Sparing you the details, which if you know me well, you know that I am also not good at talking about subjects like this, Ryan and I suspected that we may… possibly … be expecting.  After putting if off for a few weeks, we decided to go buy a pregnancy test.  Now I didn’t want to get one from the Heartline Maternity Center because I wasn’t ready for ANYONE to know.  And I couldn’t go to Delimart, our regular grocery store, because every time we go there, all the cashiers ask us when we will have kids, so they would have FREAKED out!  So we found some obscure store and pulled up on our motorcycle.

Ryan, being the gentleman that he is, decided that he needed to stay out and “watch the bike” rather than going in with me on this dreaded trip.  Thanks husband  So I go in to the pharmacy and ask for a “bagay pou tcheke si ou ansent”  (thing to check if you’re pregnant).  After repeating myself a few times, the man said, “Pregnancy test?”  I guess I could have just used English.  So he gave me one, and I concealed it well in the bag and we zipped home on the moto.

Well, after taking that test, and then going back to the same place and buying another one the next day (from the same man who remembered me), the tests came back POSITIVE!  CRAZY!!!!  We were (and still are) a bit in shock, but are also super excited.  It’s unbelievable to me how neither of us ever really thought we’d have kids, but as soon as we found this out, it was pure joy!

Not really sure what to do next, I called my friend Melissa who has lived in Haiti about half her life and is a nurse/midwife.  Her and her husband just moved to the States, however, her husband happened to be back here needing to work a few weeks still.  He is an OBGYN, and had a shift at the hospital the next day!  She said we could go in for a sonogram.  Thank you Lord!

 So it would be our first experience in a Haitian hospital, and we had no idea what to expect.  We were pleasantly surprised, as it was neat and clean.  He met us with a huge smile and congratulations.  I got on the exam table and he started the sonogram.  At this point I still had doubts that this was actually happening and we were really pregnant.  But the first second he started it, he said, “Yep, there it is.”  Aaaahhhh!  It was crazy.  And so cool.  There’s actually something in there!  And moving around!

So, God willing, Ryan and I will add another member to our family mid-November.  I can’t believe I just wrote that sentence, but I am finally convinced that it’s true.  We are excited for the next part of this journey, and wanted to share our news with you!

]]> http://ryanandmelissaalberts.com/3411/surprise/feed/ 30 http://ryanandmelissaalberts.com/3255/defined-purpose/ http://ryanandmelissaalberts.com/3255/defined-purpose/#comments Sun, 12 May 2013 01:22:40 +0000 Ryan http://ryanandmelissaalberts.com/?p=3255 Continue reading →]]> This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series Top 10 Qualities of Effective Mission Trip Teams « Previous

On every night we serve dinner at 6pm.  At the long dinner table we get to hear stories from the guests and teams on what their day was like.  Many times, it’s a great chance to talk with other groups or just process and reflect on the day.

We love seeing many teams who have a defined purpose.  One of my favorite groups is a guy (Jeff) and a few others that worked closely with a Haitian friend who had a vision to start a school in Cite-Soleil.  It was the heart of this Haitian friend that sparked the vision and it was all of them working together which made the vision successful.  Maybe at times it can be difficult and messy but it’s highly relational partnering on a long-term vision.  It was awesome seeing the partnership on the vision.   I loved that it was originally conceived by a local Haitian and that Jeff listened, came along side, together they built up a mutual trust and eventually opened the school!

3 Starter thoughts on good defined purposes:

Below are 3 starter thoughts on some good defined purposes for teams.  It is not in any order and there could be an additional 100 items you could add to this list. To be honest, I have struggled with what a “missions trip” is exactly and it’s purpose.  Maybe it’s because we have seen all sorts of groups, maybe it’s just the semantics.  Technically, we have seen work teams, vision trips, evangelism teams, discipleship teams, medical teams, security training teams, film teams, etc.

