Saturday night we picked Micah up from the airport in San Antonio. We praise the Lord for his safe trip and the many opportunities He gave Micah to help minister to Haitians and Americans. Through these weeks of working in Port-au-Prince, he has been forced into situations that were out of his comfort zone.

Micah helped John Leininger with a great deal of paperwork for the orphan children’s release to the US. He spent several days helping make files, check spelling, and handwriting documents from the American Embassy’s required paperwork. While at the orphanage, he took time throughout the day to hold and play with the children whenever he could. Sometimes he would hold Neemie a baby girl who had pneumonia and needed to be held upright for hours at a time.

Micah helped Lussade host the Vision Forum team which was a first and definitely not what Micah had envisioned himself doing in Haiti. The team stayed in Lussade’s home. They were there to make videos from a Christian perspective about what is happening in Port-au-Prince. If you would like to see some of their documentaries go to www.visionforum.com and then click on ‘Doug’s Blog’.

Another “new” experience Micah told us about was having two grown men break down on his shoulder. Both men are close friends of ours and had seen some very sad and disturbing things after the earthquake. Pastor Etean was in Cayes when the earthquake hit. He immediately loaded his car with supplies and drove into Port-au-Prince. As he was driving into Port, the roads were filled with debris from the buildings, and dead bodies, sometimes blocking the road so that he would have to wait to get by. He gave out his supplies to people in need and helped where he could. Later as he was relaying his story to Micah, he broke down on Micah’s shoulder.

Another dear friend, Whistler, a Haitian medical student, was in Port-au-Prince with his family when the earthquake hit. He went to a medical clinic in Cayes and was busy right away caring for victims. When he saw Micah at the orphanage, he broke down and let it all out.

Micah hugged, talked to and prayed with both men. He felt ill equipped to handle this but we told him that he did all that he could do. It’s hard to know how to minister to men who are emotionally spent, but a hug and prayer are always a blessing and an encouragement. We realize that along with the physical rebuilding for Haiti, there will a need for lots of hugs and prayers over the next several months. So many people have lost so much, only the Lord Jesus Christ will be able to bring true healing and comfort to Haiti.

Hi Dad and Mom, I’m writing another Haiti update:

Today we went to the embassy for half of the day and they basically said that they were still reviewing the adoption papers. Which means nothing is being done yet. A little discouraging. And we have been going to Deli-Cat and Mr. Barry is doing fine and still has the best, if not the only Ice-Cream in Haiti. (Deli Cat is where we exchange money and Mr. Barry is Iranian)

A few days ago, we were driving into Carrefour and we were approaching a large crowd. At the front of the crowd there was a man covered in blood, and people were beating him with clubs. Directly in front of us, there was a Police truck, but he just kept driving on. Later we learned that the man had stolen a CD player that he was actually still holding it in his hand.

Another time we were driving through downtown Port-au-Prince looking at all the destroyed buildings. There was a crowd stoning and beating a man with clubs while he was on the ground. It was so sad to see. But Jean Fritz told us that the prison where 4,000 of Haiti’s worst criminals lived was totally destroyed and all the prisoners escaped into Port-au-Prince. He said that now it (Haiti) is ruling by the people. Kinda scarey.

We have a 13-year old boy named Rood staying here at the orphanage. Doug Phillips’ team found him in a tent city. He told us that he had lost his Dad, Mom, Sister, and Brother after his house collapsed on top of them. He had to have his arm amputated after they pulled him out from under his home. He said that his Mom held him and put her head into his chest to protect him. He was buried for 5 days, in that time his Mom died and he was still holding on to her body. So he has been through a lot to say the least. And tonight Dr. Whistler was changing his dressing that is around the amputated arm and Rood passed out for about ten minutes. We think that he passed out because of the pain and that he was dehydrated also. But we started an IV on him and gave him some Gatorade and an antibiotic so he is happy and doing fine now.

Tuesday morning Pastor Peti-Noel and Pastor Mark are coming so that I can talk to them about the schools and beginning the feeding programs again. Well I am not feeling very good again but I hope that it is just a small cold. If I think about anything else I will send it to you. I love you all and covet your prayers continuously. Let me know if I need to do anything to help you. [Micah]

Since Micah wrote this, he and Ken (through phone) have now talked to Pastors Peti Noel and Marc. The Pastors feel that it is safe enough now to begin the feeding program for the school children again, praise the Lord. Thank you for your prayers for safety for Micah, Lussade and the children when the food arrives and is served during these desperate times in Haiti.

Micah’s email:

The first day that I got here (Jan. 20) it felt like a war zone. There were about 15 helicopters that never shut off, they would just fly in and load up and go non stop. We were amazed by everything, but slowly I have become numb to a lot of things.

