Pastor Lloyd

Haiti Relief Update - 1/23 12:49 pm

Greetings from Calvary Chapel Old Bridge!

Today is a transition day, with most of our team heading to Santo Domingo tonight for an early flight out tomorrow.  Meanwhile the NJ team is already in the air headed down.  Praise God for eight extra duffel bags of medical supplies that made it onto the airplane with minimal additional cost.   When they arrive they’ll head to our basecamp and begin ministry at the hospital in Jimani this afternoon or early tomorrow.  The CO team and CA teams will arrive late tonight, stay over in Santo Domingo overnight for security reasons, and head to Jimani and Jacmel respectively in the AM.

Updates from Friday:

JACMEL

Friday was a late night for the team, with the Jacmel portion significantly delayed getting back to the DR.  Word from the Jacmel group during the day was that God was continuing  to open unexpected and sometimes startling doors for ministry.  We’re looking forward to hearing a download from them when they (mostly) return tomorrow.  At least one and perhaps as many as three members of the current team will be staying for a few more days.  

At least one of our group will be in Jacmel for another week…he’ll be joined (Lord willing) by a team of three men from CC Costa Mesa sometime tomorrow. This scout team will focus on establishing a long-term ministry presence in Jacmel.

JIMANI

After a (very) brief lull earlier this week, Jimani continues to be flooded with Haitian refugees in need of medical attention.  Please pray for a surgeon from Cornerstone CC who joined our new NJ team — his skills are very much needed.  He’ll be joined by medics from Castlerock CC tomorrow.  We are making good progress on setting up a basecamp for incoming medical teams closer to Jimani and should have something locked in by Monday.  Currently we have arrangements at a hotel about an hour’s drive from the hospital, which allowed us to make some promising contacts with the military who are also using the hotel.  Going forward our ideal scenario would be to rent a house even closer to Jimani, but failing that we may pursue simply shuttling medical staff by small plane to cut down on travel time.  We have a commitment from the pilot we’ve been using to remain on the island and work with us at least another week.

GOING FORWARD

We will be working in NJ throughout the weekend following up on contacts with other churches and ministries doing work in Haiti.  As more and more teams pour into the country the Lord seems to be opening up some opportunities to work together, especially with ministries that have a previously existing presence on the island.  We’re hearing more and more that PaP may eventually be abandoned — whether that’s true or not, a huge relocation effort seems inevitable.  Details on opportunities to participate in such ministry will follow in days to come.