MTinHaiti

Captain Scott B

Trading shrimp for relief supplies.  This has been 45 days in the making.  David Bates, owner of Capt. Scott B, said to Danny Jordan (Teresa’s brother) that he really wanted to be a part of the earthquake relief by bringing supplies into Haiti using his shrimp boats.  With that the wheels began to turn.  My son-in-law (John “Phatrok” Lancaster) then called Janeil and thus was the beginning of this adventure.  When the plea for supplies was put out after the earthquake, the churches and people responded.  They began to pour in and there was no quick way to get them to Haiti.  But God does provide and now we have a shrimp boat converted to haul these supplies.

With the generosity of the people at Port Canaveral a warehouse space was donated to house the tons of supplies pouring in from all over the country.   It is amazing as you watch what people and organizations have donated to help the people of Haiti.  Orlando Drum donated 340 plastic barrels to be used to haul donations and protect them from the weather.  On this shipment alone there is 80,000 pounds of meals in the hull of the boat — this will mean 300,000 meals for the Haitians in the Northwest quadrant, 21 crates full of food and medical supplies on the deck, 475 buckets to be used for water purification, four 500-gallon water cisterns, a boat “The Haiti Redemption” that was constructed by volunteers in North Carolina, 5 generators and over 60 barrels full of supplies.

People have worked tirelessly over the last month trying to make this venture happen.  This endevour has hit very close to my heart strings because it is being done by the friends and family of Mike and I.  This is our hometown stomping grounds.  It has made me proud to be a part of this.  Proud to be a Christian, proud to be a Floridian and proud to be a part of the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission’s team.

So yesterday. after the final clearance from the Port Authority at Cape Canaveral, the boat was finally ready to leave out of the port.  The wind was whipping and the weather was chilly as she finally pulled away heading to Haiti.  There is a crew of 4 on the boat and it will be about a 5-day journey to Port de Paix, Haiti.  They will then offload all of the supplies which will take another 2-3 days and then about 4 days to come back home.  God speed Capt. Scott B!

When disaster strikes – the human spirit responds. It jumps in to high gear to help those who have been affected. People line up to give blood. Millions of dollars are given and relief supplies roll in. Rescue teams go to ground zero and see things that people never want to see. They put in endless hours and for all of theses things we – “Praise the Lord!” — Faith must have works and good intentions must have hands and feet.

But there are another set heroes we never hear about in the news or over the Internet. They are the Unsung Heroes. They are the Key to the whole operation. We may not know all of there names but heaven does. — Who are these unsung heroes? — They are the first responders –they are Fearless Prayer Warriors. These warriors guard and gird up the world with prayer. They come in all shapes and sizes. Some old — some young. They are located all around the world and make no mistake they keep “the watch fires of heaven burning.”

These warriors pray and Jesus and heaven stop to listen. When they ask – Jesus takes note. In John 11 we find the story of Lazarus and when a friend comes to tell Jesus Lazarus is sick — Jesus stops to listen. The request was carried – the plea was heard –and Jesus sets His plan into action.

We may not understand the mystery of prayer. We don’t need to. Most of us certainly don’t grasp its true power or we would each pray more. What we really need to know is —when someone starts to pray on earth — Heaven listens and actions begin when the prayers begin. When you pray — Jesus hears and when Jesus hears the world is changed all because someone prayed. — James 5:16 — “…the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

To all our Prayer Warriors we say thank-you for keeping the watch fires burning. Thank-you for being the first responders and for staying on your knees long after most of us have forgotten. — God bless you.

May we not forget the Haiti earthquake on January 12, 2010 to quickly. — Keep praying.
{Some of these thoughts come from Max Lucado.}

Bethel Church of Christ and Outlook Christian Church

I cannot believe that so much has happened in the 2 weeks since the Bethel Church of Christ and Outlook Christian Church left out campus.  This was supposed to be the first post after they left and then the earthquake hit and everything has been centered around that.

These two groups came to NWHCM and out to Beauchamp to help with the Sewing Room.  We were beginning to wonder if they were going to get to come at all.  January is the rainy season and 2 years ago the rain stopped them from coming then.  We thought that it was going to be a repeat but then the sun came out and the river went down.  It was a long trip to Beauchamp in a very jam-tight Deuce-and-a-half on very muddy roads.  Again, travel is never easy in Haiti.  They arrived with weary bodies but with big smiles on their faces and a desire to get right to work — and work they did.

