Days 129 – 131 (2/22 – 24)

Wednesday – Today is Mardi Gras and still part of the National holiday. But since we have one team returning from the field and one new one arriving from the states, we have a partial staff at  the Guest House and meals will be resuming. The team coming in from the states is Steve Elliot’s team from the California/ Nevada Conference. I know Steve but none of his team members. They will be going to Thomas tomorrow and I plan to ride out with them to check on the new Site Boss and make sure he has things lined up for them. Sarah also flew in from her R & R in Miami. It’s good to have her back. Tom and I didn’t have anyone to pick on. Speaking of Tom – he looks like he’s been run over by a truck this morning, after his mountain adventure yesterday. I told him to wait another day when the pain really sets in. As for me – I’m ready to go do some more 4 wheelin’.

Pastor Paul called late this afternoon and wants me to make a presentation about the Guest House Renovation Project at the EMH Resource and Development meeting tomorrow morning. Not much notice. I’ll have to cancel my plans for Thomas. Keep smiling, Bill – you’re in Haiti.

Thursday – We got 1 team off to the airport and home and Steve’s team off to Thomas this morning. Then I got cleaned up and went over to the R & D meeting to do my presentation. Tom went along for moral support. I don’t know whether all Haitian meetings are the same, but all EMH meetings seem to have the same flavor. No one pays any attention to what’s going on. Someone will be talking, generally very passionately, about something (in Creole, naturally) and people will be texting, talking on their cell phones, reading, sleeping or carrying on side conversations that often get louder than the speaker. No wonder it takes so long to get anything done down here. After sitting for an hour and a half watching this all go on, Pastor Paul asked me to give my presentation. I was stunned – the room got quiet. I gave my report, with Pastor Marko translating, and the debate started. “Why do we want to make repairs to the old Guest House? We should build a new one.” “Why should we build a new Guest House? I need a new Pastor’s Manse.” Yada, yada, yada.  It’s all noise at this point. The bottom line is that UMCOR is not going to fund a new Guest House or Pastor Manses. So – let’s just get on with the program. I went back to my room and took a shower and a nap.

We had 2 late arrivals this afternoon – a returning team from Arcahaie and a new team from the states. Life is back to normal.

Friday – This morning we sent one team off to their work site and one team off for a day of sightseeing. I then got a call from Jim Gulley. He was on his way to an UMCOR/EMH/COR (Church of the Resurrection) meeting in Kansas City. He wanted me to write up my suggested alternate proposal to the Haiti Home Assistance Plan and the Guest House Renovation Project that he, Tom and Melissa Crutchfield seem to really like. He wants to present the new plan to Pastor Paul tonight in Kansas City. If we can get Pastor Paul’s approval, Melissa has pretty much assured the UMCOR funding for both projects. I’ll be holding my breath. (Side note explanation – The Church of the Resurrection is a huge Methodist congregation in the Kansas City area that has raised a lot of money and sent many teams to Haiti. They have agreed in principle to fund the majority of the estimated 4 million dollar cost of the rebuilding of the destroyed College Bird campus in Port-au-Prince.)