Life here has always been hard, but now hard for some people has a totally different meaning. There are tens of thousands of people living in tent cities everywhere. Just about every building that we pass by that is collapsed has the stench of death and you know that underneath all of that rubble is someone that did not make it out alive. And it is house after house that has happened to. It is so sad to me, and it is hard to take sometimes. But the Haitian people are moving on. I know that they are hurting though. I have talked to a few of my friends down here and they started crying on my shoulder because of all the death that they have seen. They talked about all the piles of bodies that were in the streets, and how people were going through them trying to find their loved ones. And I know that many people heard a lot of this in the news, but to actually talk to a person that had been there and seen it is just totally different. It is so heart wrenching some times that if you don't take a break, you'll go nuts. And I am pretty calm and collected most of the time, but this has pushed me to a new level that I have not experienced before.

Pray for us as we are doing a lot of paper work and dealing with the American, and Haitian government trying to get 70 orphans to America. We keep on hearing that we are going to be able to take them out of here, and then it doesn't work out. So it is a little bit of a frustrating situation that we are working on.

Also the number of kids is now over 110 children at HCRM, it is getting really crowed here. And that number is increasing every day. Kids just walk in and nobody knows their story, or where they came from. I have been surprised at how much progress is taking place. There are people still picking up trash along the streets 24hr a day. And there is a lot of big equipment that is taking rubble out.

Keep praying for us as I am praying for all of you.

We have talked to Micah by phone almost daily. We are so sorry that we still have not received any pictures from him. Many people down there have the ability to send pictures back, but we do not. Lord willing we will have some new pictures this weekend, Micah is sending his camera chip home with a group that is leaving Haiti tomorrow.

We do not have an accounting of all the children, but we do not know of any loss as of yet! Pastor Marc and Pastor Peti Noel are fine, praise the Lord. This is a miracle when you realize that Pastor Marc's school is in Carrefour and Pastor Peti Noel's school is in Petionville, both heavily damaged in the earthquake.

Micah remains busy helping John with paper work for the orphans and helping Lussade host Doug Phillips’ group from San Antonio. After the team leaves on Friday, Micah hopes to locate food and supplies (which are scarce) to start the feeding programs again. The families of these children are even more destitute than they were before the earthquake.

We know there is much talk of the orphans in Haiti. We agree that as many true orphans as possible should come out and be adopted by Christian families. However, there are many more children in Haiti whose families are not able to provide for their basic needs. This is why we have chosen to minister to the Haitian people through the Christian school feeding programs. Often parents are not able to provide food for their families. Receiving one nutritious meal a day along with Christian education helps keep families together.

February 3, 2010 | Wednesday

We are sorry for the delay in updating the website. Though he has tried several times, Micah has not been able to send any pictures yet. We have had a very encouraging report from him though. Pastor Marc and Pastor Peti Noel say that the school children are all fine, praise the Lord. This is a miracle because both schools are in areas that received a lot of damage from the earthquake.

We talked with Micah this morning. He was excited and upset, which has been a first since he has been in Haiti that we have known about. He said to please pray for the team, especially for John as he is working so diligently to try to get as many of the children out of Haiti as possible.

Yesterday the team found an orphanage in downtown Port-au-Prince which has received no help, no supplies, medical food or water. About 56 children died in the 7.0 earthquake and there are 76 children alive there. The team brought them diapers and formula for the children. They have begun gathering supplies and taking them to the orphanage. They are trying to get word out about the tremendous needs in this orphanage. Micah says that the media stays pretty close to the airport because of military security and there are so many needs outside which are not being met. There are tons of supplies, medical, food, etc. at the airport, but they only allow approved organizations or themselves to dispense the materials. They are too busy apparently to go away from the airport to check out this giant need. It is so sad when the government is handling things, because where the needs truly are, supplies are not getting out. Please pray for the team, for this orphanage and the ever present lack of organization in Haiti.

If anyone would like to donate, the greatest need is funds to purchase food, water and supplies. Please CLICK HERE to send your donations, and designate your gift to the "Haiti Earthquake Fund."

We were able to get though to Haiti by phone, Sunday afternoon. It was so good to talk to Lussade and Laura Birdy a R.N. They were busy working, but Laura spent a few minutes updating me about the team.

She said that Carrefour area which is east of Port-au-Prince, is very bad. Lots of flattened buildings and homes. They met the Smoker family who are missionaries in Carrefour and learned that there were about 25 people killed at their home when the 7.0 earthquake hit. Mrs. Smoker was able to escape through an open upstairs window.

There are thousands of relief workers in the Port-au-Prince area. Saturday one relief organization distributed 4 million meals to the Haitian people. Since there are so many workers in the Port-au-Prince area, the medical team is praying about moving to the outlying areas such as Jacmel and Leogone. As the TV news reports, there is a mass exodus of people out of Port-au-Prince. The news media stays at the airport area which is secured by military and the fighting that is seen on TV is pretty much isolated to that area because of the media attention. Laura and Micah reported that they have not seen violence anywhere. Tent cities are set up for the homeless everywhere. There is a very large U.S. military presence.

