22. January 2010 by admin.

Friday, 1/22/10 (2:20 PM)

“Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see.  All I have needed Thy Hand has provided.  Great is Thy Faithfulness, Lord unto me”  This is one of my all-time favorite hymns and I am so very thankful for the Lord’s faithfulness through horrible situations such as the earthquakes in Haiti.  Through good and bad, joy and sorrow – my God never sleeps, nor slumbers and is ALWAYS faithful.

George called my at 10:40 from the Bahamas where they stopped to refuel.  At 12:52 I got a text that said, “In Haiti.  So far, so good.”  And just a few minutes ago, around 1:30, he called to give me a message to get to one of our board member.  He called from his AT&T cell phone and it was like he was just down the road….PTL.

He said they were in a taxi heading to meet Pastor Beril somewhere in Carrefour.  I was shocked when he said taxi and he said when they came out of the airport there were some taxis, just like always! 

George said that traffic is horrible (truthfully, traffic in Haiti is horrible even without earthquakes) and things that they are seeing are pretty bad.

I have to correct something I wrote yesterday (1/21/10).  I said that a plane from Pittsburgh was flying down today with Adony possibly along planning on bringing Louise back to Pitts with him.  That was true when I wrote it but things changed overnight. 

If I understand it correctly this is what is going on.  Dave O’Leary, a GMTH board member, is working with the Univ of Pittsburgh Medical Center to arrange for a team of Drs and nurses to fly down to Haiti to set up 1 or 2 medical clinics in the Carrefour area.  Dave has been in contact with Pastor Beril about where these could be set up.  (Thankfully the Voila phones seem to continue working) 

At 1:04 PM Dave sent me the following e-mail - I just spoke with Beril.  He says that everything is set up for a clinic at a Grace Mission School in River Froid(sp?) which is very close to Carrefour.  Local Police to provide security and Beril is able to handle transportation from the Airport.  He is now talking to Ted Steinhauer of Crisis Response International regarding a second clinic site.  We may hear back on this in a few hours.  We think that there are a few people who would like a plane ride back to PIT.  There is one or two folks from DSI who also want to go down and will stay to help with the DSI clean water program in conjuntion with the CDC.  I was extremely excited when I read this because I would think that means that the church/school at Riviere Froid is stable enough for a medical clinic and I was very concerned about this place because of how close to a ravine it sits.  THANK YOU LORD!!!

Still no word on any of our many pastors/teachers/students or how their ‘properties’ fared.

George also texted that they have reservations with MFI for Monday, including Louise if she hasn’t gotten out before then.

I want to, once again, express my heartfelt thanks for ALL the e-mails, phone calls and facebook postings with encouraging words and promises of prayers.  Oh how I wish I could respond to each and every one, but I cannot.  Keep praying and I’ll keep posting as we get info.

Friday, 1/22/10 (9:30 AM)

And they’re off, at least we think they are.  George called just as they were ready to board and Jim ‘tweeted’ a video of them getting settled on the plane. 

The 22 pallets from SC are not on this flight and we are not sure when they will be sent down.  PRAY for a C130 to become available which will be able to handle lots more cargo weight.

PRAY dear friends that they will have a safe trip into PAP and for God to open doors that only He can and for George and Jim to be sensitive to HIS leading.  Our plans are not necessarily HIS plans.

I’ll report more as we receive updates but just wanted you all to know this ASAP.

And for you NASCAR fans……George and Jim are on 1 of the 2 Hendricks MotorSports jets that they have loaned to MFI for the relief effort…….AMAZING.

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22. January 2010 by admin.

Greetings friends –

And the answer is “NO, George and Jim did not make it on a plane to Haiti today.”  Remember, God’s timing is perfect and we rest in that.  We headed up to MFI around 7:15 AM after a stop at CVS for a few last minute things.  Arrived around 8:30 and dropped Geo and Jim off at the hangar while Joanie and I went to park.  We had just started to walk to the hangar when George called me and said “Jim can’t find his passport!”  We came to the realization that after George made copies of their passports this AM, Jim’s never made it off the copier.  (Now these are 2 very seasoned travelers - 1) George should have taken the passport off the printer and 2) Jim should have checked for his passport before leaving…..and yet I have a feeling this may somehow come out to be Joanie and my fault for not asking before we left!!)  Joanie and I drove back to West Palm, got the passport and headed back to MFI.  At one point George called and said that there was a flight leaving in a little bit and they had a seat for him so he might go and wait for Jim in Haiti.  Thankfully, after talking about it they decided it would be best for them to stick together.

MFI is 99% sure that they will make it on tomorrow’s flight so the guys decided to stay up there for the night.  The 22 pallets from SC were weighed and came in at over 17,000 pounds.  PLEASE PRAY that the pallets can be sent on the same flight as George and Jim.  PRAY also for a C130 airplane to be available because it can take so much more cargo than MFI’s normal plane.

No direct word from Haiti today but we did receive word from Pittsburgh that there is an organization there that is flying into Haiti and bringing orphans out the past few days and are planning to do the same tomorrow.  Adony has reported that his mom is having difficulty breathing, so he is trying to arrange to fly down on tomorrows flight.  They are praying that Pastor Beril can get Louise to the airport so she can fly back to Pittsburgh with Adony.  If this will work out, and George and Jim fly in tomorrow, then, Lord willing, they would be able to connect with Pastor Beril.

Friends….please pray….so many details have to be worked out and the timing right…..and….and….and BUT my God knows and His will be done.

VERY IMPORTANT – George has his cell phone with him so he can communicate with me, but it is very expensive to make and accept international calls.   Because of this DO NOT call George’s cell while he is in Haiti.  If you have any questions, please call the office at 561-791-7686.  If I’m not in the office the phone will be forwarded to our home.

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