Feeding the thousands

Luke just called me to tell me that they were having a food distribution. Yesterday there was enough food for about 60 people, and the workers told Luke he needed to pray over the food before they open the containers tomorrow morning. This morning they gathered around the container and prayed, opened the container and began to distribute the food. When Luke called me they had already fed about 160 people......remember yesterday there was only enough food for about 60 people?!?!?! PRAISE THE LORD!!!!! This cannot be explained in any other way, but God....He is providing!

aftershock again, and again

We just had two aftershocks. One at 1:30am and one about 20 minutes later. Both at 4.7. Weird that I happened to be awake anyway. I woke up about 5 minutes before the first one, went downstairs to get some water and then it hit as I was going back up so I ran down and out as the dog ran in with his tail between his legs. So I decided to sit here and process for a minute and then my chair started shaking.

I went across the street to the church since everyone was now awake and talking and I hung out for awhile. I could hear people calling to Jesus in the distance. People's nerves are rattled. I'm understanding this a little now. Now I'm back here and going to try to sleep some more. I don't think sleeping on the second floor is happening tonight so I'm crashing on the first floor now.

It is pretty unnerving to feel the earth move like this - especially when all day long I see what happened when the earth really moved.

Ps 46

today

I'm glad Becca is keeping this up for me. I thought I would have had more time for this but between work and bad internet connections it hasn't been easy.

Here's a quick run through of my day today:

4:30am I was woken by vibrations and a rumbling noise so I shot out of bed and got ready to run out. By the time I was upright it was over. At first I thought it was a dream or maybe a truck coming by, but then I realized the neighbors were upset and had come out into the street, so I figured it was real. Once I realized everything was ok I went back to sleep since I had been up late the night before.

Slept through my alarm and woke up at 7:30, leaving me only time for one psalm and half a cup of coffee.

I got ready and went across the street to the church to make a couple of calls and make sure the secretary had what she needs for the day.

On my way I noticed a crowd gathering outside our lower gate thinking we were doing a distribution today. So I sent someone to tell them we hadn't received any and they would have to come tomorrow. I also touched base with the guys who are helping us with the distribution to make sure they hung around because we were hoping for a shipment at some point during the day so we can do a distribution tomorrow.

My goal was to leave the church at about 5 till 9am so I could pick up the seismic (earthquake) engineer and take him to a few places to inspect. Finally left at about 9:05. With so much going on at the church campus there are always questions to answer. Several times a week I'll get in the car, start towards the gate and stop for another question, maybe have to leave the car again to take care of something, get back in the car, get a little closer and stop again.

Picked up the engineer at 9:10. First stop was Joseph's house. As is the case with each house we visit - Joseph's family had been sleeping outside since the quake because they were afraid to enter their house. His house passed. This made him very happy because he had built it with his own hands many years ago. Craig's (the engineer) expertise allow him to say with a high degree of certainty what will happen to a structure in another quake. For many it gives them great relief to hear the words "in another quake of the same magnitude - this house will not fall".

Next stop the CRWRC office - passed. Then Kelo's house - passed. One the way to Kelo's house I called a crisis counselor in Dallas who is coordinating a team of counselors who will come and work with the people at our church during the second week in March. I was able to give her the green light to buy tickets. Then Alexandre's house - passed. Then Jean's house - passed. Then Jasmine's house - passed. No failed houses today, some need work but all can be reoccupied. This gets people out of tents and also frees up tents for people who have none. Time well spent. Some times part of our visit includes us sitting the family down and explaining what Craig does (professional quake engineer that evaluates structures for vulnerability to quakes) and how long he's done it (35 years). After one visit today the mom of the family told me that her kids would still be very afraid so I crouched to their level and explained to them what we were doing. Then the girl told me she was sad because she couldn't see her friend at school anymore (her school fell). Sure would have been nice to have Becca on that one.

After all our inspecting I brought Craig to a UN office where he would work with them for the afternoon. On my way down I got a call from Kelo saying that the truck load of food was there. When I got there they were still delivering it so I jumped in and helped with that until we were done. We received a bunch of the fortified rice stuff, macaroni, little debbie oatmeal thingies, those austin cracker packs, a pile and a half of cans of vienna sausage and something else too that I can't remember. So, we're set for the distribution tomorrow.