The team is working at relief hospitals and seeing a large number of amputations and fractures. They are helping clean wounds and changing dressings after surgeries. They have gone to several areas where they were told help was needed only to find there were lots of medical people already there meeting the needs. It’s been frustrating as they want to help where the needs are greatest and of course there is no organized way to find out where these places are located.

Not really knowing why, Laura said there seems to be more devastation in Carrefour Sunday than on their first visit there. This is most likely because the strong aftershocks continue.

John and Micah have spent a great deal of time working on paperwork to try and get as many of the children from Haiti Children’s Relief Mission, orphanage to the U.S. as they can. Each day that passes, more restrictions are being set up to prevent the children from leaving. According to Laura, there are 40 families in San Antonio alone who have completed home studies and are ready to receive children. The more the government gets involved, the slower the adoption process becomes. Please pray that the Lord would open doors so that some or all the children could get to the safety of Christian homes soon.

Tonight we got through to talk with Micah and he said that he has now experienced a 4.3 and a 4.4 earthquake. He said they happen so quickly that by the time he stood up from his chair it was over. He also mentioned that up on the mountain they are eating as usual and there is water available, praise the Lord.

Things sound chaotic and unorganized which is our experience in normal Haiti. Pray that the team can plug in where they can minister the most. We are grateful for your continued prayers and concern for the people of Haiti and this team.

Last night I talked to Lussade and the team arrived safely, praise the Lord. This morning I had a short phone conversation with Micah. He said that flying in was very interesting. There were several U.S. ships and an aircraft carrier in the Port-au-Prince Bay, which has always been almost empty except for a couple of sunken ships. There were lots of helicopters going in and out from the airport. Then they landed, there were no customs to go through. There was more than normal confusion outside the airport, it took a while to find Pastor Jean Fritz who was there to pick them up.

There is a square downtown that we always pass leaving the airport. He said it was full of people living there. As he drove through Port-au-Prince the streets were full of people as usual and lots of homes and buildings were destroyed. There was a very obvious smell of death, which was sad and unnerving. As they drove further and went up the mountain, they saw many homes that had fallen on top of each other.

Today they plan to do medical clinic in Carrefour, which was the epicenter of the main earthquake. There is much destruction there. Pastor Jean Fritz has a church there and they will possibly work out of it. This is also the area where Pastor Marc’s school is located. We hope to get some word on his school children.

The group has lots of medical supplies, and more waiting to be sent down. They will need funds to purchase other supplies such as fuel, etc., which are available on a limited basis. Jean Fritz runs an orphanage (Haiti Children’s Rescue Mission) up on the mountain, which is close to Lussade’s home and where we used to live. The group will be staying at Lussade’s home and the orphanage, which were relatively unharmed. We appreciate your prayer for Micah and the medical team.

We just got word that Micah and the team got to Haiti safely and are doing well. Praise the Lord!

This morning as another earthquake (6.1) was shaking the ground in Haiti, a medical team was taking off from the San Antonio airport headed to Port-au-Prince. The group departed at 8:00 a.m. central time, just a short time after the quake in Haiti.

Being there to help the group re-box and bag meds, trying to stuff as much product into each bag that they could, was amazing!! One man, David Birdy had a truck full of medical supplies for the plane. After speaking on the radio and T.V. yesterday, he now has a storage room full of supplies. We had several boxes that our doctor donated, and several others had boxes to send down as well. They were trying to get as many antibiotics and bandaging supplies on the plane as possible. The 4 doctors, 2 nurses and Micah were loading onto the plane with backpacks full and holding more bandages and things in their laps. Every spot available was filled.

Standing as a group, we prayed for the Lord’s blessing and safety for the team, the plane and their time in Port-au-Prince. We pray that each Haitian they meet or work on see the love of Jesus Christ in these team members!!

Many of our friends have contacted us to see if our family is OK. We are all doing fine, praise the Lord. Ken and Kenny are in Mexico. Micah is leaving San Antonio on Wednesday morning with a medical team that is going to Port-au-Prince. One place they will be working is near Lussade’s home. Micah will be camping outside, under the stars, with Lussade's family. Once Micah is gone, Brigitta and I will drive down to Nava, after we drop Micah off at the airport.

Today has been pretty busy trying to get Micah ready to go. We weren't even really sure what all he needs to take. This morning he didn't have a way down, then after several closed doors, the Lord worked out a way. He is so good!! Lord willing he will leave early Wednesday morning. Please keep him and the entire team, some doctors and nurses, in your prayers. After talking to several airlines and mission organizations this morning, I understand that it's a miracle that he is even going.

