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Supplies Report from Pastor Beril

I am pleased to give an account of the different distributions of donated items
that have taken place at Grace Missions over the past couple of weeks.

Clothing:
Approximately 150 boxes have been prepared and distributed to the 27 church
under Grace Mission and well as other locations that have expressed need. Each
box has several items for men, women, and children (age range of newborn to
adolescent), also included are linens for beddings, towels, hats, belts, shoes
as well as toys for the children.

Food and House products:
Also distributed in accordance to the need of the people have been boxes of food
and toiletry items. These food included cereals, milk, peanut butter, flour,
beans, rice, cookies, and canned products. Also included n these boxes were
toiletry items such as soap, shampoo and conditioner, toothpaste, hand
sanitizer, bathroom tissue and paper towels.

Tarps:
Have also been given out to help make tents and protective coverings for
schools, churches and other living quarters.

Medical Supplies and Medicine:
Boxes of medical supplies have been distributed to many clinics in the
surrounding areas. Especially our clinic in Bertin as well as medicine given to
the doctors at Samaritan Purse.

The people of Haiti, have received these supplies with much gratefulness of
heart. It has been a joy to see so many needs being meet. May the Lord’s work
continue and may all who have given be richly blessed.

In His Service,
Pastor Beril

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Lagonave Trip

We had a great trip to the island of Lagonave with Barefoot Community Church.  The church is anticipating a partnership with the three Grace Mission churches on the island, so this was an exploratory trip.  We flew over to the island from Port au Prince, on MAF (Missionary Aviation Fellowship).  See video link- http://vimeo.com/13214553.  Barefoot is planning to take a team to Lagonave in October to do some evangelism and work out details of what would be involved in a partnership.  This trip will be the final determination for the church’s involvement in a partnership.

The partnership idea, as we are looking at it now, is an old idea with some new features.  The church partnership program is intended to provide for some of the needs of the Haitian churches, but with a greater emphasis on outreach to be more effective in reaching people with the Gospel.  Physical needs of the churches is certainly a part of it, but we recognize that the spiritual needs are even greater.  Barefoot Church has a serious burden for the unsaved and wants their partnership to be an evangelism tool, more than anything else.  This is the model I hope we can duplicate in all our Haitian fields.  Please pray with us as we work to that end.

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Update

I realize it has been a while since I put anything up here.  We have been a bit busy since the earthquake, but this is well overdue anyway.

 Things continue to progress in Haiti.  We have faced some frustrations with getting things through customs, but over all we have been able to get supplies in.  Over the last several weeks we have had supplies come in from Banner Elk, NC and from several churches in the Baltimore, MD area, plus some from the Pittsburgh area.  Two large shipments have been processed and sent on to Haiti.  This included tarps, tents, clothing, food and medical supplies which are all needed in Haiti and will go to meet the needs of our people.

 I have had the opportunity to go to Haiti three times since the earthquake.  Once in January to try to get some supplies shipped in from Barefoot Community Church in North Myrtle Beach, SC, then with a team in February to do some survey on getting other teams in, and then with two teams in March.  The two teams were combined in a medical team and a work team.  About half the team was work, and helped with some clean up and other things related to the earthquake.  The medical team was made up of primarily of students from Palm Beach Atlantic University, some nursing students and some pharmacy students.  They held several medical clinics, helped out at a couple of orphanages, did some food distribution along with the work team and helped out at a mission hospital near Port au Prince.  These teams did a great job and worked hard to accomplish much good.

 We continue to work toward getting the needs met in Haiti, especially after the earthquake.  Some funds have been transferred to Haiti to our Haitian leadership, to begin rebuilding, but we have a long way to go.

