God is Faithful!

The picture on the top above is what's left of our two story high school building. The first floor was completely crushed under the second floor. THANK THE LORD this occurred after school hours when all the teachers and children were gone! The other two photos are children treated for injuries from the quake. We still have patients coming into the med clinic. Now we are seeing injuries from people going into damaged buildings to retrieve their belongings, illness from tainted water, insufficient food and crowded living conditions. Many people who lost their homes are gathering in tent cities in fields.

Many people (including all the missionaries) are still sleeping outside since we are still have tremors and the buildings have not been inspected for safety. Above are pictures of our house. The picture on the top shows all the shattered glass from a glass block wall that fell. I was in the doorway of this room when it fell. If it had taken me a few more seconds to get to the doorway that wall and and all the sharp pieces of glass would have hit me. THANK THE LORD! We think we will eventually be able to move back into our home but would first have to remove the utility room on the side of the house - this area sustained the most damage. This is the section behind the door in the center picture.

We have started to get med supplies and food for the local people by truck and by helicopter. Our soccer field has become a landing field. Above shows Joe & I marking the field for landing and the other pic shows three helicopters bringing supplies. Many people in the States are working hard to raise funds get us supplies. THANK THE LORD! The food that comes in goes right out to our Haitian neighbors. We had one man comment that he was so happy we had not left for the States after this tragedy struck. He said he was so thankful that we had made his problem our problem. This is why we are here!

Ed and others are exploring many different sources for food, meds, etc. The military (US, Canadian and French) have sent troops to Leogane, a town about 15 minutes from us. Ed was there yesterday trying to get them to send food to Christianville. We have a private plane coming next week with 1500 pounds of beans and rice from a church in Maryland and a relief organization is getting 200 gallons of diesel fuel to us this weekend. Please pray that doors continue to open.

Because of the quake, the Haitian government is "fast tracking" any adoptions that were in progress. For this reason our guest house coordinators Amy & Doug were able to get a visa for their adopted son, Dor. They left with him yesterday. They were also able to get a little girl out whose new family was anxiously waiting for her in the States. THANK THE LORD!

With Doug & Amy gone and the English academy closed, I have changed from teacher to guest house coordinator. We don't have any visitors, but this is now temp housing for all the missionaries. I have to shop for food and plan meals, see that everyone has clean sheets and towels, etc. Just because we're sleeping on mattresses on the patio doesn't mean we can't have clean sheets ;-)

We want to thank all of you who have supported with financially and with your prayers. You have blessed us SO much.

EARTHQUAKE!

It was almost 5 PM on Tuesday January 12. I was on the second floor of our home, Ed was over at the Guest House. There was a vibration that I thought for a brief moment was a big truck going past. The next moment I realized our house was shaking violently. I scrambled to the doorway and just as I got out of the room, a large glass block wall shattered, sending flying glass throughout the room. I was able to get down the stairs and out the door (which had been locked but was now standing wide open) just as Ed came running around the corner, asking if I was okay. He said there had been an earthquake and we ran hand in hand to the Guest House lawn.

Miraculously none of the missionaries had been injured other than a few minor scrapes and bruises. Our Haitian neighbors started to arrive, knowing Christianville was a place of refuge and assistance. Our amazing med team sprung into action and within the hour we had tables and supplies set up to treat a multitude of injuries, many life-threatening. The docs worked through the night, doing their very best in VERY limited condition. We had about 100 people sleep on the front lawn of the Mission. There were tremors throughout the night.Three new healthy babies were delivered among the chaos!

At dawn, the incredible Haitian people greeted the sun with songs of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. Many, many people had lost their homes and loved ones but were still praising Jesus. What a living example of I Thessalonians 5:16-18 "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks..."

With daylight, we were able to access the damage to our facilities. Our high school, university and the English academy were damaged beyond repair. Thank God this did not happen during school hours! The brand new 4 unit apartment building for the med staff, two other apartments for missionaries and our pharmacy are also lost. Our medical, dental and eye clinics were hit pretty bad. Not sure if they can be used. The remaining buildings have some cracks but we have a short term team here that includes some construction people and a civil engineer and they believe these buildings (including our home) are okay. However, due to continuing tremors, we are all still sleeping outside in the front yard of the Mission.

Many of our employees have lost their homes but most seem to have escaped serious injury. We hope to be able to continue to pay their salaries over the next several months as we rebuild.

Yesterday we had a truck arrive from another mission in Haiti that had not been hit as hard as us. They sent bed sheets, medical supplies, food and water that we will be able to distribute to folks in the area. Praise God!

Overall, our mission is in good shape compared to our neighbors. We went out the day after the earthquake and got several drums of diesel fuel for our vehicles and generator so we have power. Our water is running but we need to boil it. We have a decent supply of canned and non-perishable food. We're hoping to get our short term vistors out as soon as possible. This trip to Haiti is more than they bargained for! But they have been real troopers and very helpful.

We plan to continue our work here at Christianville, although it will be on a smaller scale in some areas. However, this catastrophe has presented us with many NEW opportunites to minster and share the Gospel, so the work will continue.

The next several months will be devoted to clean up, rebuilding and providing whatever services we can to our neighbors. The med clinic plans to reopen next week in one of the remaining school buildings. School will probably not resume until next Fall. Our main concerns for the next few weeks will be food and fuel shortages. We will be cutting back as much as we can so our supplies will last as long as possible. Even though much aid is cmoing into the country, distribution will be an issue in a country that is inefficient even under the best of conditions!

Through all this, we have seen God's protection and provision over and over again. We have seen people who had little to begin with and have now lost EVERYTHING continue to worhip our God. We have seen people (Americans and Haitians) work hard and give 110% for the sake of others.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers and support.