Their flight has an appointed time to arrive in PAP airspace to get into a landing order. They have a 20 minute grace period. If they miss that, they will not be allowed to land. Once they have landed, the plane is allowed 1 hour only on the ground before it has to leave. The reason for these regulations are the many relief flights arriving and departing PAP airport.

We still have no word on the school children. Also, we have more friends in the area where Lussade lives that we have no news on, we look forward to knowing about them. Hopefully Micah will be able to let us know more information when he gets there. We are grateful for your continued prayers for our friends in Haiti.

These pictures on the blog are of Micah on past medical teams. After Wednesday, we hope to have current pictures of him and the team working in Haiti.

Tonight we spoke to Lussade again. He finally got through by phone to Pastor Peti Noel, he and his family are all well, praise the Lord. He has no word on the school children and their families.

Right now, Micah's American Airlines tickets for Jan 23rd are cancelled by A. A. Tomorrow we will check other possibilities for flights with mission organizations or another ticket with American Airlines. Please pray that we might get a ticket for him.

We hope when Micah gets down there, he can tell us whether teams should be going down or not. Right now we understand they only want medical people. Micah has no formal training but has headed up wound care during medical clinics for several years. There were people at our church today who really want to go, but for now we recommend to pray and wait. People in Port-au-Prince are still sleeping outside their homes, there are no motels available, some transportation, and very little food and water.

We are grateful for your prayers for Lussade, Pastor Marc, Pastor Peti Noel, the school children and their families. Pray also that Christians will shine in Haiti as they share Christ with the lost.

We talked to Lussade again last night. He was able to get to the airport and back home yesterday. This is amazing to us, knowing the road system in Port-au-Prince. He told us that food is being distributed as far up the mountain as Petionville. This is great news because it is very difficult to get supplies out to those who need it. When supplies arrive there are always thieves waiting outside the compounds to steal them. The U.S. Military has been helpful in preventing some of these kinds of situations. We're grateful they are there.

Although Lussade still has not reached Pastor Peti Noel by phone, he did go by and saw the school building still standing. We have no news on the school children and/or their families.

We will keep you updated as we get news from Haiti. Micah is still scheduled to go down on the 23rd. We are very grateful for your continued prayers.

Praise the Lord!! We were able to reach Lussade by phone. He and his family are doing well. He said the government is telling everyone not to sleep in their homes, so they all sleep outside. He has some street people staying with him and his family. He has contacted Pastor Marc by phone and he and all the children are fine. We consider this a miracle!! He has not been able to get Pastor Peti Noel by phone yet.

Lussade said that he is almost out of food. They have water. No grocery stores are open, so he’s not sure when he will be able to get more food.

Micah has tickets to fly to Haiti on the 23rd of Jan. Though they have tickets they may change the dates when they discern whether this is the best time to go. The orphanage where Micah often stays is still up and doing well, praise the Lord.

If you would like to help with funds for supplies, any gifts sent for Haiti will go to Haiti or to help Micah get there. Thank you so much for your interest and your prayers. We praise the Lord for this good news. Please continue to pray for Haiti, that we can contact Pastor Peti Noel, Pastor Marc, Lussade, the school children and their families.

Thank you for everyone’s concern. Most communication is down. We have not been able to contact our Haitian administrator, Lussade Eugene, and we are concerned for the schools. Unfortunately the schools are in the worst areas and the buildings are not much. Pastor Mark's school is within a mile of the earthquakes center. Pastor Peti Noel's school is in a very poor section of Petionville. All reports from Petionville are not good.

We have received only one e-mail from some friends that live up the mountain, close to our old home and sort of close to Lussade.

We feel very helpless at this time. There is not much we can do, even at best. We are also in Mexico right now.

We will try and update when we can.

Thank you and pray for Haiti!
Because of Christ, Ken

We are all OK and those who are close to us are also fine. There is a LOT of damage and will undoubtedly be a great many casualties. My assistant Desir arrived here a few minutes ago and said he saw Caribbean Market (the largest, fanciest store in the country) had been flattened. He passed it a few minutes after the main shock. It is ALWAYS packed at that time of the afternoon so will have many deaths and injuries—almost all will be in the elite classes and the UN people here in the country. We were near the sand mines below our place at the time of the main shock and it looked like the whole two mile length of the cliffs collapsed. There are many hundreds of people working there.

Lots of rumors but not much we can confirm at the moment. Cannot get through to anyone on the cell phones as they are jammed solid. No electricity anywhere except for people like us who have inverters and generators. Shock happened just before dark so things are proceeding in pitch black—solid cloud cover as well. Many aftershocks—they had been coming every ten to fifteen minutes but just a little bit ago we had three almost one after another. Ann is the fastest one among us at jumping and running for a door. Just had the biggest one yet—4th in about 5 minutes. Most unsettling.

Pray for us, and in particular, pray for those who surround us and have much greater problems than we do.

David and Ann Farquharson