This list would encompass any of those team types.  No-matter what you are doing in Haiti, it is good to consider these things:

1) Focus on Long-Term Partnerships with Local Churches The Gospel Coalition writes in there article Toward Better Short-Term Missions:

The next step is to work primarily through local churches with a long view in mind. When your short-term ministry team leaves a particular setting, Christians will still live and work where you visited. Your desire should be to serve at the request of and under local church leadership. Your disposition should be one of a learner, with the humility to take your cues from national leaders. You need to be careful, especially when dealing with money. But if you can build a level of trust, the most effective trips will be extensions of another church’s ministry. This might lead to bringing fewer team members but result in much more effective ministry.

2) Mutual Focus on the Benefits for both the guest-goers and the host-receivers

Eric Swanson, in the article “Increasing the Effectiveness of Short-Term Missions”, mentions that it is important to understand how we rate a successful missions trip.

STEM’s Roger Peterson points out that because short-term missions are often led by youth pastors, the trips follow a common pattern. Too many of them result in little missional impact on the host-receivers because of the trip objectives didn’t include that dimension. Instead, it’s tempting for the youth pastor only to set goals around the goer-guests: (1) The youth have a good time. (2) The youth get some basic discipleship. (3) The youth return home safely.

In other words, a trip can be viewed as “successful” even if nothing positive happened in the lives of the host-receivers.

It’s not wrong to have some of those objects but Eric points out an important factor:

The quality of the experience is based on the quality of the relationship between the goer-guest church and the host receiver. The stronger and more trusted the relationship, the more both sides benefited from the missional exchange.

The most effective engagement was ministry “with them” as opposed to ministry “to them” or “for them.” Churches agreed that their most effective paradigm was short-term trips in the context of a long-term relationship.

3) Discipleship

When Jesus entrusted a mini-commission to his twelve disciples, he sent them out on a short-term mission. His mini-commission had a specific purpose and a specific audience (Matthew 10).  Like the twelve short-termers, Jesus sent out another seventy-two (Luke 10) as transformational short-termers into the cities where he himself would soon be ministering.

The apostle Paul’s ministry is recorded in the book of Acts as three missionary journeys through four different provinces and two different continents. His longest stay in any one place was the two years he spent in Ephesus. And yet in a span of ten years he planted multiple churches in scores of cities.

We owe much of our Christian heritage to Paul’s short-term efforts.  When Jesus gave what is now called “the Great Commission” in its various forms (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:47, John 20:21, and Acts 1:8) the mission was clear: The people of God were to be a sent, missional people, sharing the gospel and making disciples wherever they went.

The best interpretation of the passage begins, “As you are going, make disciples….” What if Matthew 28 provides the answer of what we are to do for ourselves and others on short-term mission outreaches? As we are going we are to become more of a disciple, making disciples, or helping others make disciples of Jesus. After all, shouldn’t we be doing and measuring against what Jesus asked us to do? A “missions” trip after all should, by definition, include the mission Jesus sent us to do.

Everything we do–evangelism, building projects, acts of charity and mercy, back-yard Bible clubs, prayer walks, etc.–should be in service to “making disciples.” This is not to say that there is not value in “vision trips,” “cross-cultural exchanges,” “construction projects,” etc., but to call something a missions trip or missions outreach, by definition, should include the mission of making disciples. Now we have something to measure against—for the goer-guest and for the host-receiver.  How does this missional experience help make disciples?

Everything we do therefore must focus on building relationships – helping people discover how God designed them to relate to Him, to relate to themselves, to others and to all of creation.  Here is a powerful question to ask about our efforts to alleviate poverty:  ”At the end of the day, the ultimate question for our poverty-alleviation efforts is this:  Have we worked in such a way that both we and the materially poor are closer to fulfilling our highest calling of “glorifying God and enjoying Him forever?” – Helping Hurts

Final Thoughts

Darren Carlson reminds me and articulates well – “There is a tendency to try and get everything right, to discuss every scenario, to examine every possible pitfall, and in our preparation bring every person through a process that feels like boot camp. But the beauty of gospel ministry is that God is not handcuffed by our foolishness. He is still accomplishing his purposes amongst the nations. For any harm we may cause, God is using others to bring great advances for the gospel. So become a thoughtful global Christian. Think critically about cross-cultural engagement. Be convicted if you are harming the church in other cultures. But know that in the end, God is still on his throne, and his work will be accomplished.”