Once the truck was unloaded we organized it all into the container and the nursery. Somewhere around 3:00 we finished and I began to prepare for a 4:0o meeting. At 4:00 Corrigan Clay, his friend and I met with about 15 guys who we're sending out into the neighborhood to go house to house to see how people really are. We're wanting to know several things: are they able to get food and water, do they have unmet medical needs, does their house need to be evaluated by an engineer or did it fall, do they have access to shelter, are they traumatized to the point that they need some professional assistance. We're distributing food for about 3,000 people roughly three times a week at the church, but we know there are some who physically can't come - are they getting food? We also know there are some double dippers, we need to know who they are so we can get the food to who really needs it.

The meeting ended roughly at 6 and somewhere around 7 I headed back across the street. For dinner I had some leftover mac and cheese, a couple of hot dogs and some pea salad. Yeah - I miss my wife. Lunch didn't happen today and breakfast was a chicken pate from a street vendor in between inspections.

Apparently there was another aftershock at 10am but I didn't feel it. Hopefully no more tonight because I need some good sleep. I've heard a rumor being passed around that another big one is coming. Unfortunately that only feeds the fear that is here. Both Craig and the articles I read say there really is no way to tell and that it is statistically unlikely.

These sure are busy days here. It is such a blessing to be able to work with the people we have here. God has brought some really good people here to help with the relief effort. People who have good hearts and who know what their doing. There are a lot of "well meaning" people here (like the 10 who've been on the news) and then there are those who really know what their doing. It's a honor to be able to work with them.

Monday

This morning at 4:30am (3:30 TX time) there was another aftershock in Haiti. It was calculated to be 4.7, which hasn't caused damage as far as Luke knows. He was woken up by the shaking and could hear the neighbors talking about it. He called some people and people called him, so far everyone is ok.

Luke has been extremely busy and continues to be! The Lord is providing him with strength to get through all the things he is working on, and pray that He continues to. Please also pray for rest! Luke has been sleeping, but being on the go all day, going to bed late, and getting up early is going to catch up to him.

The food distributions are going well and calm. There are still many people in tents and tents are still needed. Luke went to the Palace the other day and took this picture....

Sorry it is so small, but I think you can see it. Please continue to pray for Haiti and the people there. Luke went around with the earthquake engineer from California to different houses to inspect them. There were some that could go back to their houses, and other could not until work is done on their house. Luke is going to be looking into getting things fixed so we can get these Haitians out of tents and into their home. Thank you for your prayers!

3 stories

Looks like I have a decent connection tonight. Rather than trying to recap the past several days I want to just tell three stories from the quake - probably more so for me as a way to process it.

Today I took an earthquake engineer to the office for World Vision in Haiti so he could inspect it to determine if it was safe to begin using again. While there we spent some time with Frank Williams, the director for Haiti, and he told us his story. I believe he was at his office during the quake and his wife and one of his kids were home at their apartment. As soon as he could get out after the quake he headed to the apartment to see if they were ok. When he arrived he found it completely collapsed. Knowing they would have been inside he instantly knew that "His life had just drastically changed". He tried looking for a while to see if he could find them in the rubble but he realized as he was losing light that it was hopeless. So, he had no choice but to go to the house of a friend that first night, knowing that his wife and child were dead.

The next morning he, his son and some others decided to go to the World Vision office to get some tools and then head to the apartment to see what they could find as they dug. They knew it was hopeless but they had to try. When they turned the corner into the parking lot - there was his wife and child! They were badly scraped up but they were alive! It turns out that they were able to get out of the house and had taken refuge at a neighbors house for the night. With the phones down there was no way to call so they had to wait until the morning. Can you imagine?

Last night I was passing by the Nazon church and decided to call my friend Emmanuel who lives nearby to see if he was ok. Within a minute or so I was able to give him a big hug in the middle of the street. Then he started to tell me his story. Him and his fiance had been driving in their car just before the quake hit. They soon became stuck in a traffic jam and they were waiting for the car in front of them to move when it hit. The car started moving back and forth and unsure what to do he decided they needed to get out of the car. The very moment they cleared the car they turned and watched a house collapse on top of it, crushing it. He says "Luke - God saved me". Indeed he did.