They were only on our campus for 2-1/2 days but they accomplished so much in that time.  They made shutters for the windows in the sewing room and we now have a cutting table and a storage shelve.  This group also did a VBS, helped with the feeding program, plumbing repair work, and bought goats to give away.

The sewing room will soon be a reality mostly because of these two groups. (We still need some funds to finish the building completely.)  The Bethel church lead the way in donating the first treadle machines to arrive in Beauchamp.  God is really expanding this program.  I cannot wait to see our Haitian ladies sitting at the machines and sewing for their families.  Thank you to Bethel and Outlook.  We hope to see you again!  Take a look below at some of their work!

You know it is hard to imagine that we are only 150 miles from Port au Prince, in a world that is not governed by the TV, mass media, Face Book, and every other technical gizmo that you can imagine.  You would hardly know that your country had changed,  that hundreds of thousands were dying, hurt, homeless or that an economic earthquake was headed your way.  There is the mouth-to-mouth accounts of the events in Port au Prince but it is not in our faces like it is in the states.  But make no mistake we are very aware of the seriousness of this situation and of many difficult days to come.

In the past few days instead of Mike and Vogly going to Port au Prince we have been able to send people from our area who wanted to go and look for lost loved ones and to bring hurting family members back to the Northwest.  Elisnel, one of our church members, was able to get 10 of his family members back to the NW.  His brother had died but his sisters were alive.  Pastor Irenel found his brother and other family members and brought some of them back to the NW while yet others had passed away.  Madam Tipicon brought her daughter to our house today to let us know that she arrived safely.  Ti-Poppa is in PAP right now and just called.  He was able to send his cousin ahead and him and his sister are supposed to come back tomorrow even though he says transportation is hard to find.  Good News – he says the Marines are working and starting to make it a safer city.  We are glad to hear that.  Most families have joy and heartache at the same time.

We went to visit two other missionaries today that live about 4 miles from us — 1 of them is saying the same thing that we have been hearing — that in the weeks ahead the NW is going to be flooded with people and there will be no food because all of the relief efforts have gone to PAP.  So please pray that there will be a way to get food and help to the other areas of this hurting country.

On Sunday Mike’s sermon tried to deal with the crisis we are going through.  He first tried to explain what causes an earthquake, and he is far from being an expert, but our Haitian family has no idea.   He then went on to try to describe some of the things happening in PAP because none of them have been able to see pictures and most have no way to get any news except by word of mouth.  He chose to speak from three passages in Psalms.  He went on to say that although the earth may shake and houses may crumble, heaven does not shake and God’s throne cannot be moved.  He offered words of hope and encouragement from God’s Word, saying at this time we needed to hear God speak. He shared Psalms 46, 42 and 23.  With each of these he added words of encouragement and words of hope from the promises found in God’s Word.  At the end he lead a focused prayer time asking the people to pray specifically for each of these items.  I will not list them all but will condense some of them.  We know you are praying but we also ask that you pray specifically for some of these:

• For those still alive to be found.
• For the relief aide to get to those who need it so badly.
• For all of the broken hearts to be healed.
• For the orphans who have lost their parents and do not understand at all what has happened.
• For order to come to this chaos.
• For a calm to come over the people and for God’s peace to quiet their fears.
• That the world will not quickly turn their hearts and eyes from the country of Haiti.
• That this country will not just be rebuilt but that it will have a rebirth, a new nation will rise from the rubble.
• That people might turn to God and not away from Him.
• For God’s children to be strengthened and to be a shining light in a dark land.
• That the people of Haiti as well as the world will unite to help the homeless and feed the hungry.
• For wisdom to choose the right paths on a long road to recovery.

The rippling effects of the quake are already beginning to be felt.  Today as we sent some of our staff in to Port de Paix to buy supplies to sustain us for a little bit — prices are already escalating.  Odines got the last 100 of 120 bags of concrete at the depot in Port de Paix.  He was told not to buy gas if it was above $60.00 a gallon and it was — it was $80.00 a gallon.  It has doubled in price in two days.  He said that tap-tap after tap-tap was full of people coming to the north from Port au Prince.  We have had several of our staff needing to bring their families that survived the quake in PAP to Beauchamp and the surrounding areas.  They escaped with their lives but everything else is gone.

This is just the beginning of what is to come.  There will be a need for medical attention outside of PAP, for food for the starving who have left with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.  The need is going to be overwhelming.  The toll it takes on you when everyone you see is in need — and their needs are real — but how do you help them all.  I know that you can’t and God will direct our work.  We all need to be aware of the economic earthquake that is heading this way. Please pray that it does not cripple the entire country.  Whatever happens this is just the beginning of a long, long and hard road.