One thing I here from missionaries is that, I wish I took more time to learn the language when I first came to Haiti.  I was reminded of this again when I read a popular article by Laura Parker describing her number one mistake was not learning the language first and only.  Here is the clip from the article:

Learn the Language, First and Only. When we got here in April of 2010, we hit the ground in a full-out sprint. We gave ourselves very little time to adjust or get culturally-acclimated. Instead, we dove into ministry in a panicked frenzy. And while much may have been accomplished at the girls home we worked for, our long-term ministry and effectiveness have suffered because it has taken us so. much. longer to learn to communicate. We’ve had individual tutors, we’ve done 6-week long classes for tourists, we’ve promised {and then re-promised} to do Rosetta Stone daily, we’ve made flashcards and more flashcards. And we still only have a workably-mild grasp of the language. I assumed we would be fluent by now, honestly, and it frustrates me that I still have to pre-plan my Thai phone calls.

Learning the language while you are in the thick of ministry is like trying to get your Masters when you have small children and a full-time job. You can still do it, but it is much harder and much slower and much more frustrating. Trust me, the three months or six months {or more?} you devote to simply learning the language and adjusting to your new culture will pay off dividends in your long-term effectiveness.

How can I start learning Creole?

Of course, nothing beats learning Haitian Creole when you actually live in Haiti.  As strange as it sounds, even if you live in Haiti you do need to be intentional about practicing.  Here are some ways to study whether you live in Haiti or not.

Free

Sweet Coconuts Blog
She has *tons* of exercises, lessons, audio and material that you could use all for free!

University of Kansas
They have some great free material up.   I would listen to the following audio with the text over and over again:

Ti Koze Kreyòl: A Haitian-Creole Conversation Manual

A tongue-in-cheek account of boy meets girl in Haitian Creole class, and of their honeymoon adventures and misadventures across Haiti. Organized as nineteen topical conversations with explanatory notes and a complete Haitian-English glossary.

Download textbook | Download audio (73.8 MB)

Free iPhone / iPad / Android Apps

• Google Translate (apple store / google store) – I use this almost daily!  I have my phone with me all the time so when I don’t know a word and it is important to the conversation – I have a quick-key to open up the google translate app and type it in.  Works great for studying as well though it’s not 100% accurate for Creole.

• There are many free apps available which are great!  Some free one’s just have a few beginning lessons and then you pay for the full app.

• Apps
  • Android - Haitian Creole (free / paid)
  • Apple - French Creole (free)
  • Apple - Byki (free)

• Once I started getting serious I ended up downloading a free flash card app and created my own flash cards that I could study when I had free time.  If you want to access the flash cards I made just search for username “youthenme” in the app.

YouTube

• Can search for “learn haitian creole” or creole sermons or about anything and find creole speaking, singing, etc.

Paid

Creole Made Easy (Amazon) – This is the way we learned.  We bought this book and then hired a Haitian to teach us 3 days a week for 2 hours. There is a workbook and CD’s you can buy to supplement this book.  We did this for 6 months when we first arrived.

Other paid methods

• Haiti Hub – Fantastic resource!  You pay a one-time $100 for a life time subscription.

• Byki App (iPad / iPhone / Android) – Great way to learn with a flash card learning style with listening.

• The Pimsleur Method - Known others that have used this method and enjoyed it.

This next clip is just hilarious :-)  Don’t mind the subtitles.

This recipe is brought to you by our cook Marjory.  When she was one year old, her mother died, and so she was taken in by another Haitian woman.  This woman was an incredible cook, and taught Marjory most everything she knows, including this recipe.  It has become a guesthouse favorite!

Step 1:  Prepare Chicken

Follow steps 1 & 2 from the Haitian Spaghetti recipe.  *Be sure to save about 3/4 cup water from when you boil the chicken the second time.  Add it to the chicken after it is shredded.  It will give it extra flavor.

Step 2:  Prepare noodles

Bring water, a splash of oil, some salt, 1 green onion, and 2 pieces of garlic to a boil.   Add rigatoni pasta and cook until al dente.  Drain water and discard garlic and green onion.  Pour noodles into a large bowl and set aside.