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Latest from GMTH


Tuesday 2/23/10

 

Greetings Friends –

 

Well it’s been a busy time with us and Grace Mission to Haiti…..here’s the latest –

 

George was scheduled to leave Saturday, 2/20 for Haiti along with Jesse Nelms, the Missions Pastor at our church here in FL, Jim Laidlaw with Global Partnership and about 14 other men.  They all had tickets to fly SpiritAir from Ft Laud to Port au Prince.  We kept checking with Spirit because they were scheduled to begin flying to Haiti the 19th.  George spoke with someone at Spirit on Thursday and they still said the flight was a go.  Well, when we got up Friday AM, we went to the Spirit website and discovered that the flight was cancelled.  The first thing I had to do was contact our son-in-laws brother Matt, who was to fly from Syracuse to West Palm around noon as he was to be part of the team.  Thankfully, we caught him before they left for the 2 hour drive to Syracuse. 

 

George met with Jim and had a few phone conversations with Jesse and it was decided to try to fly in to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and then get to PAP.  They were able to book a flight with JetBlue from that left Ft Laud around 2:30 PM on Saturday.  There are a total of 7 men on the trip.  One of them, Ben Loyer, spent 21 years in Haiti as a missionary and is fluent in Creole which is a huge help.  Another man is fluent in French which is very good.  Jim know French and Spanish and another knows Spanish so that was a help in the DR……God always provides.

 

They arrived in the DR and were picked up in a vehicle that had 2….yes 2, tire blow-outs on the way to the hotel!!!!!  They checked into the hotel, a lovely Clarion; walked down the streets to a Wendy’s and had supper.  (It is so amazing how different the 2 countries on this one small island are)  After a good nights sleep they had breakfast and the hotel shuttled them to the bus station where they boarded a lovely air-conditioned, movie showing bus that even provided food and beverages.  After about 6 hours they arrived in PAP and Pastor Beril picked them up at the bus station to take them to the hotel they are staying at.

 

 

George said that it was very strange because there were places along the Carrefour Road that is normally steaming with people and vendors that was basically deserted.  When he asked Pastor Beril about it he said that thousands and thousands of people are moving out of the city and into the country to get away from the devastation.

 

Here is a HUGE praise – 2 weekends ago there were 40 people saved at Pastor Beril’s church and this past week-end there were 20.  He also said that he and many pastors in the area have been having evangelistic services in the evenings and MANY people are coming to the Lord.

 

When asked about the schools he said that the ‘government’ says schools will resume on March 15 but he doesn’t see how that will be possible due to the damage to the buildings.  His school in Carrefour is damaged too much to be used and that is true for some of our other schools.

 

George said that he woke up from a dead sleep at 4:30 AM yesterday morning by a strong tremor and there was another strong one (said to be about a 6) later Monday morning while they met with a group of pastors about the upcoming medical/counseling team that is going in on March 6th.  This team is primarily made up of students and staff from Palm Beach Atlantic Univerisity here in West Palm.  The counseling part of the team is very important as our Haitian brothers and sisters try to cope with all they’ve been through.  After lunch, they had an opportunity to meet with a team of our regional directors.

 

Plans are for them to continue to survey needs to be met by teams we will be forming in the coming months and, yes, years.  They hope to get out to Grace Center and also go to Kelly Fleury’s orphanage near Leogane to survey the damage there.

 

Thank you so much for your prayers and concerns -

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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 25th 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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Religion in Haiti

Check out the link below.  We have an opportunity as God brings good out of the disaster in Haiti.  Our primary goal in Haiti is evangelism and church planting.  We are seeing a turning to the Lord as people evaluate their commitment to Voodoo.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100213/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_haiti_earthquake

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Latest GMTH News - 1/28/10


Thursday, 1/28/10

 

Oops…..I never got around to sending an update on Monday….so very sorry.  Things got a bit crazy around here with calls and meetings and it just never got done.

