Day 1: Arrival in Haiti

Our journey began at 4am Monday morning.

In the shuttle on the way to Houston Intercontinental Airport.

Airport Adventures

We Have Arrived!

A band and hundreds of people awaited the arrival of all aircrafts. You must be quick in grabbing your bags amongst the chaos. You have to tip the people who help you with your luggage, whether you ask for assistance or not.

“Tap-Tap”—Our ride to the guest house.

Team loaded and ready to go!

Tap-Tap loaded down with all 35 bags!

Now begins our journey to the Methodist guest house. We have to travel through

Port Au Prince, which is the capital of Haiti, to reach our

destination. In the city of Port Au Prince there are approximately 3 million

people and the city is only large enough to

accommodate approximately 150,000. Let’s just say it is

PACKED full of people.

Peek-A-Boo!Two children that jumped on the back of our Tap-Tap!

Watch Out

Nathan!If you look closely you will see a little hand going into Pastor Nathan’s pocket. The two little boys that jumped on the back of our Tap-Tap were asking for money. When no one handed money through the windows, they decided to search through Pastor Nathan’s pocket. Thankfully nothing was in that particular pocket!

Colorful Tap-Tap

Not many pictures were taken on the way to the

guest house due to the cage that surrounded the Tap-Tap.

Imagine: People lining the streets and walking out in front of vehicles, cars honking constantly, motor bikes

zooming past you, strange and unpleasant smells, breathing in dust and fumes, being slammed into the person next to you due to the driver

hitting his breaks to keep from ramming the car in front of you, your heart aching from the poverty, shock from how these people are having to live…In a nutshell, that pretty much sums up our ride to the guest house.

Welcome to the Guest

House

Welcoming CrewL to R: Tom, Danette, &

Bill

• Tom is head of project operations at the guest house. He has been in Haiti since the earthquake.

• Danette is Tom’s assistant. When we arrived she had been in Haiti for 10 days. After four months she can chose to rotate out or stay for another 4 months.

• Bill is an engineer who is building apartments for guest house staff. There are many Haitians employed by the guest house who do not have homes. Bill is working to finish these apartments by August.

Guest House

Pool & Patio Area

The Dining Room (yes, it is

outside)

Cold Water

You don’t realize how much you enjoy cold water and

ice until you face a week without it.

Warm water just isn’t the

same.

Boys Bedroom

Girls Bedroom

The Bathroom & The Rules

The bathroom rules apply most everywhere in

Haiti.

Time for Devotional

Each afternoon we set aside time for our daily devotional. Team members took turns reading scripture and short passages. The team took time to reflect on the day and share feelings. Each devotional ended in a group prayer.

Receiving instructions about what to do with our luggage and what other supplies will

have to go with us to Mellier.