Help Haiti

So when you're a missionary, you are exposed to an amazing community of other missionaries in the country almost immediately upon your arrival. Somehow, they all know of you, have been praying for you, and are super excited to figure out your talents. It makes you feel like you have found your purpose in life. Ina had a workshop to go to for a few days this week, and I had the opportunity to stay with two lovely families and serve them (even though I'm pretty sure they did more for me!). They both moved into an apartment complex one floor away from each other. Kirsten and her husband Rich are missionaries here with their three children, and Karin and her husband Eric are working and living here with their son. Kirsten and Karin are both involved with our Cercadillo Project creating patterns and helping construct the designs. Their two families are such great examples of Christian families working together to love and serve those around them.

I happened to be at Kirsten's house Tuesday night when the earthquake happened. It was quite an experience. We were hanging out around the living room when all of a sudden, all of us became extremely dizzy and once we stood up we realized the floor was moving (we weren't really swaying, but it was almost to that point if that helps you visualize). We go outside and in the midst of trying to find out what just happened, the dog tries to jump off the roof! Everyone knows animals can sense natural disasters coming, so when a dog is trying to get out, you follow it! We all took a walk and got ice cream at Yogen Fruz (amazing-I got natural strawberry and I know my sister will disapprove of that, but you have to try it Kristin!). Naturally, no one we talked to on the street knew what was happening at that time. We did get to see where the head of the Judicial system lives. We found that out because one of the armed guards (machine gun and all) was actually really friendly and saw all of us and began a conversation.

It was not until the next morning that we found out the severity of what happened. The earthquake was a 7.0 in Haiti and completely destroyed most of the country. Porta Prince is the heart of Haiti, and that's where most of the damage is: government buildings, schools (with children in them), hospitals, grocery stores...everything is gone. I believe the president of the country is now in the Dominican Republic, and thankfully, the US and others are sending disaster relief groups. Many of the missionaries I've met here are forming teams of doctors, water purification teams, construction workers, etc to head out there within the next few days. I know some people want to start donating, but there are a lot of false websites so if you're interested, I can probably get some information here from different teams. Hearing the stories so far of the people in this country affected by the earthquake is heartwrentching (for example, one lady is friends with a Haitian family and the father and their newborn stayed in the DR while his wife and firstborn went back to Haiti to visit. There is no way for him to get in contact with them to even see if they're still alive) :( There was in NO WAY any damage done to Santo Domingo, or to most of the DR if any. I know a lot of you were really concerned and thank you for all your prayers! Lets not forget about Haiti though because they have a long way to go. The newspaper here says 100,000 have died, but they really have no way of knowing exactly how many. The country is in a constant state of chaos, so I cannot even imagine how it is now. So lets hope and pray for them!