One more. In January 12 at 4:45 Becca and I were driving a rental car down the highway in North Carolina headed to Becca's mom's house. My phone rang. It was my best friend in Haiti, Maxime. We chatted for a couple of minutes, all was well and Maxime and I joked around a bit. We hung up at 4:50. Three minutes later the quake hit. Maxime was in his store when he made the call and not really knowing what to do he ran out of the store and headed for the street. As the quake shook the ground he tripped and flung into the street, landing on and scrapping his arm. Then he looked to where he had just been and saw the next door house collapse into the front yard of his store. Had he been there, he would have been dead. As soon as it was over he started running, pye a terre (barefoot), to his house. His house is several miles away from his store. He knew no cars were moving on the street so the quickest way to get to his family was to run. As he ran he says he called out to Jesus and asked Him to help him. He ran and ran, from Delmas 30 to the bottom of Delmas 33. Finally he saw one of his nephew's so he yelled to him "Eske m'gen fanmi?!" (Do I have a family?!) His nephew shouted "Yes!" and told him to rest for a minute. He did this and then ran the rest of the way home. His wife and kids had not been able to get out of the house during the quake, and luckily it stayed up. They later learned that if they did get out and tried to run they would have been crushed by a house that fell into the path leading to the road.

There are so many stories here. Some dramatic, some not, all miraculous. Many ask the question: "Where was God in the earthquake?" The answer: Everywhere.

The picture below is Maxime's store and what is left of the house that was next to it.

The next few days:

Tomorrow Luke will be totally alone to cover the chapel. The food distribution is giving food to about 3,000 Haitians now, and there are lots of other things going on to the chapel. There is an earthquake engineer from California that has asked Luke if he needed help. Luke will be going around with him for the next three days checking out houses and letting people know if they can or cannot move back in. This is great! There are so many "tent city's" around that this can open up more tents for those who are sleeping under sheets. It has been raining at nights, so you can imagine the night sleep these Haitians are getting sleeping in mud! Tents are in high demand right now, so if is a blessing for Luke to be able to get help from this guy.

Please pray for strength and wisdom for Luke. There are so many things to do, and he cannot do them all! Thank you so much for your support in prayer!

a nice cold glass of culligan

Looks like the internet is working well enough tonight so that I can get a blog up. Busy days here, busy days. We distributed food this morning to feed almost 3,000 of our neighbors and the distribution continues to go well. A few days ago we received a bunch of chicken soup in those microwave bowls and we gave that with the normal rice and vegetables today. One woman asked what it was and Pastor Karl said with a smile "Well you put it on your microwave." Yeah - it's safe to say that out of the three thousand that are getting food, zero have a microwave and most don't know what one is. So we told them to open it and heat it with their rice.

A couple of days ago we received a water filtration unit donated by Culligan to Convoy of Hope. It weighs 3,500 lbs and cost Culligan $20,000. What a huge blessing to have this donated! We tried hooking it up to the well so we could make that water drinkable and pass it out during the distribution, but the well is too dry. So we're in the process of getting a bladder that we can fill with the water from a water truck, then we can begin to use the machine. Hopefully when the rains come we'll be able to use the well too.

One of the fun parts about being here is getting the chance to work with this guy. Joseph has been through alot in his life, but he's always happy. Here he's messing around trying to pray the machine into working.

Tomorrow will be a difficult day as it is the one month mark from the quake. As Becca mentioned we'll have a memorial service tomorrow afternoon/evening. It will almost certainly be a very emotional thing as so many have not even had a chance to grieve yet. I think the death toll is something like 230,000 now - yet very few funerals because people are on survival mode here. We're hoping this service provides a way for people to process what has happened and that God will minister to broken hearts.

Death is all around us here. There is a mass grave just up the street from where I'm sitting. Many of the collapsed buildings all around the city are still full of bodies because people can't get them out safely. Some have called this city a cemetery right now and in many ways it feels like it.

But in the midst of the sadness good thing are happening. We're able to laugh with guys like Joseph. People are being spiritually awakened in a way I've not seen here before. God is at work here and it is so cool to see what He's doing first hand.