We would like to say that we are proud of our mission staff.  Some have gone to the front lines to help with the  medical needs in PAP.  Jody and other mission staff (Haitian and American alike) have worked tirelessly in getting the groups out of the country.   Janeil, Sam and Pam are trying to run the office as well as set up a major offensive plan for the future.  The phones are ringing off the hooks and the emails are endless.  The good side of that is that people are responding and people are showing their care and concern.

Thank you so much for caring about the people we love and the country we also call home.

Continue to check the main mission website for the best ways that you can help and be involved at the present time.    http://www.nwhcm.org

Here is some information from our main mission website.  They are loading containers in specific area — if you would like to donate supplies here is where you can take them.

NWHCM was spared major disaster from this earthquake, but God has laid it upon our hearts to go help in places that need it and are crying out. We are sending our own people and supplies to help our partners in ministry to the south. This will mean that we need finances and supplies for the task at hand and also for the task of resupplying.

Money is the most flexible resource to use in Haiti. To donate, click here.

Next, we need food, medicines, and medical supplies. Food and medicines need to be at least six months from expiration.

• High-protein foods (peanut butter, protein bars, beans, canned meat, baby formula)
• Medical supplies (bandages, sutures, splinting supplies, IV fluids, antibiotics)

Collection Centers:

• Kentucky:  NWHCM – 150 Laralan Ave. Suite E, Frankfort, KY 40601; Contact 502-695-7870; M – F 9am – 4pm.
• Florida:  Tomoka Christian Church – 1151 West Granada Boulevard, Ormond Beach, FL  32174; Contact Barb Kennedy (386-677-6455) or Leah Putting (386-214-1449); Saturday, Jan. 16 4pm -8pm, Sunday, Jan. 17 8am – 1pm, M – F 10:00am – 6:00pm.
• Central Indiana:  Common Ground – 4550 N Illinois St., Indianapolis, IN 46208; Contact 317-251-1494; M – F 9:00am – 4pm.
• Western Indiana:  Hanging Rock Camp – 6988 S State Rd. 263, West Lebanon, Indiana; click here for detailed contact information and call for hours.
• More to come…

If you are interested in volunteering in the relief and recovery, please consider giving your time to collect supplies and donations. We are not able to coordinate immediate response teams and at this time we do not know of any other organizations accepting volunteer inquiries for coming into Haiti.

Yesterday afternoon found Vogly and Mike trying to get plane tickets to go to Port au Prince to check on Vogly’s family.  It was an afternoon of tap-taps, lots of mud and by the time we got to the airport it was closed.  On the way home from Port de Paix you could see families wailing as they received the news that family members had been killed in Port au Prince.

Thursday morning started with some of the same.  Vogly is rejoicing because his mother and step-father are okay even though she received some injuries from falling blocks.  Many of his friends and his college professor have been killed.  A moment of joy and then heartache the next second over the bad news.  Salla (our Haitian employee) as well as many of the community people have been anxious all day as they have not heard anything about their family members in Port au Prince.  We gave Salla’s daughter money to go to PAP to check on her 4 sisters.  Throughout the day we have stopped to have prayers with those who are hurting.  We have rejoiced with Ti-Poppa as he heard his sister is okay.  All of these say their families houses have been demolished.

All day long we have heard planes overhead that we could not see because they were hidden by clouds or the mountain range but we have praised God knowing that relief and aide are coming to this island.  Tonight we showed Vogly, Ti-Poppa and Odines pics from the internet news — their faces showed total disbelief.  At times we cry, at times it is overwhelming, at times we feel so helpless.

As we have feared prices are starting to skyrocket.  Yesterday a gallon of gas was $37.00 (Haitian) and today we were told that in PAP it was $100.00 (Haitian) which is equivalent to about $12.00 US dollars.  Not only will this apply to gas but other things will be affected too.  We bought several bags of rice and beans yesterday but in reality these will only last a couple of weeks.

Psalms 46 says it best…  God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.  There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.  God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.  Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.  The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth.  He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”   The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

As one of our friends commented on our blog — may God raise up a holy nation out of the rubble.  Please continue to pray because this will be a long ordeal and please know that your prayers and support to us are greatly appreciated.  May we lean on God and not our own strength because it has been drained very quickly.

