PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti—Thirteen people from Nevada Baptist Church, Nevada Iowa, recently stayed in a Port-au-Prince guesthouse reserved for missions teams traveling to Haiti during the next year.

Chris Hindal, director of GARBC International Ministries, said that prior to renting the house, options were limited for groups visiting Haiti. Individuals could stay at local hotels, but larger groups have found it difficult to find accommodations.

The guest house has a kitchen, dining room, living room, and sleeping space for 20 people. The cost is $30 per person per day, a price that includes both accommodations and meals prepared at the house by a Haitian cook.

For groups wishing to prepare their own meals, the cost of the guest house is $15 per person per day. This was the option that the group from Nevada Baptist chose, eating two meals a day consisting of rolls and croissants for breakfast and rice or pasta at night. Group members learned to carry a granola bar with them as a snack between the two meals. Bottled water is available for purchase in Haiti but is prohibitively expensive, so the group brought its own water bottles, refilling them each night with water they boiled at the guest house.

The guest house has three showers but no hot water. “We learned to look forward to the cold shower after a long, hot day,” says Assistant Pastor James Reynolds.

Visitors to Haiti should learn to expect rolling blackouts. Reynolds says the guest house has no electrical power during the day, but it usually comes on between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. and goes off in the early morning. Internet access is available at cafes but is usually limited to the speed of a dial-up modem.

Visitors should also be ready for a true experience of missionary life—meaning random surprises. Chris Hindal tells a funny story of his first experience at the guest house, where the water in his shower was cut off as he stood covered with soap lather and shampoo.

A group of 13 workers left for Haiti this Sunday from Hermantown, Minn., Hindal says. Another trip is being planned by Pastor Kirk Wesselink and a team of workers from Desert Hills Baptist Church, Albuquerque, N. M., who plan to rebuild a Haitian church with the help of hired Haitian workers.

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