 

The updates I sent were pretty complete due to the phone conversations and texts George and I exchanged.  One thing they did share was about their taxi ride from the airport to Carrefour.   Traffic became quite heavy and congested at times.  At one point, Jim noticed a uniformed soldier beside the cab who walked beside for a bit, stood still beside it when traffic stopped and even ran beside for a bit till traffic finally cleared and got going.  Oh, and the cab ride cost $80 (U.S.) for an approximately 10 mile trip!!!

 

Their travels did not take them past or to places where they saw the sights of the bodies being piled but they did saw the smells were especially horrible.

 

On Tuesday and Wednesday George had meetings here at home and we are excited about some things in the works.  As these things get finalized we will be sharing them with you.  He was also on the phone a lot and even got some things done in the office.  (Personal request from ME, George’s wife.  PLEASE pray for an extra measure of wisdom and strength for George as he has so much going on right now….THANKS)

 

We received word on Tuesday that a C-130 had become available to MFI and the pallets were to be on a flight arriving in Haiti at 7 AM on Wednesday.  George spoke with Pastor Beril on Tuesday to give him the news so he could have the truck and workers ready to be at the airport.  We have not heard back from him so we hope that means he was able to get the things without any trouble.

 

I’ve had the privilege of talking to so many people on the phone and in person over the past 16 days.  So many have offered help both monetarily and with actual ‘goods’ and believe me, we will be needing much money to help our people and fields affected by the earthquake.  I want to assure you that whether we receive money or ‘goods’ for the earthquake relief, we will do everything within our power to use it for that.  In order for this to happen we will keep all monetary donations in our account here in Florida and will be dispersed to Pastor Beril as we are notified of definite needs.  The same goes for shipping of ‘things’.  That will not happen until we know for sure that cargo ships are getting into Haiti and the shipments are getting cleared through customs.

 

We do not have any dates for when we will be ready to take teams in but we are working on it.  Please be patient with us……we want to do it right. 

 

I have uploaded a photo album on Snapfish that chronicles the trip.  Here’s the link  http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2109749017/a=2197878/

 

Thank you so much for all your prayers and words of encouragement…..so greatly appreciated.

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George and Jim back from Haiti!!!!


Monday, 1/25/10

Praise the Lord with me….George and Jim arrived in Fort Peirce this afternoon at 4:30!!  Thank you so much for the many of you who have been praying.

 

The supplies sent from SC have been delayed a bit due to a blown engine on the MFI plane.  They were hoping to have it fixed late today.  They are also hoping for a C130 to come available to use to fly in larger amounts of cargo.  They expect the pallets to be in Haiti by the end of the week and the group of Pastors in Carrefour have a plan for the disbursement to the folks in the community.  PLEASE pray for MFI and their staff.  This is a huge undertaking for them and they are meeting the needs of so very many people.  Pray also for the Hendricks MotorSports team who are flying 2 planes in and out of Haiti each day and have committed to do it at least thru the end of this month.

 

Louise did not come to the states as we were originally told.  She is doing OK and I think she feels the need to be there at this time, ministering and meeting needs beside her husband.

 

There is so much to share and I will be posting pictures on Facebook but they will both take place tomorrow, after I have time to sort out everything.

 

Please continue to pray for Haiti.  The needs are so great.  Please pray also for wisdom for Pastor Beril and the Haitian board as they determine where we start 1st to rebuild what was lost so the Gospel can continue to be proclaimed.

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Latest from George in Haiti - Saturday, 1/23/10 - 3:50 PM


Saturday, 1/23/10 (3:00 PM)

 

Another day in which we have so very much to be thankful for AND so very much to be in prayer about.  Here’s what I know –

 

Around 7:15 this morning George was able to get a call through to me.  They had a good nights rest and were in their room at OMS around 6:45 when the building began to shake, yes another aftershock.  They immediately went outside and things were OK.  OMS is using the water from the pool to somehow be used for showers.  They are not able to serve meals so Jim and George dined last night on MRE’s that MFI had available before they left Fort Pierce.  George and Jim stocked up on protein bars before leaving so they have them for food.  Since the wall surrounding OMS crumbled, Wikny bought roofing tin and installed it into a make-shift security wall.  George said the rooms appear to be full with Haitians and an aid team who he believes are from Mexico.  Thankfully Wikny had a room for George and Jim.