I am copying a section from Jody’s email to help with questions about how you can help:

It is the recommendation of the mission that if you want to bring in a group of medical people or provide relief efforts – that you contact larger organizations that have the manpower to house, feed, and set up a facility in PAP. We are working at the Mission of Hope. A truck of supplies went down today. We have only raised 7,000.00 – folks – it’s NOT enough. It’s no where near enough.

We are going on the battle-lines and can easily move the small group we have – but we simply don’t have the resources there. Samaritans Purse is a good friend of the mission as is The Red Cross if you are looking to volunteer in PAP.

As some cell phones are beginning to work now – news about personal accounts are filtering their way up here. You will hear someone PRAISE THE LORD – when they hear their family is okay – – while another one collapses to the ground when they realize they lost everyone.

If you would like to donate financially you can donate on the main mission’s website:

http://www.nwhcm.org

As we woke this morning to a helicopter flying overhead this morning I could not wait to run to the computer to see if there was more news about the earthquake.  I went to several online news sources and stopped at FOX news.  They had pictures and a video.  A whole crowd of Haitians were huddled around me to see the report — I only have a small alloted amount of downloading and partway through the video it stopped.  We feel so “in the dark” here.  If it were not for our computer this area would not have any idea of the devestation.  Not only do we feel in the dark but we feel helpless.  We are only 150 miles away but it might as well be 5000.  Our heart is very heavy for our Haitian family — they have mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and children in Port au Prince.  There are tears in their eyes and concern on their faces as they are unable to have any communication with Port au Prince.  They have no idea how their families are doing or if they are even still alive.

We would like to go to Port au Prince to help and are trying to find out if that might be possible.   When this happens in the U.S. it takes several days to get set up but here in Haiti there is no government emergency help to speak of, no facilities to provide assistance — so just setting up basic relief efforts (food, water, medical assistance) will be a major operation.

The rippling effects of the quake will be far-reaching and long-lasting.  With Port au Prince being the main port of entry for all things for Haiti the effect is going to be tremendous if this city is closed down for any length of time which we suspect it will be .  The people here are already suffering and they cannot withstand price hikes or food shortages because of this.  When the hurricanes hit in September of 2008 we in the Northwest felt the effects of being cut off from Port au Prince.  Gas prices sky-rocketed and was not even available after a short while.  Food prices went way up and soon ran out and many people were starving.  Supplies could not get through and this crippled the country.

It is Mike and I’s prayer that the world’s eyes may truly be opened to the devastation and need of this country.  Many times the world has turned a blind eye to Haiti.  Pray that this catastrophe will reveal just how desperate everyday life in Haiti really is.

We continue to ask for prayer for Vogly — he is beside himself with not knowing if his mother is okay or not.  He may be headed to Port au Prince tomorrow, and Mike may go with him, to see if he can find his mother.

Thank you so much for your prayers and continue to be on your knees.  Pray that God will be glorified through such a tragedy as this.

Teresa and I were both working when I started to hear a low rumble.  I thought – what is that that is shaking the ground.  Pretty soon the whole house began to shake, things began to fall off of the shelves.  I stepped outside and water barrels that were full from the rain were shaking and the ripples were about 4 or 5 inches high and splashing out of the barrels.  Swoosh (one of our donkeys) was braying and high-stepping with this.  I looked at Teresa and said – “we just had an earthquake”.  Growing up in Florida we were quite used to hurricanes but had never experienced an earthquake.  It is obvious that we had not had earthquake training because we did not look for cover or run outside — we just stood there in amazement.

Pretty soon Vogly and Odines came running back to the campus and they both realized what had happened also.  Then a few minutes later we got hit with a short aftershock.  Teresa was in the room trying to immediately put a post on FB when she could feel the foundation of the house begin to tremble again.  Wow!  We immediately were asking for information to confirm it was an earthquake and thanks to all of our family and friends who immediately responded with prayers and information.

We still have very little information about Port au Prince — you will receive more information in the U.S. than we will here.  Please keep us up to date.  But most of all, please be praying for Vogly’s family (his mother and step-father live in Port au Prince) and most of our Haitian family has family and friends that live in Port au Prince and there is no cell phone signals so we cannot reach anyone by phone.

Our prayer is this — that the world’s eyes may be turned to Haiti and hearts of compassion will burst open and flood this country with aide which is so desperately needed.  We are hoping and praying that the modern world will realize that no country in the western hemisphere or world for that matter should have to live in these conditions.  May God be glorified and have the last word.

p.s.  The original earthquake hit shortly after 5:00 p.m. and at about 8:10 p.m. we felt another little shake!