Ellen Humerickhouse is a fifth generation Collierville legacy that has surrendered her life to the missionary call. This article, as illustrated in the previous profiles, is about doing whatever it is you do to give back. But for some people, giving back is simply what they do, all they do. That’s Ellen Humerickhouse as she’s been giving practically all of her adult life. Ellen grew up around town, attending Collierville schools and helping in her grandmother’s restaurant on the Square. She went to Collierville schools the majority of her life and graduated from Collierville High in 2010.. At the age of 19, Ellen became a follower of Christ and went on her first mission trip to Haiti. “I was just on fire for Christ and serving and going overseas,” says Ellen. “I took seven or eight short trips to Haiti before I actually moved here in 2013.”
Ellen remembers her first trip to Haiti turning into an exciting adventure that sparked a passion for missions. “I went down to Haiti on my very first trip with a church from Memphis I was attending at the time. I went down with the college ministry and we were suppose to stay for a week. We were just doing outreach like painting a church, vacation bible school, and handing out rice. But a friend of mine said ‘let’s stay for a whole month!’ So my friend and I ended up staying for an entire month at this mission compound in Haiti with another missionary couple, and we just did life with them and saw what it was like to live in Haiti,” recalls Ellen. “So at that point I got excited for missions and for being a part of the Great Commission and going overseas. I wasn’t sure that I would be living in Haiti, but I did get excited about travelling. So I went to Africa, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Mexico a few times, but the entire time I was there, I kept feeling my heart pulling me back to Haiti.”

On another mission trip to Haiti, Ellen remembers a particular experience that led her to moving to the country. “So I was sleeping in a tent southeast of Port-au-Prince, which is our capital (Haiti),” says Ellen. “I was sleeping in a tent riding through a tropical storm, and all week, all I had was rice and beans to eat. It was a rough week, but it was in that roughness I really felt like God was calling me to live here (Haiti), to move here. So I was like ‘OK’. I wasn’t really sure what that was going to look like, and I ended up taking a few more trips before I moved here.”

Ellen felt another prompting from God after making her big move. “Right after I moved here, I really felt like God was telling me to buy some land. And honestly I did not know why I was buying the land. But one day I decided to go up to the mountains just as something fun to do to see what life was like up there there. It is kind of a different culture up in the mountains from the rural area where I live right now,” says Ellen. “And halfway up, our vehicle broke down. And I remember coming off of the side of the mountain was a bunch of children that were street orphans. They had no mother, no father. They were carrying their own machetes, and it was there that I really felt that the Lord was saying ‘OK, you’re going to start a children’s home.’ And I was like well, I don’t know about that. I’m not sure I’m going to start children’s ministry,” remembers Ellen.

But she did! Ellen is now the founder of La Limyé Ministry, a Christ-centered children’s home for orphaned girls of any age. Ellen recalls the initial start of building the orphanage and finding clarity in doing God’s work. “I started building the home and it took two years to build because I used all Haitian labor, so I could really gain the respect and that relationship with the Haitians in my village. So I started building, and I never went back up to the mountains or talked to those people again, but my very first child in the ministry, she was 16 days old and came from that exact same mountainside where I had got that vision to build the home. So it was God clarifying that this was from me and this is what I asked you to do. Now I have ten children and we have been open since March of last year (2016).”

Ellen says that the people of Haiti have been just as much of a blessing to her, as she strives to be for them, since opening La Limyé. “Just being able to serve people, you know ‘serving the least of these’. They don’t have much but they’re thankful for what they do have. They don’t wish they had running water because they don’t know what it’s like to have running water. But they’re thankful! They don’t complain about having to go to fetch water and carry it on their heads. Being able to serve them is a gift, but really at the end of the day I feel like I’ve been blessed more, to see their humbleness. They work from sun up to sundown. These women, they do all the cleaning, all the cooking, all the bathing, take care of children and still at the end of the day they can laugh about it. I feel like they’ve blessed me more than I’ve helped them.”

When it comes to serving others, Ellen encourages others to make the time. Whether taking a mission trip overseas or serving in your neighborhood, she believes prayer and a willingness to make the time are key in blessing others and yourself. “I would say that the number one need for missionaries is prayer. And that is something so simple that people can do – just pray. Pray for our strength and pray for the people we’re witnessing to,” says Ellen. “But then also, there is a ton of things locally they can do, from food banks to local ministries. You have to do something. Be willing to let go of your busy schedule to help someone in need and ultimately you’ll be the one blessed. It’s so worth it to make the time. Just compliment one person. Pay for one person’s meal. Just show love to one person. I think so many people are so busy and path oriented that we forget about the people around us. We’re in a dying world. Memphis has poverty as well as Haiti. We’ve got to start stepping up and showing love to people. Start serving people. Even if it’s just a little comment, it makes all the difference to someone hurting.”