Posts tagged guest house

Guest House Website New

Mar24th
2013 2 Comments Written by Ryan

I have been working away on a new website for the guest house. Your feedback would be welcomed!

Current website:

It’s been a great help and has all the information nicely condensed.

New website:

This new website is now moved to http://heartlineguesthouse.com. Since it’s on it’s own, I was able to add more details about the guest house. My goal was to make it easier for those that haven’t stayed here before to explore the guest house in greater detail. Wergsy has even translated the text into French

Some questions I have for you…

Have you stayed before and know something you would like to have added?
Do you see something you have a question about that would be helpful to add?
Is anything confusing?
Something you really liked?

Projects Focused on the Guest House

Feb27th
2013 4 Comments Written by Ryan

What a couple weeks! Melissa and I are working fully on Heartline projects. Thankfully we have had the help of close friends! Barry, Nick and Josh have helped out so so much!

At the guest house:

- This week we were focused on stocking the gift shop… which was getting empty! We headed to the tin market and stepped into a shop we have never seen before. All I can say is… freeeaakkyyy.

Thankfully our shop is looking better:

- Preparing and working on the new “Information Center”. Barry was the brains behind this project! It looks so awesome! Today we were able to wire Ethernet cable over to the VoIP international phone. Now it will be very visible .

- Fixing the downstairs shower. This has been an issue for a while. I wish I could say there were know-how behind this project but none of us really knew what we were doing Amazingly, it’s finished! Soooooooo Thankful!

- Modified the guest house introduction video. This is to prepare for the coming summer months of teams that will arrive.

- Responding to email

- Most of my time has been spent creating a new website just for the guest house. Troy helped take pictures of the guest house for the website!

- One thing I have been trying to do more of recently is doing a devotional before supper each night with the guests. This hasn’t been happening every night but I usually like to read a story of those that have been killed or persecuted for their faith. Very vivid stories but also thankful that we can all worship freely in Haiti and in the U.S.!

Haitian Creations

- Chandler and I met to start discussing updating the Haitian Creations website

- Helped Fabienne at Haitian Creations with new barcodes

- Here is a quick glimpse into the new shop – looks pretty amazing!

Interesting

- While doing the shelves… Barry noticed this message on the can of stain

Guest House, Haiti, Haitian Creations haiti

Detailed Look at Today in Haiti

Oct18th
2012 3 Comments Written by Ryan

A day in Haiti is always difficult to explain. It’s a question we get asked a surprising number of times. Life here is different everyday.

I often think, what is the most important thing I need to be doing here in Haiti. Is it running the Guest House? Is it helping with Haitian Creations? Is it talking with the guests?

I really liked what Devon said on her blog in which she describes her story:

We live once. We have the ability to Love – the loveless, and to heal people with our words and our actions. I want to continually seek the lost, because I have been found. Amazing grace, that saved a wretch like me.

Today wasn’t particularly eventful – but that’s just it – it was more normal (as opposed to days like here, here, and here). This is a small glimpse of our life on a random day here in Haiti.

Here is a detailed look at what happened today:

Got up (6a) to help with breakfast at the Guest House - Thought I would help Melissa since she usually does it!
Choose a new verse from my daily reading to add to the dining room white board.
Fixed the bathtub that almost overflowed last night while a guest was taking a shower. Yikes! Had a complaint/suggestion about the bathrooms from another group – so looked at how to clean them better. Melissa/Majorie took over that project.
Quickly answered some guests questions on e-mail about Haiti.
Went to get coke, groceries, ice for dinner tonight.
Filled up gas in the truck. Was stopped outside our gate for some time because of a car stuck in the ditch which made for blocked traffic.
Worked on the Run For Life Haiti website.
Headed to one of our workers houses for her birthday. (Very interesting… hopefully blog post later!) We are helping her through high school and I ended up helping her on some math problems.
Came back to work with Troy on the website.
Guests arrived back at the guest house and had some questions. They have been a great group!
While others were eating dinner – Fixed toilet upstairs because it was leaking and making noises which kept the guests up last night.
Dinner – Shared about what God is doing in Haiti. Told a few stories. Tried to calm some fears about malaria in Haiti.
Helped Melissa clean up dinner.
Came back to our apartment at 8p.
Took my weekly shower (just kidding – it’s monthly ).
Melissa and I had time together and prayed together.
Melissa headed to bed.
Went through unanswered email from my personal and heartline email account.
Finished adding mobile functionality to heartlineministries.org website. This is just a fun side project for me.
Writing this post (12p right now), sent a tweet on twitter and then headed to bed.

