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. . . . . . Donations should go to the Missions office, check payable to BBFI Missions, marked for Wesley Lane, Haiti Relief fund. Relief supplies should be sent to the packges address in Ft. Pierce Florida. We pay US$1.50 per pound for air shipments, so help with that if possible. Needed supplies:
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Earthquake Relief EffortJanuary 20, 2010Melina writes:Things are going as smoothly as I guess they can. Things were never easy in Haiti, as you know, and they certainly aren't now. I continue to volunteer in the clinic. Yesterday I helped a doctor stitch up a little four-year-old girl whose face and head had deep wounds and cuts. The left side of her head was cut open so badly you could see her skull. I cried along with her as she begged us to stop. An eleven-year-old boy named Davidson returns every day to have his bandages changed. He lost his finger and has several deep cuts. Worst of all, he lost his father, mother and brother in the earthquake. The poor little boy is so traumatized. Please pray for him. Thousands of people are homeless sleeping outside in tents, under tarps and sheets; some are just under the stars. Wes has secured a warehouse for relief supplies, etc. and checked on pastors' church buildings to see if they are standing and can be used as distribution points for relief. The pastors he has made contact with are alive, although some were wounded and lost their homes. The churches are standing but some of the outside walls are down; also a school building fell. He has also been trying to make contact with family members of our church people in Santo Domingo. He has made contact with some and most are alive, but many are homeless. One of our dear faithful ladies lost her mother in this tradgedy. The phones are working but not at a hundred percent yet so getting through to people is difficult. Wes and Gamil have also been helping the clinic, bringing medicines, water and fuel. Most businesses and gas stations are still closed but because Gamil knows many of them, some open for us to help us get supplies. There was another aftershock this morning. Please pray for safety and for God to open the doors so we can quickly and effectively help the Haitian people. Pray also that the Haitian people can see God's goodness in all this tradgedy and devastation and that souls will be saved for His glory. Melina Lane
January 18, 2010From Lauren, Wes and Melina's oldest daughter:I was able to chat briefly with my parents on Facebook today. Missionary Leny Funtecha and family are OK, and his church is OK, but school is down (I think I got the building statuses right... my Chat history was cleared even though I didn't close it! Grr). As I understand it, Leny will be in charge of relief efforts while my parents are in the Dominican Republic. His wife and son are currently in Gonaive with another Filipino missionary family. My parents have arranged to have a warehouse to use (current contract is for four months), but might move over to one of Leny's buildings eventually. I am not sure how much it costs per month yet. They are still trying to arrange trucks for shipping supplies. Haitian Pastor Stefan Numa is alive, but the condition of that church is currently unknown. Gamil's wife and father-in-law got to the Canadian embassy and they should be getting evacuated today. My parents still don't have a phone, or a vehicle, though Gamil is letting them use his truck right now. Fuel is still an issue. Keep praying please. Lauren (Lane) Schlagel
January 17, 2010Friends,Sorry for the nature of this message, but I still have limited connection and internet time. We hooked up with some very good people from the Canadian-Haitian chamber of commerce and that has been a big help with connections, very importat in getting things done. I have attached some photos. You can write the article yourself almost without help, from the pictures. The pictures show the destruction, the despair. People waiting in line behind a water truck to fill some jugs. People camping in the street, some still waiting for medical care. We used our whole supply of meds the first day. Melina helped deliver a baby or two. Dentists and veteranarians are treating people. Everyone is a doctor now if they have a good education. We got some more meds from a closed company here and some from the UN base. We checked the structural integrity of two large buildings that the people are afraid to use as clinics. The first one passed, second one is unsafe. Everyone with any decent education is an engineer too. Really hard getting fuel. We can't get gasoline or bread or meat. Other foods are available though. The electric is off and won't be back on any time soon. One photo is when I was scarfing some diesel fuel, which I have yet paid for, but still got it in hand for use. An angry mob killed a man right in front of us, saying he was a thief. Thousands of prisoners have escaped into the streets because the biggest prison in the country fell down. We couldn't stop them as there were simply too many of them and we only had limited ammo. Plus, if you have to choose sides right now, I can't really be protecting the thieves from thier very victims. There were three cops with shotguns directing traffic three blocks away and they ignored it. We have an offer of more meds from a warehouse, but we have to organise more aggressive security before we can go there and open the warehouse or it will be looted. We will get some more armed men for security and go get them. I have found a warehouse for us to use as a base and will go there tomorrow to get it ready. Nearly every business is closed. We hope some will begin to open Monday, including the banks. I don't have a cell phone yet because they are closed. I went to the owner of the AVIS franchise's house yesterday and he said maybe we can get a different vehicle Monday. Our priority is to start moving relief supplies to the warehouse for quick distribution to those who need it while we quickly rebuild some churches and then we can use the church buildings as distribution points. That's all for now. Continue to pray. Many churches are destroyed, many Christians are dead, in need, homeless or have lost family. We are safe, so don't worry about us. We will update this as we can. Thank you for the prayers. Wesley and Melina Lane
January 16, 2010Praying friends, This will be short as we are on a shared connection. We are here in safe housing. We have transport, but are scrambling for fuel. No gas stations open. People are siphoning for generators and car. No Electric. Almost no water. Food supplies in city stretched, but plenty in the provinces. Can't find bread. Very few or no international lines. Most stores closed. Found a warehouse, but contract not finalized.Right now, fuel is a priority. We can't move around without it. Also, with stores closed, don't know when I will grab a phone, but that is on priority list. Unbelievable death, destruction and stench. Lots of confusion, sadness and despair. We will send more info when we can. Wes & Mel
January 13, 2010Dear Praying Christian Friends, As most of you know, we had a big earthquake yesterday. We were more than 100 miles from the center and the house shook so bad that we got up and ran outside. If you have seen the news, you know that Haiti is devastated. Melina and I are packing now to go over there and check on our people, churches and help with rescue or survivors or whatever we can do. Thank you to all of you for your prayers and support. We are taking all the cash we have with us to do what we can. We have had some contact via e-mail and people who have satellite feeds, but communication is tough. We are getting a list together of people to look for. Most of our Haitian church people are from the worst hit area and I will be looking for their families. We will give updates as we can. We appreciate all the help we can get at this point. Check our Web page for shipping and support addresses. I figure the dead will be near 100,000 and the wounded and homeless at more than 1 million. But right now we really just don’t know. We will know more after a couple of days of gathering data there. Please continue to pray for the Haitian people, the churches, the pastors, the missionaries, the rescue teams, etc. For now, if you could just mobilize your people for relief supplies and cash donations, we will try to have more information available after we get there and know what resources are available there to get the stuff in and distribute. We have not been able to contact anyone there by telephone, but some via e-mail or facebook. Continue to pray. Thank you. Wesley and Melina Lane E-mail: PreacherWes@hotmail.com
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