Special Update on Haiti Recovery
Dear Reader,
This week I'm going to interrupt the series of blogs on CPM principles to give you an update from one of WME's partners in the Haiti Relief and Recovery project. I want to thank you all very much for helping WME channel relief funds to Haiti during this time. Through your help, WME has been able to work with several relief projects. In this blog I want to share a letter I just received from missionary Don Jones of Lifelines ministry. We have been partners with Lifelines and their ministries in Haiti and Mexico for over 20 years. In February, Brother Jones and others reentered Haiti and have begun work on recovery. In his letter, that follows, he describes his reaction to the devastation and the specific needs with which they are working. Let me allow Bro. Jones to give this report in his own words:
“My Precious friend of Haiti:
Words simply cannot tell you the damage that the earthquake has caused in Haiti, it is totally unbelievable, but it is FACT.
I was right on schedule, I was on the first AA flight into Haiti after the quake, and within hours I was on the job, helping the people, our pastor at Leagone was the first one for me to go to, we had seven buildings and all of the buildings were a pile of rubble.
Let me use you as a sounding board---while in the states, I felt that when I got to Haiti, I would just offer arms for the Haitians to cry on and of course, I would cry with them. As I got near our complex the first day, I did stop the car and simply let all my feelings hang out, I cried and cried-and cried, so when I got to the property, I could be the strong leader---HOWEVER, when I walked on the totally destroyed property, Pastor Badio and about 20 orphans, workers and family came running, Badio grabbed me, hugged me tight, I put my head on his shoulder and cried my heart out, one thing wrong, Pastor was praising the Lord, AND LAUGHING very hard. Was I right to act like that?
I got to where I could ask a question, my first question was-WHAT IS SO FUNNY-his answer was---PRAISE GOD I AM ALIVE-Not one person was hurt, now in all that rubble, you would agree, that was a miracle.
That very day we started cleaning out the rubble, and when Shanda and her group was down, we were ready to start digging the foundation, however in all that mess, they were having church on the former floor of the church, it is o.k.
We have totally lost three complexes, and about 12 churches damaged, but they can be repaired, however almost every house is in need of repairs before we can use them, including our Bible college, and our Fireplace Seminary, it will be a LONG, HARD, EXPENSIVE trip back to being able to use our buildings, thousands of our students are sleeping on the ground or in tents, our street and the area is filled with make-shift sleeping places, the problem is that if another quake hits, they do NOT want to be inside, hey that thousand are not just students but EVERYBODY.
We had church on the street in front of Victory Chapel Church, we gave bags of food to over 1,150 people, took about three hours just to get the food out to the people, Pastor Kent Christmas was the speaker, what a great service.
In just a few weeks, we hope to bring work teams down, WE NEED people who can get down in the mud and filth and show these people how to “JUST DO IT”, watch my mail for the times and dates, most of all the people need MONEY, that we SPEND on them, generally speaking, I am buying the materials and food for them, that have NO IDEA how to “cut a deal” on large amounts of things, I DO.”
I think Bro. Don Jones’ letter illustrates the situation in Haiti better than any explanation I could give. WME is going to continue to partner with Lifelines during the recovery period. If you would like to give financially toward this effort, you may send funds to:
World Missions and Evangelism
PO Box 790
Benton, KY 42025
Memo: Attention Haiti Recovery Fund
If you are interested in being a part of an intensive work team with Lifelines Ministries, please send me an e-mail at dparish9@cs.com and I will be glad to give you information on how to connect with Lifelines. Thanks again for all your prayers and support.
This week I'm going to interrupt the series of blogs on CPM principles to give you an update from one of WME's partners in the Haiti Relief and Recovery project. I want to thank you all very much for helping WME channel relief funds to Haiti during this time. Through your help, WME has been able to work with several relief projects. In this blog I want to share a letter I just received from missionary Don Jones of Lifelines ministry. We have been partners with Lifelines and their ministries in Haiti and Mexico for over 20 years. In February, Brother Jones and others reentered Haiti and have begun work on recovery. In his letter, that follows, he describes his reaction to the devastation and the specific needs with which they are working. Let me allow Bro. Jones to give this report in his own words:
“My Precious friend of Haiti:
Words simply cannot tell you the damage that the earthquake has caused in Haiti, it is totally unbelievable, but it is FACT.
I was right on schedule, I was on the first AA flight into Haiti after the quake, and within hours I was on the job, helping the people, our pastor at Leagone was the first one for me to go to, we had seven buildings and all of the buildings were a pile of rubble.
Let me use you as a sounding board---while in the states, I felt that when I got to Haiti, I would just offer arms for the Haitians to cry on and of course, I would cry with them. As I got near our complex the first day, I did stop the car and simply let all my feelings hang out, I cried and cried-and cried, so when I got to the property, I could be the strong leader---HOWEVER, when I walked on the totally destroyed property, Pastor Badio and about 20 orphans, workers and family came running, Badio grabbed me, hugged me tight, I put my head on his shoulder and cried my heart out, one thing wrong, Pastor was praising the Lord, AND LAUGHING very hard. Was I right to act like that?
I got to where I could ask a question, my first question was-WHAT IS SO FUNNY-his answer was---PRAISE GOD I AM ALIVE-Not one person was hurt, now in all that rubble, you would agree, that was a miracle.
That very day we started cleaning out the rubble, and when Shanda and her group was down, we were ready to start digging the foundation, however in all that mess, they were having church on the former floor of the church, it is o.k.
We have totally lost three complexes, and about 12 churches damaged, but they can be repaired, however almost every house is in need of repairs before we can use them, including our Bible college, and our Fireplace Seminary, it will be a LONG, HARD, EXPENSIVE trip back to being able to use our buildings, thousands of our students are sleeping on the ground or in tents, our street and the area is filled with make-shift sleeping places, the problem is that if another quake hits, they do NOT want to be inside, hey that thousand are not just students but EVERYBODY.
We had church on the street in front of Victory Chapel Church, we gave bags of food to over 1,150 people, took about three hours just to get the food out to the people, Pastor Kent Christmas was the speaker, what a great service.
In just a few weeks, we hope to bring work teams down, WE NEED people who can get down in the mud and filth and show these people how to “JUST DO IT”, watch my mail for the times and dates, most of all the people need MONEY, that we SPEND on them, generally speaking, I am buying the materials and food for them, that have NO IDEA how to “cut a deal” on large amounts of things, I DO.”
I think Bro. Don Jones’ letter illustrates the situation in Haiti better than any explanation I could give. WME is going to continue to partner with Lifelines during the recovery period. If you would like to give financially toward this effort, you may send funds to:
World Missions and Evangelism
PO Box 790
Benton, KY 42025
Memo: Attention Haiti Recovery Fund
If you are interested in being a part of an intensive work team with Lifelines Ministries, please send me an e-mail at dparish9@cs.com and I will be glad to give you information on how to connect with Lifelines. Thanks again for all your prayers and support.
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