Friday morning was a cool rainy day in Port Au Prince. Carl’s brother Phoenix drove Bill and I around the area to see the earthquake damage for ourselves. The devastation is overwhelming. We saw building after building totally demolished. Many of those that are still standing are very dangerous to be in or near. People are living along the streets or in one of the many huge tent cities that have been put up. Some with real tents, others made of tarps and tablecloths. With the rainy season almost upon us, life will get several degrees harder for these brave people. The tour went on for over 3 hours. Every time I thought we were driving out of the worst of the destruction, it would begin all over again. We never did get to the epicenter - where there are huge boulders on the roads, and large cracks in the earth that have no bottom in sight. Our driver said that when the earthquake took place, he was waiting to play soccer. Suddenly the earth began moving like waves of the ocean, and the noise of the city falling was deafening. It took a few seconds to realize what was happening, since he had never experienced an earthquake before. He said, “it took just 30 seconds for life to be changed forever.”
When we got back to the guesthouse, we got everything ready for the medical team to come in on Friday evening for supper. They had just come in from spending the last 2 weeks in Petit Guave with Dr. Kris, Cory and the kids. We had 16 people come to stay, besides the 6 of us already there. Six men and the Thede family slept in tents outside, and the 6 women slept of the floor inside. It is quite an interesting job to plan the meals, make up the correct grocery list, have beds made up, and make each person feel at home.The stories these teams bring to us are priceless. Hosting a guesthouse is a very real way to share the love of Jesus with the body.
This morning, we left with the Thede’s and Joel, (a young man from Canada) to return to Cap Haitian and then home to Fauche. We left the house before 8 AM. Due to inclement weather, we flew out at about 11 AM. As the clouds were closing in, and the pilot couldn’t see the next ridge of mountains, we landed in Pignon, Haiti - about 25 air miles from Cap Haitian. This is called the “Central Plateau” of Haiti. We landed in a grassy airstrip, and stood by the plane for about an hour trying to decide what to do. Our choice was to fly back to Port Au Prince and try again another day, or find someone to drive us to Cap Haitian, 2 ½ hours by road. Cory and Kris knew the names of some people in Pignon. They eventually got in touch with a man who has a mission compound here with a brand new guest house. Two sweet men came and picked us up, and brought us to what they lovingly call “The Pignon Hilton” We have a good size room, 2 twin beds and our own bathroom with a shower. Supper is at 6!!!! They even have solar hot water and electricity. We feel totally blessed. By the way, we are out in the middle of nowhere!!! God is so good! We know that we are not here by accident and we are anxious to realize His purpose. They tell us that this is all part of the adventure!!!! Tomorrow will be a long day of driving, but we are looking forward to the trip.
Monday March 8: We woke up to breakfast of spaghetti, boiled eggs, and fried plantain, and toast. I cannot describe the beauty of the trip home - or how terrible the roads were. The entire road was rock - so the bouncing was constant and wild. We forded the river twice and there were large craters in the road 3 - 4 feet deep. They took up the whole road, so we were very thankful it was dry. We did have a very large Chevrolet truck that had been raised even higher than normal, just for the purpose of driving down these roads. Four of us were in the backseat, and 4 in the front. Joel was sitting by the window and Bill was beside him. After we had been driving awhile Joel said, “I feel like I’m between a rock and a hard place”. We all laughed - because those of us sitting in the middle had no place to hold on, so at times we were just bouncing uncontrollably. We picked up Cory’s truck in Cap Haitian - ate lunch - and then Joel rode in the back of the truck the last 1 ½ hours of the trip. He was tired from hanging on and bouncing back there, but could stretch his legs and had a beautiful view of the mountains and valleys. We are all very happy to be home - and to have had the chance to see parts of Haiti that we would never have seen if the flight had gone as planned. We even passed the “Citadel”.
Remember the people of Haiti in your prayers. They need to know Jesus as their Savior and Lord just like we do. Pray that they will have food to eat and water to drink. This is an immense problem right now.
Pictures are of the guesthouse and the "Kodiak".