I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world – Mother Teresa

Here are some select Christian comics:

For the Minnesota and midwest friends:

Love the expression on their faces, to funny:

Guest House, Haiti haiti

Guest House Orientation Video

Aug1st
2012 1 Comment Written by Ryan

I have thought about making a video we can show to first time guests and groups that give an introduction of the guest house. I have failed to put the idea into action the idea. What really motivated me was the fact that Evan has a nice camera we could use for the filming. I figured I needed to do something before he left Haiti. At least get something put together and then later I could tweak.

This is my first draft of the orientation video.

Guest House, Haiti, Video haiti

Packed Guest House / Construction / Painting / Pictures

May12th
2012 3 Comments Written by Ryan

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind at the guest house:

We had an over-packed house with 41 people at the guest house. We just keep trying to break records here There were enough cots for the groups and everyone had such a great spirits. To God’s credit, it went very smoothly!
Adopting: We had a family at the guest house for a couple weeks hoping to adopt. They felt called to apply for a visa so that they could take the child home on this visit. Unfortunately they were turned down. We prayed with them on their last night. You could see the tears in their eyes. Sometimes we just don’t understand God’s plan and we just need to keep trusting him. That can be very very difficult when the rubber meets the road!
Construction: Asher (official title: driver | really: driver + knows everything about construction + electrical) has been here helping Heartline the last two months! It has been an honor and pleasure having him with Heartline especially with the much needed projects! In the picture – we built a cabinet to hold the tools at the Guest House. We also re-used the workbench that was in the old tool room.
Additional Room: We turned the tool room into another bedroom! The room will mostly likely be used for the rotating drivers that come through the house. The next driver, Evan, will stay in this room. Melissa in her “officially cool” shirt is painting away!
HeartlineMinistries.org: Moved the website to a different server, added support for secure donations via credit card and paypal.
Haitian Creations: This needs to be a full blog update at some point. We continue to pray that God guides this ministry. We want to be best prepared for our current operations and for future expansions of this ministry. Ultimately, whatever we do we want it to benefit the ladies in the program and future ladies that will be coming through the program. This work has been exciting work! Look forward to updating you soon!
Water: The water outside the village is still very bad and getting worse this evening. I am always amazed at the Haitians – they walk through this stuff day in and day out.

How are you?! Let us know how you are doing! What is new in your life! We continue to pray for you all back in the states.

Other Random Pictures

Guest House, Haiti, Haitian Creations, Heartline adoption, construction, haiti, haitian creations, website

Quick Updates – Irresponsible Guests, Peanut, Creole Class

Apr6th
2012 7 Comments Written by Ryan

Guests

We have been encouraged by some wonderful guests recently.

Steve and Carol. They brought their whole family to Haiti – a set of triplets in 6th grade, two 9th grade girls, and themselves. They had such a refreshing passion for living out our faith. One night he was talking and he said,

“It’s awesome to be around some many irresponsible people.”

He was saying that following Jesus with faith can look very irresponsible. For me, it is easy to be focused on wanting to put money towards retirement, having enough money in our bank account, basically just security of life. It is a good reminder that Jesus just gave his life away. He had none of that. If he was living today, I know he would look irresponsible to many of us.