Step 3:  Make the Sauce

In medium saucepan, melt 3 Tbsp. butter.  Add a large spoonful of flour and several cups of milk.  Heat to a boil until it thickens.  Stir continuously!  If sauce is chunky when thick, you can pour it through a fine strainer to remove chunks.

Add about 2/3 cup mayonnaise and stir well.  Taste and if it still needs more flavor, you can add salt and/or a small part of a crushed chicken bouillon cube.

Step 4:  Mix it all up

Pour cooked chicken in the large bowl with your noodles.  Stir.  Then add sauce and stir again.

Pour noodle mixture into cake pans or whatever dish(es) you want to bake them in.  Sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese over the noodles.

Step 5:  Bake

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  We like our noodles to be softer, so you can bake them for less time if you want them softer.  Haitians cook everything until very well done, so they like to bake it a lot longer than 30 minutes – until noodles/cheese are pretty hard (not my favorite).

Enjoy with a nice side salad and some fresh baked bread.  Mmmmm.

We had a mess of car things happen this past week.  I was going to write about it but then noticed that Nick already had a great summary:

Filling stations in Port-au Prince have been out of gasoline for five days. That’s 3 million people with no gasoline.

They say the reason is because an oil tanker from Venezuela is two weeks late. Probably Venezuela forgot to send out the boats after Hugo Chavez died.

The prediction is we’ll have more by Sunday. [FYI - We have gasoline again!]

In the meantime, traffic is thinning out on the roads. Diesel is still available, so most vehicles out running now are diesel.

Our cars were out by like Wednesday. For some reason we always run them on quarter tank anyways so it didn’t take long. So much for preparedness. Except then, in a back corner somewhere, a few extra gallons were found yesterday, so we dumped them in our Montero. Now we’re back in business!

Except today Ryan and I got stuck at the hardware store because the Montero wouldn’t start. The starter is bad. We just took the starter out last week and brought it to a starter repairman. He repaired it, but now it’s broke again. I’m not thinking he did a very good job.

John and Pierre came and towed us home. That was exciting, getting towed halfway across Port-au Prince. I was driving the Montero getting towed (with no power steering or power brakes) and Pierre (red hat and shirt below) drove the pickup truck pulling us. Sometimes Pierre drove faster than comfortable, all while dodging traffic and potholes. At one point he drove off the road to avoid some obstacle… without slowing down!

Ryan was with me and couldn’t watch. He kept trying to occupy himself looking down on his phone. He did take the following pictures though:

Of course during all of this car excitement, we had been having issues with the water at the guest house.  The pressure tank went bad.  For a while, we attempted to use the broken tank but it just kept getting worse.  Eventually, we purchased a new tank for the Guest House.  Below you can see our detailed diagram of the new tank  Also, we couldn’t empty the old one through the valve, so ended up drilling some holes in it – looks kind of funny.

Of course, the normal side-projects of installing fans!  Fans must be one of the biggest marked up items in Haiti.  These guys are $120/piece.  I suppose they can get away with it.

From my little experience here in Haiti, there are no easy answers.  We enjoy the teams that come wrestling with ideas.  They often foster an atmosphere of sharing and discussing.

The difference between teams having the attitude of I am going to fix Haiti and I want to learn about Haiti is huge.  It cannot be understated.  The idea of “coming to save Haiti or <name your country>” is easy to understand given the nature of our American cultural context.

By definition, short term missions have only a short time in which to “show profit”, to achieve pre-defined goals. This can accentuate our American idols of speed, quantification, compartmentalization, money, achievement, and success. Projects become more important than people. The well is dug. Fifty people converted. Got to give the church back home a good report. Got to prove the time and expense was well worth it. To get the job done (on our time scale), imported technology becomes more important than contextualized methods. Individual drive becomes more important than respect for elders, for old courtesies, for taking time.  - When Helping Hurts

From what I have seen, the teams that come to learn end up getting the least frustrated when their timeline isn’t met, and they arguably get the most out of their experience.  I am not saying to stop doing work.  In the midst of building, holding medical clinics, craft making, speaking, or whatever you are doing in Haiti, make sure that it is in a position of humility and learning.  Remember we are all guests in this wonderful country.

