This is written by Shelby Pfitzenmaier from the Liberty E-Free trip in Pignon, Haiti. This is Shelby’s first time serving in Haiti.

We made it here to Pignon safely. We were all exhausted. Let’s just say the sleeping at in the Miami airport weren’t prime. We got to the Port-au-Prince airport around 9 in the morning. Things were not as chaotic as we were were expecting, thank goodness. We all got through custom’s fine, even breaking out in laughter (this was a challenge for me, keeping a strait face). The people there helped us find our luggage and load it on top of the trucks. Then we were off! The traffic was crazy. I got car sick on the way there, it was a tad bumpy so i took a zorye (nap). Then we stopped to take a break, talk to a vender, and stretch our legs. Back into the vehicle we go! I was out like a light the whole rest of the way until we hit a huge bump. Then I was awake. From what I was told (and saw from the small time I was awake), the mountains and the views were beautiful. The ride was very bumpy and not gonna lie, my teeth hurt from all the vibrating. It was a very humbling experience see the little that the people there have.

We drove into Pignon and into our compound five hours later. There are a lot of goats here. They are so cute! There were peacocks there to meet us as well. As we were rolling into town, so was a storm. We unloaded the trucks and right as we got everything inside, the sky let loose. It made my day, I LOVE THUNDERSTORMS. We had a fun time playing in the rain. We got served a yummy lunch then hit the showers. We played games for a while (Spoons, UNO, and Phase 10) until supper, some crashed too. We were all super tired and all mixed up with times. We then had supper, had a pow wow, then some went to bed and some played some more UNO. Then the rest of us went to bed.

Today, we ate breakfast, then went to the hospital. We got a tour of their facilities. It was really cool! Especially the prosthetic limb section. Then we got our schedule and planned out our week. We took a tour of the town and saw it all. The kids were so cute coming up to us and holding our hands. We headed back to the house, ate lunch, and then played some more games. The hospital workers came and gave us an over view on what the hospital does and what it is all about. It was neat and saddening to see the statistics of mortality and diseases and such. We then went to the library where we did VBS. It was so cool to see all the little kids screaming their hearts out while worshiping. The one of our groups did their skit on creation and sin. Following that, some of the girls painted the girls’ fingernails while the rest went outside and played frisbee, blowed bubbles, and soccer keep away. I stuck with the bubbles and soccer, I can not paint nails….Those boys have fancy footwork when it comes to soccer. I am jealous. I hope I can learn a few moves from them. We then went back to the house again all hot and sweaty. We had a few hours to chill and do whatever. There was group bonding and I found out what the lizards and tarantulas look like here…We ate supper and went to the hospital to pray and sing songs with the patients there. It was a really neat experience. We walked back and had a few adventures along the way. Now we are going to bed ASAP because we are getting up at 4:45 to climb a mountain! It am pretty excited!

Well thanks for reading my novel 🙂 Over and out!

Shelby P.