with them.” 

Logsdon says Elijah’s quick ability to form friendships translated to the adults during interactions with Haitians. 

“A lot of people are suspicious due to their voodoo background, but when you show them the love of Christ, all that suspicion disappears. To me that was really precious.” 

Logsdon, a Whiteland High School alumna, went on the trip through the Greenwood-based society, where she works as a marketing associate. Her team consisted of 11 people with some from Oregon and Pennsylvania. The group left for Haiti July 3; it was Logsdon’s first such trip.

“Since I am new to the ministry my goal was to understand what is happening on the field and how God is using OMS. I wanted to experience that firsthand.” 

The team landed in Cap-Haitien, Haiti’s second-largest city. During the evangelism part of the trip, interacting with locals proved difficult at the start. On the first day some wouldn’t even look at them. 

“I was kinda getting discouraged but I felt the Lord tell me, ‘Taylor just share what I’ve done in your life.’” 

Through a translator, Logsdon shared her personal testimony to five young men. At the end she says all five gave their lives to Christ. 

The society features multiple ministries in Haiti, including a radio station, an elementary school, a seminary and a medical clinic. Logsdon insists that the ministries keep going after the team leaves. 

“The cool thing is whenever we leave, the evangelism doesn’t just stop. The local Haitians continue to share the Gospel; they follow up on all the people who have heard the Gospel, and they disciple those new believers. We are teaching the locals how to make disciples in their own community.”

What Logsdon learned about evangelism she hopes to take into her daily life, not just future missions trips. 
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“Evangelism is essential, and you need to do it where you are with what you have. It’s an everyday and every person thing.”