ABWE - Association of Baptists for World Evangelism

Port-au-Prince —

On February 10, 2010, three ABWE missionaries and a volunteer engineer arrived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The following is a report from ABWE missionary Gary Crawford, Larry Wilson (ABWE Project Office) and Rich Davis (ABWE Field Administrator) on their trip thus far.

Upon landing in Port-Au-Prince we were ushered through customs, which seems to be functioning somewhat normally. From there we headed to the Baptist Haiti Mission (BHM). BHM is affiliated with an association of 350 churches, located throughout six of ten Haitian provinces.

As we drove through some of the areas affected by the earthquake, we saw many buildings sitting in rubble and several “tent cities.” Venders lined the sidewalks hawking their wares. The streets were jammed with cars, trucks, UN trucks, police vehicles, colorful buses and pedestrians.

Soon, however, we were climbing out of the capital and headed into the surrounding mountains. On the way to the BMH compound, our team saw homes in heaps of rubble and makeshift shacks made from roofing material and sticks. These people had little that wasn't destroyed by the quake. When asked where they get water to drink, they told us "from God in Heaven." They have been collecting rainwater and surviving on what they can.

We met with Ron Pierre, President of the Board of BHM, to examine damage that occurred on some of the buildings on the BHM compound. The conference center was heavily damaged and needs repaired quickly to provide additional housing for relief teams. Three BMH pastors lost children in the earthquake. After the earthquake, more than 400 victims from surrounding mountain areas were brought to the BHM hospital. So far, 140 patients have made decisions for Christ.

After traveling through nearly impassible roads, we spent our second day on the island surveying several churches in the area and making contacts in various communities. We stopped at the Greffin Church and school, which is associated with BHM. Although the buildings sustained structural damage, they were still being used. Two children (ages 8 and 10 years old) from the school had died as a result of the earthquake. They were in their home in the village while their mother was washing clothes in the river. When the quake hit, the mother saw the mountains burying or destroying 430 homes in the village—there was nothing she could do to save her children.

The President of Haiti called for three days of fasting and prayer for Haiti. At the BHM compound, crowds overflowed at the church and spilled out all the way to the street in response. This was the case throughout many parts of Haiti.

Throughout our trip we constantly saw streams of people carrying their Bibles on their way to worship. The singing and worshiping has gone on for three days and there are many reports of people coming to Christ in these services.

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