Haiti is the land of unlimited impossibilities as John often quotes.  It is a privilege and great honor that we can live or visit other cultures like Haiti.  Take the moments you have while visiting to step back and ask yourself:

What can I learn from this culture?

“I was talking to a friend about the common sight of a broken-down vehicle being fixed right in the middle of the street.  Sometimes the vehicle has one wheel jacked up, sometimes a mechanic is working underneath with his legs sticking out, forcing vehicles to steer around him.  I asked my friend why the police did nothing.  He responded, “What can they do?”  When I suggested that it would be easy to get them to push the vehicle to the side of the street, at least, by fining them for impeding traffic, he was horrified.  ”What, make people pay money for such an innocent thing?”  - African Friends & Money Matters (p. 7)

The thought patterns are different.  In contrast, the Western ideal is to seek macro-solutions to problems.  Drivers will wait in line or at a stop light, and buses will very seldom stop outside the designated bus stops.  They depend upon macro-solutions  rather than seek a micro-advantage.

The important thing these teams do is to ask questions and to learn.

Why do they do it this way?

I heard someone ask this tonight at the dinner table.  I was so excited.  It’s easy to disregard a culture’s ideas and practices, and it can be difficult to press-in and learn the why.

What can we exchange from each other?

What resources do they have?

Try to ask this instead of What do you need?

Let’s look at the question, What resources do they have?  This is a great way to begin with a focus on their strengths.  What are the assets they bring to the table?  This approach affirms people’s dignity and moves us away from our western god-complex. This approach enlists and inspires local involvement, and it enhances local initiatives.

Mrs. Jones, a mother who has lived in poverty all her life, described the experience of poverty like this: “In part it is about having no money, but there is more to poverty than that.  It is about being isolated, unsupported, uneducated and unwanted.  Poor people want to be included and not just judged and ‘rescued’ at times of crisis.”  - Total Church (p. 79)

In short,

• Come to learn
• Come to ask questions
• Come to understand
• Come to be an advocate to friends and family back home

When you share your last crust of bread with a beggar, you mustn’t behave as if you were throwing a bone to a dog. You must give humbly, and thank him for allowing you to have a part in his hunger. - Giovanni Guareschi

Running the Guest House has allowed us the opportunity to see hundreds of missions teams come and go.  As part of Heartline, we have hosted many short-term missions (STMs) teams.  I am definitively no expert.  I don’t promise to have all the answers on this subject because, well, I don’t.  To be honest, the few STMs trips I have been on didn’t have all these qualities.

What I do know is that teams, we enjoy and we see as effective, have these qualities I will post about in this series.

Effective qualities of short-term mission teams begins with:

1) Preparation

The mission shouldn’t start when the wheels of the airplane touch down in Haiti (or any other country).  A highly equipped team will start preparing a year or more in advance before leaving their home country.

Effective teams take the opportunity before they come to learn as much as you can about the culture before stepping foot on someone else’s soil.  Learn by watching videos, reading blogs, books, and anything you can get your hands on. You can be prepared by learning about:

• The culture and history
• The partnering organization
• Other organizations in the same country
• The long-term missionaries you will be supporting

Teams that have done this research usually ask the insightful questions and are able to grasp a new level of depth on the issues and solutions.  It also shows that the team doesn’t want to waste anyone’s time but are serious about being involved in making a difference.

In the short-term missions workbook by Tim Dearborn he says, The most important aspect of short-term mission service is preparation.  The long-term impact of your service will be deeply affected by the quality of your preparation.

Teams that make this upfront investment will increase the depth of their experience and make them a blessing to the culture, their long-term missionary friends, and gives a longer lasting impact for each individual team member.

Make pre-trip learning a requirement, not a suggestion. Simply wanting to go and coming up with the money is not sufficient to qualify somebody to join the team. If people don’t want to spend time to learn before they go on the trip are they really going to have a learner’s mind-set during the trip?  - When Helping Hurts

Starter Ideas…

Below are a few book ideas for cross-cultural travels:

• Books to Read Before Visiting Haiti
• Books to Read Before Moving to Haiti

Here are a few suggestions for digging into Haiti (though you could do the same type of searches for other countries):

• Haiti history on Wikipedia
• The Quake - PBS Special (and more)
• Latest Haiti news on Google

Interesting…

One team, before arriving in Haiti, had setup a small tent city outside of their home town for a weekend.  They had setup a limited water supply and made Haitian food for meals.  They were attempting to simulate the experience and hopefully better prepare the team for the journey ahead to Haiti.  They weren’t going to be staying in tents in Haiti but they wanted to learn more about conditions and what was happening after the earthquake.

