Hello from Haiti,
Today was a great last day here for us in Haiti. We spent the day registering people into a ID card system so that they can be registered as refugees from Port Au Prince. We registered at least 150 people today. Not quite the mass numbers that we had heard yesterday but it was definitely a great day meeting people. The sad part was seeing all these people coming through that have lost everything. We got a few times today where we had some lulls in between people coming through, so I would go over to the area next to the YWAM base where we have all the people that are sick. It was so good to just sit there and play with the kids, laugh with them and attempt to speak french with them.
At the end of the day we took a walk through the local neighborhood and took some pictures of the kids and and some of the adults here. We had a parade of children behind us as we were taking pictures. Haiti is a beautiful country full of just beautiful people. Please keep praying for all of the people here in Haiti and all the teams that will be coming through.
Tomorrow we will be heading back to the Dominican Republic to catch our flight on Saturday. The time has gone by so fast here and I wish we could stay even longer, but I'm really excited to see my wife and boys.
We will be praying about ways that we can come back down to Haiti and bring more care, support and love for the people of Haiti.
Thanks for all your prayers!
See all you Central Coast people this weekend and don't forget about the Missions Evening at Fathers House, 2100 Ramona Rd in Atascadero, California on Sunday, January 24th. Please come and Join Us!
God Bless!
Will
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Haiti Update #2
Hello from Haiti,
Today was definitely a crazy day. As most of you have probably heard we started the day with a 6.1 earthquake that was later downgraded to a 5.9. Where we are here in St. Marc it only lasted for about 3 seconds and definitely didn't feel like a 5.9. However waking up to a earthquake is quite an experience when your in a room with about 30 guys on the second floor. We all jumped out of of beds and ran downstairs in our boxers. I'm pretty sure it was done by the time we got out of bed, but it was a crazy way to wake up.
The hard part is that right next to where we are staying in the sports field is the temporary refugee camp with people that they can not fit at the hospital. I believe there are 56 people here that are injured. Most of these people should still be in the hospital. I'm pretty sure there are people with broken bones and cuts that are very infected. All of these people are laying on mats underneath a steel structure. So when the aftershock that was very similar in sound to the massive earthquake they went through, got up and tried running out from under the building, most of which should not even be walking. So when we got down stairs it was a mass of wailing and crying as people were hurt again from trying to get out from under the building. These people are living in so much fear of the earthquake as they have gone through so much pain and loss.
To catch you up on Tuesday we spent the morning helping clean and gut out an abondoned school house/clinic building. A team from Lancaster County, PA (in my opinion the missions sending capitol of the world, every person I meet in missions from PA is from Lancaster County) fixed up half of the building today so that YWAM can start using it as a clinic.
Yesterday, we spent the afternoon with the refugees next to where we are staying helping nurses clean peoples wounds...while wearing gloves :) It was a full afternoon of caring for people.
Please be praying for us tomorrow and everything that will come our way! Please also be praying for my amazing wife that is at home with my two adorable boys. Lori has been such a blessing to me as we prayed together and felt like I was to come down here this week. Pray for peace, rest, strength and patience for her as she is home with the boys. I miss them like crazy!
God Bless!
Will
Today was definitely a crazy day. As most of you have probably heard we started the day with a 6.1 earthquake that was later downgraded to a 5.9. Where we are here in St. Marc it only lasted for about 3 seconds and definitely didn't feel like a 5.9. However waking up to a earthquake is quite an experience when your in a room with about 30 guys on the second floor. We all jumped out of of beds and ran downstairs in our boxers. I'm pretty sure it was done by the time we got out of bed, but it was a crazy way to wake up.
The hard part is that right next to where we are staying in the sports field is the temporary refugee camp with people that they can not fit at the hospital. I believe there are 56 people here that are injured. Most of these people should still be in the hospital. I'm pretty sure there are people with broken bones and cuts that are very infected. All of these people are laying on mats underneath a steel structure. So when the aftershock that was very similar in sound to the massive earthquake they went through, got up and tried running out from under the building, most of which should not even be walking. So when we got down stairs it was a mass of wailing and crying as people were hurt again from trying to get out from under the building. These people are living in so much fear of the earthquake as they have gone through so much pain and loss.
