Earthquake Rocks Haiti:  Please Help!

 

The devastation is immeasurable; the misery untold.  And this disaster is personal for our St Andrew congregation -- the family of one of our newest members has suffered injury, uncertainty, the loss of their home and at least one beloved family member in Port-au-Prince.  Currently, FUNDS will be most helpful to fulfill urgent needs of this St Andrew “extended” family and many others in Haiti! Please give generously to relieve suffering and share Christ’s light with those who need it so desperately. 

 

Click here to donate online now. Thank you!

 

From Pastor Hricko just updated

March 18, 2010

 

We give thanks for the outpouring of music that was heard at St. Andrew on Sunday, February 24^th as many of our congregational musicians were joined by our music-making friends including the Gospel Choir of the People’s Community Baptist Church for an afternoon of Hope for Haiti.  In addition to a chance to experience many ways through which God can be glorified through music, those in attendance heard our fellow member Derson Jolteus, who is a native of Haiti, greet the audience and give thanks for the support of our congregation for his family, who resided in Port-au-Prince before January’s devastating earthquake.  Derson also read Psalm 62 in his native Creole.  Those who gathered supported St. Andrew’s Haiti Relief effort with $6000 additional dollars in love offerings.

 

Thanks to St. Andrew congregation, Derson’s family was able to move from living outdoors into a rented house outside of Port-au-Prince and begin the process of rebuilding their lives. Sadly, on March 15^th, we learned that Derson’s mother passed away following an illness and resulting disability that preceded the earthquake but worsened in its aftermath.  Again, with our congregation’s support, Derson was able to travel back to Haiti to mourn with his family.

 

While Derson and his family will be forever changed by the earthquake, the people of St. Andrew have made a difference they will never forget.  The Hope for Haiti Concert was one aspect of our response.  The work of our Global Mission and Social Action teams has facilitated many other responses.  Your prayers and support will continue to bless the Jolteus family and their fellow Haitians in the days ahead.   Many thanks and to God be all the glory!

 

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February 10, 2010

We give thanks that St. Andrew member Derson Jolteus was successful in traveling to Haiti and locating his family living outdoors outside of Port-au-Prince. Though he mourns the death of his brother, as well as other extended family members who died in the earthquake, he is thankful that his parents, sister, and another brother are alive.

Derson's trip was filled with difficulties, including extensive damage to his rental car by overly anxious Haitians who were receiving food Derson purchased for distribution. More significantly, the horrors of the earthquake and the plight of his family are beyond description. Fortunately, a plan is emerging that may enable Derson's family, with St. Andrew's help and support, to move into a rented house 75 miles from Port-au-Prince and begin a new life with the basics of food and shelter. However, one thing we've learned is that circumstances change quickly. By the time we post what I've just written, the situation may have changed. But rest assured that we are being careful, caring, and deliberate in our responses.

I have met and spoken several times with Derson to pray with him and comfort him with God's holy Word. Our Global Mission and Social Action Teams have also met to discuss and organize our congregational support for Derson, his family, and their fellow Haitians. David Blanchard, St. Andrew member, and I have been in contact with Karl Eastlack, Executive Director of World Hope International, which has staff members on the ground in Haiti and can offer support as well. A Hope for Haiti Benefit Concert is scheduled for February 21st. Along with the gifted musicians of St. Andrew, we will be joined by former Praise Team member Robert Jefferson, the Gospel Choir of People's Community Baptist Church, and others who will make the music of hope in Christ for those who long for its power. Other responses will continue to be announced as the long process of recovery continues.

You financial support has been a magnificent, for which I thank you again and again. But the dollars will go quickly as we seek to help an extended family of 15 begin from almost nothing and build a new life by God's grace and through the work of our hearts and hands. Your continued gifts given at St. Andrew or through this website will be gratefully received to the glory of God.

In Christ,

Pastor Hricko
 

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Tuesday, January 19^th

By the grace of God through the overwhelming generosity of His people at St. Andrew, our fellow member Derson Jolteus departed for his native Haiti yesterday. Bruce Emmel took Derson and his cousin to the airport and I got to speak with him just before he boarded the plane. In addition to your prayers for all the people of Haiti and all who seek to bring comfort and relief to them, I ask you to pray frequently and fervently for Derson as he travels, sees his homeland in ruins, and receives additional information about loved ones whose specific condition was still unknown to him when he left this morning. What he does know about the death of his brother, the injuries of his father and sister, the destruction of their home, and the uncertain whereabouts of his mother is devastating enough.

Still, Derson is clearly a man of faith who is uplifted by the comforts of the Gospel and the prayers of God’s people. Tears were in my eyes yesterday as I watched the members of St. Andrew literally standing in line to greet and comfort Derson and support the people of Haiti with your gifts, this after having filled not just part of a truck, but an entire truck with food for those who are hungry.

From my heart I thank you for your most generous offerings and humbly ask for the continued prayers and financial support of those who have not yet given or may be able to give more. Remember that St. Andrew’s website is also an easy and effective means of making a contribution.

I also thank you for your interest and readiness to support other efforts that will form to bring hope to the people of Haiti including Derson’s family. Mandy Wingo and St. Andrew’s Global Mission team stand ready to meet with him upon his return to respond to whatever specific needs he may identify. We already know that whatever they are, those needs will be great. In the meantime, we will also begin the process of facilitating whatever collections, events, and activities we identify as appropriate to this horrific situation.

Finally, I cannot begin to tell you how grateful Derson is for his new church family. In a word, he is overwhelmed, as am I, by the ways in which you have wrapped your arms of love around a man you hardly know at a time of such great suffering and loss. I know that this is the Lord’s doing, but I also thank you again and again for the being the stewards of grace that you so beautifully are.

The Lord be with you+

Your fellow servant, in Christ,

Pastor Hricko