This same group spent 2 years preparing for the trip down to Haiti.  As you can imagine, when they touched down in Haiti, they were ready.

Nick, the heartline driver / available for all things, recently said the following which I find true…

Rarely before have I been in a situation where the line between My Life and My Work has been so blurry.  

This week we’re hosting a team of 30.  If I counted the number of hours I’m putting into my job it would be pretty much the same number of hours I’m awake.  On the other hand, it could be said I’m not working at all, just living.  - Nick

This team has been very inquisitive.  Many have done their homework on Haiti and asked me questions that I struggle with on a weekly basis.  Here we are day in and day out facing real issues of injustice straight in the face.  See video below for an interesting perspective.

Here is what’s up recently

We visited Andrama’s church.  If you remember, Andrama works at the Maternity Center and cooked with Melissa on the Run For Life.  Melissa & Andrama became good friends after that.  She invited us to her church.  For some reason, what stuck out to me was these older ladies standing up waving their arms with the music.  Maybe it’s because I hardly ever see older people (the mean average age in Haiti is 27 years.)  The place as a whole just seemed free to worship, dance and sing loudly.

Bench seats

The current team is helping us secure the bench seats at the Guest House from falling.

Car Repair

Nick and I worked on the Mits yesterday.  We have been finding auto parts places and little shops that have the pieces we need.  We attempted to get our starter rebuilt.  Looks like today, I will go back and go for attempt #2 It doesn’t quite work we will try it again.

Bakery

Bakery propane tank has arrived and now Josh has started to experiment with recipes!

Lifetree Team

Here are some Lifetree team pictures.

- I gave some of them some first hand experience buying food on the side of the street.

- Melissa & the ladies cooked a huge feast!  The picture doesn’t even show half of it.

Police Ticket

Nick and I almost got a ticked.  One of our lights were out.  Pretty comical considering how many other cars have their lights out as well

Police offered us a $50 bribe option or a ticket for the brake light being out.  We stood around not willing to pay the bribe figuring they would give us the ticket.  After some time staring at each other the police said we could take off!  No bribe & no ticked!

Video

Great video on if justice is worth it… (Thanks Tara for the find)

The run is finished.  This untold story happened during the run.  Our camera’s were not on and our social media sites were almost silent.  We shared what little we could but with the intensity of the moment, it was the last thing on our mind.

—

Rewind a few months.  I am just getting to this post!

—

You might be thinking, why would I want to hear about the run that is already finished?  Well, here’s why.

One of the most dangerous, craziest days of the run happened in Saint Marc.  It’s the same day that I ran the full marathon with Barry. It was exciting to be running along with Barry. I find that I have already forgotten so many details of the day that I wish I had captured.  It is times like these I wish I had a pair of Google Glasses to record our every movement for later retrieval.

It is the 9th day of the run and we start out at the usual 5am time. I remember so many dark mornings being so peaceful. On this particular morning, I can faintly see a burning candle and a shadow of a women preparing for the morning.  It is a great time to start off running during the coolness of the morning.

Less than an hour into the run, we enter the edge of Saint Marc. Just inside the city limits a police officer has his lights on and directs us to turn right rather then continue on the main road. We expected some detours in Saint Marc so we follow his path and continue conversing among ourselves, not thinking anything of the detour.

Barry, Joel and myself are the runners this particular morning. Jeff is filling in for me on the motorcycle. Following behind him, the ambulance.  Easily enough, between the vehicles, we confirm a route back to the main road.  A few days before we were trying to navigate the roads through Port-Au-Prince.  This is an easy detour, so we thought.

As the dawn breaks, glimpses of the sun begin to bring light to the dark streets.  We can smell the odors of the city. Our legs are fresh. Our feet, seemingly in unison, gripping the ground and pushing us forward.  As I am lost in a daze of running, one of the guys gives us  all a heads up.  We see a large TapTap ahead parked in the road. We all veer to the right shoulder to pass.  As I am running past, the windshield looks like a spider web as if it was hit with something heavy.

