Report From Pastor Beril

Saturday, 2/13/10

Greetings and apologies.  I am sorry I have not sent out an update since 1/27.  Yesterday we got an e-mail from Pastor Beril with an initial update on the earthquake………..

 

GRACE BAPTIST MISSION OF HAITI

 

EARTHQUAKE JAN.12, 2010 UPDATE

 

Pastor Beril, national director of Grace Mission Haiti with a mission team of 15 men from USA was at Grand Place, Mirebalais to build a Zink roof on the church house in that place. At 4.45 p.m, the last man just came down the top roof after finishing nailed the last sheet of Zink. The roof was planed to be built in two days (Tuesday Jan 12 and Wenesday the 13) from 9 a.m to 3 p.m. But for a reason that none of the team did not know before, the work was done in one day till 4.45 p.m instead of two. At 4.50 p.m while a short thanksgiving worship service took place by a good number of the church members who were present with the team of builders, expressing joy to the Lord, the whole ground and the building started shaking and scared everyone to death. That quake was so hard; we (Haitians present) thought it was a satanic move. It was then an earthquake of such high magnitude which devastates the southern part of Haiti in 35 seconds.

 

 

GRACE MISSION FIELDS AFFECTED

1- Brochette, Carrefour: Church house remains up, but registers minor damages that can be repaired. 8 families of the church lost love ones each, total 8 dead. 11 families lost totally their homes and several tens abandoned their rented home deeply damaged. All of them are homeless.

The school house building of the major school of the field at Carrefour is severely damaged in the first floor. We do not think it will be used again unless important structures are operated in.

2- Riviere Froide: All installations remain stable, one family lost a daughter 18 years old, 5 families lost their homes, among them the associate pastor and several others are homeless.

 

3- Palmiste-A-Vin: Church house in the rear and the two parsonage rooms in the back of the church are all destroyed. The school building has the walls in the back side felt down half way.

 

4- Bereau: The church building at Bereau is totally destroyed. The walls are felt and the roof hang one side up and the other side down. It represents a read danger to those who keep using the space. It is urgent to do something there to avoid the worst.

 

5- Flon:  All the installations at Flon are deeply damaged. School, Church house and pastor’s home. One floor of the pastor’s home is totally destroyed. Pastor Rosemond and other residents of his home are deeply injured. They are still following medical treatment.

 

6-Laval: The temple at Laval, just built after it was destroyed in August 2008 by hurricane Gustave is again destroyed by the earthquake of January 12, 2010.

 

7-Cotes de Fer: A town located on the sea shore of the south eastern cost is 85% destroyed by the earthquake. The church house is not skipping, it is totally down and the people there are homeless and lost all belongings.

 

8- Davis: The temple at Davis was under construction, the four walls of the building were up, waiting for the next team to build its roof. By the earthquake, all those walls are down and need to start over again.

 

9-Montoban: All homes at Montoban have suffered damages. The church was destroyed in 2008 by hurricane Gustave. It was under reconstruction while the earthquake eliminates what was already built. It requires pretty good efforts to put those walls back up again.

 

10- Among all those strugles, the lost of Pastor Ernst Laine hits us deeply. He was one of the staff administrators of Grace Bible Institute. He left behind his wife and his daughter of 3 ½ year old. Peace to his soul.

 

11-Urgent and Priority needs

A- Food (rice, beans, cooking oil) Tents, plastic tops, sheets, trash bags, toilet articles, flash lights, clothes etc….

 

B- A good four wheel drive vehicle is necessary in order to get quicker access to some of the remote areas of the field.

 

C- Revision and reconstruction of the churches and homes, Schools and Clinics.

 

As you have read things are very bad at some of our fields BUT there is also so much to praise the Lord for because the loss of life and damage could have been so much worse.  There is much work that needs to be done and George is beginning to work on those details.  (For those of you interested in going down to help to rebuild or go on medical teams, PLEASE be patient as we need time to get things organized.  Many details have to be put in place so we are sure of safe housing and also the availability of materials we will need for the teams.)

 

Since returning from Haiti Jan 25^th George has been extremely busy fielding calls and having meetings with people about Haiti and the needs there….much networking has come about from this tragedy.  George will be going to Haiti, Lord willing, next Saturday for 1 week.  The team consists of 17 people going with Global Partnerships Initiative, as well as Pastor Jesse Nelms and Pastor Saintil Farilus from our church here in Florida.  (Pastor Saintil is the pastor of a Haitian congregation in Belle Glade, FL whose wife and children were in the Port au Prince airport waiting to FINALLY get to the United States after 4 years of paperwork and red tape at the time of the earthquake and made it on the last American Airlines flight out.)  The trip has several objectives. 

1.     To meet with a large group of Pastors in the Carrefour area to begin the process of establishing training centers for evangelism and church planting and also to meet with these Pastors in preparation for the medical and counseling team from Palm Beach Atlantic University going down March 6. In addition to doing medical work this team will also be training the pastors in grief counseling and post traumatic issues.

2.    A possible food distribution in cooperation with World Harvest. (Pray for the details to come together)

3.    Set-up of a ‘camp ground’ at the Grace Center property until we can be sure the building is safe to use.  

4.    There is an architect going on the team who will be assessing Pastor Beril’s home and church to try to determine the amount of damage and if the buildings are safe to be used.

 

The following link is a very interesting article George read on the internet in regards to Haiti, voodoo and the earthquake - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100213/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_haiti_earthquake

 

We are so very thankful to so many of you who have been praying and have responded with donations to help.  I must be honest with you.  The needs in Haiti are so great and we would greatly appreciate any and all the help you can give.  

 Click on the link below to donate online, or you may send a donation directly to Grace Mission at: Grace Mission to Haiti, PO Box 211025, Royal Palm Beach, FL  33421

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