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.

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