October 15, 2011
We left around 11:30/12 from the Methodist Guest House so we could drive around the city some before going to the airport. We stopped by a grocery store to pick up some coffee. The grocery store looked much like a small grocery store in the U.S. except there was an armed guard at the door. It took a while to get to the presidential palace because the traffic was so backed up. When we got there, the car was silent for a few minutes as we looked at this huge mansion (like looking at the White House) that had huge cracks in the wall and portions that had collapsed on top of one another. Here's a good before and after picture of the presidential palace: Haitian Presidential Palace. As we stopped on the side of the road to look and take pictures, many Haitians came up to the car trying to sell us paintings and carving and food. One man pointed to the palace and said something like "We call that the devil's house because it was full of corruption." After spending a week in Haiti, I still have no concept of how it would be to live in a country whose infrastructure is in the shape it is in Haiti. We only got glimpses into life in Haiti, but what was apparent is their hope. Haitians are so resilient and have so much hope for their future.
We continued on to the airport, where we were warned we would need to hold on tight to our bags from the time we got out of the van until we got inside the airport. There were many people surrounding our van hoping to carry our bags so they could get some money. It was a short walk into the airport, and when we got in, an employee of the airport asked how many were in our group. He already had our boarding passes printed and ready for us! It was wonderful! What wasn't so wonderful is finding out when we got in that our flight was already delayed. Rich and Colleen spoke with the airport employees with American Airlines because the employees were pretty sure we could miss our next flight from Miami to Virginia since our layover was already only about 1.5 hours to get through customs and immigration and recheck our bags. The American Airlines employees went ahead and tentatively booked us on a flight out of Miami the next morning as well as reserved hotel rooms for us in case we missed the flight.
As we waited in the airport, we read, played cards, and talked about our week. Our flight was pushed back again, and we started getting nervous that we really wouldn't make the next flight. The plane arrived a little earlier than they expected, so we were holding out hope that we'd make our connecting flight. When we landed in Miami, we had just enough time to make it if everything ran smoothly. Unfortunately, our run across the airport didn't help because our bags took much too long to get off of the plane. We finally found all our luggage and got through customs only to be met by an airport employee who told us we would not make it to the gate because we had about one minute until scheduled flight time and the gate was on the opposite end of the airport. So, he printed out meal and hotel vouchers for us and we caught a shuttle to the airport. We ate a late dinner together in the hotel restaurant then went to bed in preparation for our morning flight.
October 16, 2011
Unfortunately, around 4am, Josh was struck with food poisoning (we think from something he ate at the Port-au-Prince airport). This made travel pretty much miserable for him. Our flight was on time, and we finally made it back to Virginia. Josh was still feeling so horrible, that we ended up staying with his parents for the day and night, not trusting having to be in a car for 3 hours. The rest of the team carried on to the Farmville and Hampton Roads areas. Soon after departing, the Farmville area team members that went ahead got into a car accident. Other than sore muscles and Rich getting a burn on his arm from the airbag, everyone was thankfully okay...but the car was not. They all piled into Don's car (who was right in front of them and also got hit from the force of Rich and Colleen's car getting hit) and continued on to Farmville. They got a little ways down the road and got a flat tire! It took a long time for them to get back, but they finally made it. Josh and I left the next day and made it back to Farmville finally as well. After an amazing week in ministry in Haiti, go figure that making it home would be the hardest part of the week! I am so thankful for my experience in Haiti, and I am so thankful for Colleen who continues to answer God's call on her life to lead teams to this amazing country. I hope you will prayerfully consider joining the 2012 (or even 2013) trips to Haiti as we continue to be in ministry with the people in Haiti. Thanks for joining me on this journey as I relived my experiences, and thank you again to all who were praying for us throughout our time in Haiti. Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti and all those in ministry there.
Grace and peace to you!
-Lyndsie
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