On the way

Dear Family and Friends,

Almost a week ago I wrote you to tell you of our plans to go to Haiti and I asked for your help. I am humbled and amazed and so thankful for your response in this past week. Thank you!

This past week has been incredibly busy. Since I last wrote I've been busy arranging travel, renewing my passport, gathering needed supplies for missionaries in Haiti, meeting with various professors at the seminary (Old Testament, Counseling, Pastoral Ministries) to get advise on how I can be most useful there, keeping up with emails, keeping track of donations and soaking up as much time with Becca as possible. Does this mean I'm ready - not a chance. The communication I've heard from missionaries this past week ranges from: "It's pretty rough, make sure you're prayed up", to "the chaos is fine - come on down", to "PAP looks like it was bombed, it's a war zone...I can't even bring myself to take pictures". I don't know how to prepare for what I'm going to see except to pray and trust God.

A couple of Sunday's ago Becca and I traveled to a church in Garland, TX to speak about Haiti and present some of the needs there. As I began my talk, I held up something that looks like a clay disc and I asked them if they had ever played in the mud as children and made "mud pies". Of course they had, and so have I. I then explained to them that in Haiti people make mud pies as well. They take mud and filter it through a sheet or a piece of cloth to get the sticks and rocks out, sometimes they add butter and then they form this mud into small discs the almost resemble pita bread. Once the discs are formed they lay them out on a sheet in the street and let them bake in the sun for awhile so they become hard. Once they are baked and hardened they gather them together and bring them to a market area to sell. If a person is poor enough and desperate enough they will come to the market area, purchase a few of these mud pies and eat them.

You read that right. They literally eat dirt.

Of course this is horrible for them as the mud is sometimes mixed with sewage and is full of parasites and other harmful things, but when you can't get food for your family - what else are you going to do?

After telling this story to the church I want through the rest of my presentation, I talked about Haiti's history, about its culture, about some of the ministries we've been involved with and then I showed some before and after pictures relating to the quake. Then I held up that mud pie and as I pointed to it I said "this was the situation in Haiti before the earthquake".

Haiti was in desperate need before January 12th, and it's worse now. I am so thankful for the way so many of you have responded and I feel privileged to represent you as I travel there tomorrow to begin helping with the relief effort. Although we've been able to raise a good amount of money this past week, once that money is spent, there will still be needs that will have to go un-met. So, my plea for help continues. If you have thought about giving to help Haiti but haven't yet, I would encourage you to pray and ask God if He'd like you to help as well. Anything you give to any of the reputable charities out there is great. If you'd like to partner with us as we're there over these next few months you can send a check made out to: Danville Baptist Church with a separate note indicating it is for "Luke Perkins - Haiti fund" and mail it to: Danville Baptist Church, PO Box 2, Danville, NH 03819. You can also go to our blog at: theperkinsblog.blogspot.com and click on the "donate" button to give a non tax deductible donation.

Here is a quick update concerning my plans for the next few days. As I write this I'm on a flight to Ft. Lauderdale where I'll meet up with another missionary that I've known for a few years now. She happened to be out of Haiti during the quake at a conference and has been trying to get back since. We'll then fly to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic where we'll meet up with another missionary (the son of an MAF pilot), who basically grew up in Haiti and was evacuated with his mother and sister shortly after the quake.

At the airport we'll be picked up by someone from the Christian Reformed Church's mission in the DR and taken to their guest house where we'll stay for the night and figure out a way to get into Haiti the next day. We're hoping to be able to get a ride to the border in a private car, but if we have to we'll take a bus. If all goes well we'll cross into Haiti sometime tomorrow and make our way to Port-au-Prince.

Here are a couple ways you can pray:

For safety as we travel across the border and into PAP. I'm carrying a decent amount of cash on my person because the banks are not accessible in Haiti. Pray that the Lord gives us safe passage.

For wisdom and strength. I'll be working in an environment that is comfortable to me, but also uncomfortable because so much has changed in the past few weeks. Pray I'll know what to do, where to go and not go, and what to say.

Strength for Becca and I as we endure having to be apart.

Thank you so much for your love, your words of encouragement and your support. It is an honor to serve.

In Christ,

Luke Perkins


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