 

George said there seems to be such desperation in the people as they try to rebuild their lives.  He said that as they drove thru PAP to Carrefour yesterday they’d go by buildings that were still standing and then right beside there would be nothing but ruins from buildings that collapsed.  Some buildings still stood but they could see right inside because some of the walls were gone.

 

The plan for today was for Pastor Beril to pick them up and go to Grace Center to see how things were there and in the process see much more of the devastation in Carrefour and PAP.

 

George called again at 9:00 AM while they were meeting with Pastor Beril.  This is extremely important…..Pastor Beril said to please NOT send food to him (beans, rice, etc).  He said it would be so much better for people wanting to help with this to send money which we will get to him.  He has sources and can buy it there and have it much quicker and cheaper than what it costs Grace Mission to ship the food that is sent here to us in FL.  Other things that are needed – Tents (dome and cabin style), awnings (the pop-up kind used at trade shows), Examination tables for people to lay on when being examined (I suggested portable massage tables I’ve seen at Costco and Sams because they fold and are portable….what do you medical people who read this think….would that work?), clothes (PLEASE be careful what you send….nothing stained or torn and remember this is Haiti so warm climate clothing is needed), and medical supplies.  I am attaching a detailed supply list we got from CSI and was approved by Dr Martsolf on our board.  If any of you reading this on Facebook, the Grace Mission to Haiti website or Grace Mission blog want the list, please send me you e-mail address and I’ll get it to you.

 

For our friends at Pine Grove in Bowmansville, the Christmas boxes arrived and Pastor Beril had planned to take them out to Doriol this week but, of course, that won’t happen.

 

At 12:45 PM George called from Grace Center.  In an earlier e-mail I had shared information I’d been give that one of the balconies had sheared off but PTL that was incorrect.  George said there are cracks in some of the interior walls but it seems sound.  We will need to get an engineer in to check its structural integrity but it looks good and the wall surrounding the compound still stands even though there are other buildings in the area that have collapsed.

 

George said Grace Center looks amazing.  Since he was there last all the tile has been laid on the floors, bars and glass in the windows, railing around the balcony, plumbing in and waiting for the fixtures and he said the classroom is beautiful.  I can’t help but think that God KNOWS this center is to be used for His glory and preserved it.  To God be ALL the glory.

 

This is what he found out about our pastors and ministries.  This is not a complete list but what is known right now.

·       NO loss of life of any of our pastors! 

·       Riviere Froid church/school and Bertin Clinic are OK

·       GODE church/school is destroyed as was the house that we have stayed in during our visits there. (Many of you may remember that Gode is up in the mountains and the only way in is to walk or ride the ‘horses’ in….oh how I LOVE those rides!!!  But all worth it when we get there and see our children and adults who go to school and worship there)

·       Churches that have been destroyed – Cote de Fer, LaVal, Bereau, Gode, and Montoban

·       Churches that have damage – Carrefour, Flon, Bois Pin

·       A number of churches are OK but the pastors homes have been destroyed

·       LOTS of damage at the Carrefour school and Bible Institute.  Pastor Beril said they will probably NOT be able to use it.

 

The 22 pallets from SC are scheduled to arrive on Monday.  Pastor Beril, George and Jim met with a group of ministers from the Carrefour area, this morning.  They have a secure location in Carrefour to take the pallets and to distribute from.  This is a real answer to prayer.  Originally they talked about taking everything to Grace Center to store and then take it to Carrefour but Grace Center is in a different ‘district’ than Carrefour so there could have been problems getting it all the way through PAP and to Carrefour. 

 

I do apologize for how long this is but I wanted to give you all the news I had so you are up to date.

 

Keep PRAYING……

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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.