a face from the crisis

(the following is an email I received from a lay leader at my church in Charlotte):

I Have been involved with a mission in Bayonnais Haiti, OFCB ministries, for the past 11 years. The ministry is located about 90 miles NE from Port Au Prince. The mission compound is safe.
13 students from OFCB ministries were sponsored to college in Port Au Prince from OFCB ministries. When I learned on Wednesday that 2 students were missing, I knew Actionnel, the pastor of OFCB, would take the 5 hr trip to PAP. After all his name is Actionnel.

Additionally, yesterday, he used a OFCB school bus to take people from Charlotte NC visiting Bayonnais to the airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The trip took Actionnel 10 hours. Thank God the Charlotte people will arrive home tonight.

Following is a brief email from Actionnel. He is exhausted and overwhelmed. I can't imagine being a pastor in Haiti. What a burden he is carrying.

Please keep Actionnel in your prayers.
Tom


Friends,
We got home,Bayonnais, at 10:11 last night. It was truly a miracle. We had no access to any fuel from the border to Bayonnais, going through Gonaives.
News keep coming into Bayonnais about death cases. Our two Journalist students are still missing, Jodes Milliacin and Madecene Alcius. We have been told of at least 6 others who have been dead in four different families. Please read Jeremiah 31: 14-17. It is exactly what is going on for the whole country, as well as for Bayonnais. Right now at 10:26 am here in Bayonnais, there are lots of cries for news telling about a young woman,a cousin of ours,who died with her daughter.

Jeremiah 31:14-17 NIV
I will satisfy the priests with abundance, and my people will be filled with my bounty,” declares the LORD.
This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.”
This is what the LORD says:“Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,” declares the LORD.“They will return from the land of the enemy.
So there is hope for your future,” declares the LORD.“Your children will return to their own land."

Gas stations are empty. Means of transportation or distribution is impossible. Food is getting more and more scarce at the market places. Prices for everything have gone up rapidly.
We have heard that 50,000 or 100,000 have died in PAP. But, from what I saw on Wednesday, 200,000 death cases in PAP only will not surprise me.

Please, Kevin,Eddy,Jame Blane, Allen Smith, Eyleen make yourselves heard.

--Actionnel from Bayonnais hearing people crying everywhere.