I hear piece of glass break. I look back at Jeff on the motorcycle. I could see that he ran over a glass shard on the road. Then seconds later, I hear another one. I am thinking, I want to ask Jeff to try avoiding the glass.  I really don’t want a flat tire.  As I am about to open my mouth, it hits me!

The break of the dawn glimmered through the buildings reflecting off a sea of broken glass.

The sun revealing broken glass bottles, broken mirrors, and other foreign objects scattered all over the road! This was a protest and at first sights, a dangerous one!

Looking for an escape, Joel looks behind and catches a glance of a man appearing from the shadows. Before he has words to warn us, the man tosses a glass bottle, hitting the pavement and spreading out into pieces just behind us.

My heart is pounding after realizing the seriousness of the situation.  As we quicken our pace, Jeff calls out that we can turn right ahead. As we turn the corner, a barricade of burning tires awaits us. Glancing back again, one last time, no one questioned heading through the burning tires.

Crossing the burning tires, we knew we have made it to safety… for the moment.  We continue running down this side street.  Jeff hands me my phone from the moto so we can search for a path back onto the main road and hopefully stay clear of the protests.

All the while, the ambulance had been blocked back by the well-placed TapTap.  They call telling us to turn around, unbeknownst to them we had barely made our way out of the mess.  We quickly find out that they are stuck, really stuck.  They drove down another street and ended up in the middle of a mob.  It was then they find out that four men were killed during the morning protest.  Trying to flee the area, they at one point had Haitian men physically bouncing the ambulance over in hopes that it could point it in a different direction.

Meanwhile we are free of the protests in Saint Marc.  We have hit the open road with the city well behind us.  It is the only road in sight, disappearing off into the high mountains miles in front of us.  Nothing but cactus, bushes, and dirt are to the side of us.

Now, after almost two hours, we have depleted our motorcycle stashed water supply.  Could this be timed any worse.  We are now in the middle of Haiti.  No gas stations here.  No U.S. Federal mandated rest stations.  Seeing a few people, I try asking how far to the next market.  The answers varied from an hour to people telling us to turn around.  We end up coming across a man that said he had coke-cola drinks.  Well, what do you do!?  Jeff on the moto drives to his shack house on the side of the road and purchases some cokes.  What better for a marathon, huh  

With the ambulance still playing hooky back in Saint Marc.  All of us, drinking Coke-Cola for some hydration.  This day is going down in my top 3 craziest days in Haiti.  The list is currently (1) Using GPS to Track Our Stolen iPad in Haiti (2) Moto Ride Turned Dangerous at Rebel Army’s Barricade and (3) Today!

Looking at the stats, Barry is on day 9 of a run across Haiti to raise money for a new maternity center.  Never once did he say, this isn’t worth it.  He continued to press-in even during the most difficult of times.  Myself, in full support of the much needed maternity center, really only planned on being the support moto driver. I did not anticipating running a marathon. Here I am, finding myself 10 miles into the run.  I really don’t have much of a choice.  There isn’t a vehicle to jump into, that’s for sure!

Later, we did find a small market where I could buy a bunch of water packs.

The biggest need at this point was getting the ambulance to us so they could stretch out Barry.  He was hurting and off his scheduled stretching.  I attempted to help stretch him out but without a table we did it on the ground.  Just to put some icing on the cake, we did it on a fire ant colony.

“Ahh.. Ouch… Oww!!”, Barry shouted.

Oops, I was thinking we were stretching him to far .  He jumped up with a ton of ants climbing around him!  Yep, marking that as a fail!

 Thankfully, around mile 12 the ambulance was able to speed up to our location and give us proper hydration, nutrition, and support.  The crew in the ambulance went through some pretty tough times trying to evacuate the city but we were thankful everyone made it through.

At the end of the day,

- The most important person, Barry made it!

- It was an honor to run with Barry.

- It was a finish to my 2nd ever marathon.

- The most amazing part was that my cheap Chinese built moto made it another day.

- Mesi Jezi!