Our new schedule at the guesthouse:
5:45 – Wake up to get breakfast ready for the guests. You can’t drink the tap water or use it to brush your teeth, so you have to remember to get yourself some chlorinated water for these things.
6:30 – Guests start coming down for breakfast. They usually want their coffee first thing, so we learned how to make our first pot of coffee. We serve fresh fruit, generic cereal (namebrand here is about $8 per box), powdered milk (real milk is very expensive), fresh squeezed juice, toast, and maybe eggs, pancakes, or French toast.
7:30 – Morning meeting: Usually the head person from Heartline holds these meetings to do Bible study, sings a song or two, and talk about the work for the day.
9:00ish – Groups go out to work.
9 – 11:00 – We will be taking Creole language classes with a Haitian woman three days per week.
Late Morning/Afternoon – Do things such as work on the schedule for guest coming, airport pick-up and drop-off, and meals for the week. We will also need to get some groceries for the house, fill up the diesel gas cans for the generator, exchange money, fix broken things, or whatever else comes up.
People are always checking in and out, and coming and going to the airport. We help them get settled, explain how everything is run, and do their billing.
We hopefully will get a little bit of down-time in the afternoon to exercise, take a nap, or whatever.
6:00 – Guests are back from working, and we eat dinner together. It is prepared by the Haitian workers at the house.
Evening – The guesthouse has a giftshop, so it is our job to work in it at night when our daytime worker is gone. We will take money and write receipts for anyone wanting to purchase things.
9:00ish – Hopefully things wind down by this time, but there will always be random things that need to be done.
Night – City electricity usually goes out at night, so you have to keep the generator or battery power going. About every four hours you have to switch from one to the other, so that means getting up every single night about 2:00 and doing that manually. Yay!
That’s what it looks like for now. Very busy and a bit overwhelming at first. I can quickly begin to understand what it’s like to have kids – as suddenly your freetime is basically gone and you can never sleep through the night. Wow! I’m sure it will get easier with time 😀
4 responses to “Our New Schedule at the Guesthouse”
What a great thing to share! We now have a feel for your daily life. Maybe you can find away to hook up another container for that nighttime generator!
Hope you can get enough sleep.
Melissa, Thanks for sharing your schedule. We are very interested in how you spend your day and what it must be like to work and live in a country that seems so far away. We will try to keep in touch via Skype so we remain connected and in tune to situation. That will help us know how to pray for you and your needs. God Bless you each day as you take care of the guests.
That is a full schedule; I’m glad you get some down time, as you will need it to keep up with all the chores. God Bless You.
Ryan and Melissa,
Thanks for providing us with so much information about Haiti. You are not only serving a ministry for God, but are also ministering to all of us back in the states. As we read your updates we also gain a new perspective on “our” daily lives, and what God is calling us to do as Christians and followers of his Word. You both are very special to us and we applaud your passion to make a difference for so many Haitians in need. May God bless you giving you strength, safety, and wisdom on this incredible journey.