This is a great weekend to reflect and listen. To sit quietly. How can I follow in faith as Jesus did? He is probably speaking to you right now. It may sound irresponsible to others. I try to remind myself to look through the lens of eternity. When viewing it with that focus, it no longer looks irresponsible. Instead, it will look like love. It looked irresponsible for Jesus to go to the cross but he did it for love. It may look irresponsible for Steve and Carol to bring down their whole family to Haiti, but they did it because of love. To show love to others in Haiti, to be an example of what love looks like with their kids, for their kids to show love to others.

Their last morning here their faith was tested when their daughter got extremely sick right as they were about to leave for the airport. A few people prayed over her and she was back to normal within the hour.

Creole Class

We finished our Creole classes with a game of Scrabble in Creole! The fact that we finished doesn’t mean we’re fluent in Creole, but we now have a firm base so that if we can continue to practice. We will continue to keep learning.

Pistach (means peanut)

We have a new kitten that joined us at the guest house! We aren’t sure how she will do with the dogs! They are slowly getting acquainted.

Heartline cat, creole, haiti

4 Highlights – Movie, Cooking Test, UN Signs & more…

Mar21st
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Ryan

There have been a lot of random things happening recently.

We have been preparing for a team that will be working specifically with Heartline. We have lot’s of projects for them to do! The team will be made up of people of all different ages. They will mostly be working out at the new property but they will be doing a few projects at the guest house (which we are excited about ).

Over the last week we had a few highlights (besides the other posts):

1. Melissa and I judged at the cooking school. The food they made was amazing! I was full by the time we left! My favorite was this perfectly done fish with some very tasty sauce. A lot of the students were really really nervous. At one point, one of the students put all the glasses in front of me when she was suppose to give them out to each person at the table – It was funny

2. Monday Movie Madness! We invited a number of the people from around the community over to the guest house to watch Courageous! Great movie which is meant to inspire men to be the leaders we are called to be. We will be showing this movie again with the Heartline team coming through next week.

3. A family staying with us this week had a birthday and Melissa pulled out some brownie’s (thanks Beth Crave for donating the mix!) to celebrate his birthday! It was a surprise and it tasted delicious! We don’t usually get desert around here.

4. Remember the sign that said the UN will molest and put you in jail. Today someone has spray painted all the signs attempting to erase them I just can’t figure out if it was a translation error or a joke… well, at least something is being done about it now

Haiti cooking school, haiti, tweet, united nations

Meeting Spot

Mar18th
2012 1 Comment Written by Ryan

It is always an honor to see groups of people meet at the guest house. I traditionally rationalize in my mind that it is coincidence or some sort of stroke of luck that people end up connecting with others while visiting the guest house. My logical mind has a hard time comprehending that other forces are at work.

It’s been too many times and to many coincidences. To many people come at the perfect time to connect with the perfect people. Should I be surprised? We pray for this everyday!

Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous. -Albert Einstein

Tonight we had two people on different trips:

Group A – Bill & Jen:

Bill & Jen have been trying to adopt for 4/5 years. Ouch!
They have lived in Haiti for 9 years out in a small village.
Grew up in Kansas City – Missouri suburb.

Group B:

Have adopted from Haiti.
Have been involved in Haiti for the last 12 years with orphanages.
Grew up in the same Kansas City – Missouri suburb as Bill & Jen.

Similarities:

Went to the same high school.
Worked at the same McDonalds at the same time.
Knew the same people.
Met in Haiti tonight at the Guest House

I wanted to start writing about these meetings because this isn’t the first time. It’s not the second, third or fourth! It feels like it’s been happening as often as we see the pigs outside on the road! (Which is every morning )

Haiti adoptions are not always easy. In fact, the are usually downright confusing and difficult. The process is not always the same and may or may not change based on your situation.

Besides growing up in the same area - The connection and experience of this other group tonight will help Bill & Jen as they work through issues in their process that others have worked through.

It is a privilege and honor to see these “coincidences”.