We started the day out praying for Haiti, YWAM's Rescue Net team in Port Au Prince and that God would continue to guide them to rescuing people from the rubble and give them wisdom when they come to something beyond them. We also prayed that God would miraculously heal people. We also prayed that God would give YWAM a strategy for reaching out to the country of Haiti. After our epic prayer time, we had breakfast. Then we got to enter all the peoples info next to us into computers and create ID badges for them.
***When I dropped French in ninth grade, I told myself I will never need this again. Little did I know then that I would be coming to Haiti. My French has been coming back slowly and has been a help when trying to communicate with the people here in Haiti. Most people here speak Creole, which is a mix of French and Tribal stuff, or they speak French.
This afternoon, we attempted to move about 40 of the injured people to another facility to free up room here at the YWAM base to host teams. We were told that the location was only a couple minutes away. I guess that's Haitian time because we drove for about 40 minutes through the jungle out of the city, across rivers, through very uneven road, and massive puddles, all with very injured people. When we got to the location we found out that the rooms were up about 100 yards from the road and we had to climb about a 45 degree hill to get there. So to make a long story shorter, we ended up turning the trucks around and bringing the people back here to the YWAM base to stay here again.
Tomorrow begins the massive project that some of the staff have been trying to co-ordinate, in bringing 3000 people up to St. Marc from Port Au Prince. Now that was an early number from yesterday, today that number is up to possibly 8000 refugees that will be coming to St. Marc from Port Au Prince. Please be praying that as this massive operation takes place that God's safety, patience, peace and grace would be on all involved.To catch you up on Tuesday we spent the morning helping clean and gut out an abondoned school house/clinic building. A team from Lancaster County, PA (in my opinion the missions sending capitol of the world, every person I meet in missions from PA is from Lancaster County) fixed up half of the building today so that YWAM can start using it as a clinic.
Yesterday, we spent the afternoon with the refugees next to where we are staying helping nurses clean peoples wounds...while wearing gloves :) It was a full afternoon of caring for people.
Please be praying for us tomorrow and everything that will come our way! Please also be praying for my amazing wife that is at home with my two adorable boys. Lori has been such a blessing to me as we prayed together and felt like I was to come down here this week. Pray for peace, rest, strength and patience for her as she is home with the boys. I miss them like crazy!
God Bless!
Will
Monday, January 18, 2010
HAITI UPDATE
Hello Family and Friends,
Here is a update of our last couple days of travel which I will try to write as best I can, I don't have Lori here to edit for me ;).
Friday we ran around like crazy getting the final things before we left for the Dominican Republic and Haiti. We left Pismo around 9:00 pm. We had to stop in Santa Barbara and pick up some supplies for Rescue Net a medical first responder team from YWAM. We made it to YWAM LA somewhere around 12 or 12:30 at night.
We woke up after 2 or 3 hours of sleep to leave Saturday at 4am for the airport. After a long day of traveling from LAX to Chicago, to Miami, to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic (D.R) we arrived at the YWAM base at 2 in the morning Sunday. We were planning to leave first thing on Sunday for the border on a taxi and then were going to have to figure it out from there. It turned out we ended up spending Sunday in the D.R, which was a good thing.
A team from Pennsylvania showed up with 16 people, and we were able to ride on a 50 passenger bus with them to the border on Monday. We then get on another mini bus from there to St. Marc, Haiti. ***i got a free tetnus shot at the border as well, because I couldn't remember the last time I had one. Don't worry it was all clean :)***
So crossing the border actually ended up being very easy. We were also part of a World Vision caravan that when we got to the border they just opened the gates and let us into the country. So I guess because I have no stamp in my passport I haven't officially been here. The plan was for the group that was coming here to St. Marc to go part of the way to Port Au Prince (PAP) and then take a north route to avoid the craziness of PAP. The World Vision group would continue on with our SWAT style Police escort that all teams must take from the border due to safety issues :) Somehow our van ended up driving all the way into the craziness of PAP. It was heartbreaking. There were so many buildings that had fallen and apparently we didn't even see the worst of it. We saw many refugee camps set up in parks and empty lots around town. We drove right past the Presidential Palace. It was completely destroyed. We drove by one gas station that had atleast 15 people standing around the pumps with cars lined out the driveway and down the street. It was hard to drive past all the people and see the hurt on their faces. Many of these people have lost loved ones. We pulled in to the main police headquarters and then realized we had not taken the right road. Our driver then drove very fast through the streets of PAP to get us North towards St. Marc.
