World Missions
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Missionaries Report from Haiti
Following are
communications written from missionaries in
Haiti. Although not originally
intended as “news” reports, the letters
provide a true, on-site glimpse of the
tragedy through the eyes of some who
experienced it.
The first letter is
from missionaries Bill and Dorothy Smith,
AGWM missionaries to Haiti who were in Haiti
during the time of the quake. The
second letter is from a Dominican Republic
AG missionary couple, Miguel and Mairelys
Ovalle, who are also ministering in Haiti.
Of note, Miguel was an AGWM Latin America
ChildCare (LACC)-sponsored
child, saved and called to ministry in the
LACC school.
REPORT/LETTER FROM BILL AND DOROTHY SMITH,
AGWM MISSIONARIES TO HAITI
All are okay. Abraham’s
pillars and roof are standing. The
walls all fell and everything inside is
broken, but his family is fine. Cange
[ex-superintendent] and family are fine.
He has some damage to his house.
Haven’t heard from Jacqueline, but she is
next door to Cange and he did not indicate
any problem. We just visited the
churches today and there is lots of damage
to Delmas 101 church. Two floors of
the school at San Fil collapsed and the
church had just minimal damage. The
back wall of the Delmas 33 church is being
held up with 2- x- 4’s. There will
need to be work done on schools, but all in
all, everything looked pretty good.
Almost all the other schools I saw were
totally destroyed ... many churches also.
Our home church fell in. I almost lost it going
down Delmas today. My heart just breaks for
the people. I’m sitting here writing and
weeping. We have a group coming
across the border tomorrow bringing food and
fuel so that will help. I have many more responses
I need to write before sleep overtakes.
REPORT/LETTER FROM MIGUEL AND MAIRELYS
ORVALLE, AN AGWM FAMILY FROM THE DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC MINISTERING IN HAITI (TRASLATED
FROM SPANISH TO ENGLISH): Thank you for your prayers
on our behalf. We are grateful to the
Lord to be able to communicate and for all
our family being well, which is not the case
with so many, which this sudden earthquake
left trapped beneath the rubble.
When the earthquake
took place we had just arrived in the
country some 20 minutes before . . . and my
wife was in the kitchen and I in the bedroom
when the house began to shake violently and
we ran out, both of us thinking that our son
David was with us, only to discover that he
was still inside the house, and I ran back
to look for him. He ran out on his own
and calmly told me what had happened! We
hugged, crying and asking God for peace. We went out to the street
where there was panic and confusion on every
side. Some who were injured came to
our house where we were able to help them.
Our other son, Cadmiel, didn’t want to go
back into the house; he wanted to return to
Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), so we
prayed that the Lord would help him overcome
his feelings as quickly as possible. Today we have seen what I
can only describe as the greatest human
catastrophe I have ever seen, with the
number of buildings and houses destroyed
with their occupants inside them, with chaos
reining in the streets . . . and no
transportation of any kind, with the people
alarmed and time running out for those
trapped in the rubble. This morning is the first
day of this year back here in Haiti and the
saddest I have ever lived, seeing in my
rounds literally hundreds of bodies lying in
the streets and knowing that this is only
the beginning, that the majority of the
buildings, such as schools, fell with the
school children still inside. I believe that in this
moment we need all possible help from our
churches in solidarity with us in giving
goods and funds to acquire what is needed
such as disposable medical materials and
medicines such as anti-inflammatory
medication, antibiotics, pills or chlorine
for water purification, tent materials,
sheets and mattresses. We are rationing food and
water, as well as gasoline, because we do
not know how long these will be available.
We visited some believers in [a nearby part
of town] and thank God all the children and
brothers are alive. A few suffered cuts and
injuries in their homes but are thankful to
be alive. Following is the link to
give to the AGWM relief effort: Free downloadable media
will be posted at
http://world.ag.org/crisis
and
http://convoyofhope.org. Dan Van Veen, AG News |
You can
donate online to Haiti Relief right now
through our secure PayPal service: |
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