Coincidence is the word we use when we can’t see the levers and pulleys. -Emma Bull

Haiti, Heartline coincidence, haiti, tweet

Dinner Time Reflection

Feb8th
2012 2 Comments Written by Ryan

As Melissa mentioned before, January was a crazy, crazy month. I decided to investigate some statistics for the month!

Guest Stats

221 Individual guests
441 Beds taken during the month
14 Average number of people staying on a given night
39 The max number of people we had stay for one night

As you can see, we have had a lot of people come through the guesthouse lately. God has provided Melissa and I the opportunity to share and have influence on each of them. We have always prayed that this place bring peace, love, and comfort to travelers, missionaries and anyone that comes through.

A large part of sharing the love of Jesus is through our actions. How many people have been hurt by Christians that say one thing and then turn around and do another!

“Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” – I John 3:18

If we are filled with love, joy, patience, etc. others coming to the house will feel the same and it really sets the mood for the house. If we are frustrated, fatigued or otherwise, that also shows to guests as well. It is something we have been conscious of as we live out our lives before people that come in and out of the guest house.

Lately, I have also been thinking about another element.

“And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” – Romans 10:14

How can they know who Jesus is unless they have heard. We had one guest that came through saying, “We feel a good vibe with you guys and this guest house, we will come back again.” Yet, I was thinking, how do people know what that “good vibe” is unless someone tells them. Before they left, we were able to talk a little bit more in-depth and had a great discussion.

All these thoughts led us to decide to do a reflection time at dinner this evening. Not to stand up and be preachy, not to say to everyone that we have it all figured out… because we don’t. But because we saw the importance of verbally expressing the reason for our hope and actions. Our pastor said one Sunday, ”Good works save no one. You can feed a person’s stomach all the way to Hell.” Though people will know we are Christians by our love and actions, we also need to verbally share with them where that love comes from!

Haiti, Heartline haiti

Full House (No, Not with the Tanners)

Jan9th
2012 2 Comments Written by Ryan

The month of January is going to be very busy. Below, in the picture, you can see all the different groups that will be coming through the guest house.

It’s amazing how lives intersect in this place. Different groups passing through or staying for a longer period of time. Tonight we have almost every bed filled. There are 40 people at the guest house. There are 7 Haitian translators with the group. The first thing one of them said when I showed them the bedroom was, “I am going to sleep in a f****ing bed tonight!” I just had to laugh. They were so excited, it was fun to watch.

Each group passing through has different backgrounds, stories, and purposes in Haiti. Some groups are easy, some groups difficult. Recently we had a difficult group. It’s hard when people treat you less than human. I came across the following verse and really thought it applied:

“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:1-2

I didn’t notice this phrase before, walk in the way of love. The thought crossed my mind, what does it actually mean to walk in the way of love? Some don’t known what God’s love is and to walk in love seems so distant. God says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” -Jeremiah 31:3. (For a more explanation watch this.) It is evident and sad that this group and these people don’t know that love.

I wondered, why are you treating us like this? Don’t we all want to help others? We want to help, not hurt, that’s why Melissa and I are down in Haiti. We want to help out of love for these people. To help reverse the cycle of poverty and horrible circumstances Haitians face day-in and day-out.

Another difference we can make in Haiti is to reach out with love to the people coming in through the door of the guest house. Please pray with us that we can walk in the way of love during this month. That those that are missing this love can hear and see this love in action while at the guest house.

Our verse for our wedding, a life verse for us and something I want to live by:

Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. - I John 3:18

Haiti, Heartline

Posts tagged guest house

Guest House Website New

Projects Focused on the Guest House

Detailed Look at Today in Haiti

Guest House Orientation Video

Packed Guest House / Construction / Painting / Pictures

Quick Updates – Irresponsible Guests, Peanut, Creole Class

4 Highlights – Movie, Cooking Test, UN Signs & more…

Meeting Spot

Dinner Time Reflection

Full House (No, Not with the Tanners)

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