Our original plan was to stay with a DTS student from last year whose family had moved just north of PAP. It now turns out our past student Philip will be staying the week with us here in St. Marc. There are many people that are fleeing from PAP and coming to the surrounding cities. Just today the local hospital who should only have 120 people but currently has 410, brought 50 people to the YWAM base to lay in their soccer field under shelter. Tomorrow it sounds like we are going to be gutting an old school and turning it into a temporary clinic.
There is so much that needs to be done here. Just today this temporary clinic here at the YWAM base gave a boy 5 stitches that he has needed since last wednesday. The hospitals and clinics have been giving people amputations if they have a compound fracture. This is just crazy that someone will not have one or more of their limbs for the rest of their life because of a compound fracture.
I will try and write more tomorrow. After we have spent the day out in the city.
Godbless and THANKS for all your prayers and support!
Will
Here is a update of our last couple days of travel which I will try to write as best I can, I don't have Lori here to edit for me ;).
Friday we ran around like crazy getting the final things before we left for the Dominican Republic and Haiti. We left Pismo around 9:00 pm. We had to stop in Santa Barbara and pick up some supplies for Rescue Net a medical first responder team from YWAM. We made it to YWAM LA somewhere around 12 or 12:30 at night.
We woke up after 2 or 3 hours of sleep to leave Saturday at 4am for the airport. After a long day of traveling from LAX to Chicago, to Miami, to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic (D.R) we arrived at the YWAM base at 2 in the morning Sunday. We were planning to leave first thing on Sunday for the border on a taxi and then were going to have to figure it out from there. It turned out we ended up spending Sunday in the D.R, which was a good thing.
A team from Pennsylvania showed up with 16 people, and we were able to ride on a 50 passenger bus with them to the border on Monday. We then get on another mini bus from there to St. Marc, Haiti. ***i got a free tetnus shot at the border as well, because I couldn't remember the last time I had one. Don't worry it was all clean :)***
So crossing the border actually ended up being very easy. We were also part of a World Vision caravan that when we got to the border they just opened the gates and let us into the country. So I guess because I have no stamp in my passport I haven't officially been here. The plan was for the group that was coming here to St. Marc to go part of the way to Port Au Prince (PAP) and then take a north route to avoid the craziness of PAP. The World Vision group would continue on with our SWAT style Police escort that all teams must take from the border due to safety issues :) Somehow our van ended up driving all the way into the craziness of PAP. It was heartbreaking. There were so many buildings that had fallen and apparently we didn't even see the worst of it. We saw many refugee camps set up in parks and empty lots around town. We drove right past the Presidential Palace. It was completely destroyed. We drove by one gas station that had atleast 15 people standing around the pumps with cars lined out the driveway and down the street. It was hard to drive past all the people and see the hurt on their faces. Many of these people have lost loved ones. We pulled in to the main police headquarters and then realized we had not taken the right road. Our driver then drove very fast through the streets of PAP to get us North towards St. Marc.
Our original plan was to stay with a DTS student from last year whose family had moved just north of PAP. It now turns out our past student Philip will be staying the week with us here in St. Marc. There are many people that are fleeing from PAP and coming to the surrounding cities. Just today the local hospital who should only have 120 people but currently has 410, brought 50 people to the YWAM base to lay in their soccer field under shelter. Tomorrow it sounds like we are going to be gutting an old school and turning it into a temporary clinic.
There is so much that needs to be done here. Just today this temporary clinic here at the YWAM base gave a boy 5 stitches that he has needed since last wednesday. The hospitals and clinics have been giving people amputations if they have a compound fracture. This is just crazy that someone will not have one or more of their limbs for the rest of their life because of a compound fracture.
I will try and write more tomorrow. After we have spent the day out in the city.
Godbless and THANKS for all your prayers and support!
Will
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