Feeling Like You Have Too Much to Do? Talk to Micaiah.

Micaiah Thomas, a 20 year old Spanish major at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, is probably doing a bit more than you did at her age. She not only goes to school, she serves as full time pastor of the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Hueytown. She preaches, handles funerals, etc, etc. Once she graduates, she hopes to become a missionary like her father. Read her story at Tuscaloosa News.

Presbyterian News - 18 January 2010

The following items were gleaned by the Presbyterian News service and from the PCUSA web site:
* January was declared "Prevent Human Trafficking" month by President Obama.

* Discover an Old Country, and travel to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, June 13-24 and September 12-23,2010. The cost is $2500 per trip.

* January 18, 2010, feature's the Presbytery of Beaver-Butler in the Mission Yearbook. It's not too late to purchase your 2010 Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study. This year's theme is "What a Difference A Day Makes", and features a 16-page color insert lifting up the mission work of Presbyterian Women. If you missed the bulk order the church made, you can buy a single copy for $9.25 by downloading an order form or ordering online.

Info Updates as of January 15, 2010 - Haiti

In a PCUSA news release today, good news was heard about four missionary teams and several missionaries. Property was another matter entirely:
* A 20 person medical missionary team from Lawrenceville Presbyterian Church, Lawrenceville, NJ arrived just before the quake occurred for a previously arranged medical mission and went right to work.
* A group from First Presbyterian Church in Atlanta is reported accounted for near Port-au-Prince, and is helping with disaster relief as they plan the best route to come home.
* A third group from Warrenton Presbyterian Church (VA) is well and accounted for about 70 miles away from Port-au-Prince.
* A fourth mission team from First Presbyterian Church in Lacrosse, WI (facebook link) was in Haiti on medical mission work when the earthquake hit, and is planning to return home soon.

A PCUSA-related Hospital, Sainte Croix, in Leogante, was destroyed.

Update on Missionaries Babe and Hare

Missionary Sharyn Babe is recuperating in Fort Lauderdale, FL from a leg injury suffered from the collapse of her apartment building. Her husband Rodney suffered minor injuries and is attempting to make his way to Ft. Lauderdale.

Mark Hare and his wife Susan are safe and accounted for in Papay, a town 100 miles from the epicenter of the earthquake.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance - The PCUSA has already donated $100,000 from One Great Hour of Sharing funds to help with the immediate crisis needs. PDA is accepting donations through PDA account number DR000064. Gifts can also be made by calling Presbytel toll-free 800-872-3283 weekdays between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. (EST) and checks can be mailed to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, P.O. Box 643700, Pittsburgh, Penn. 15264-3700. Most congregations are also receiving donations during worship services this weekend.

Local Community Resources for Haiti Relief

To pass on to people you know, or provide nonperishable food supplies:

Current as of January 14, 2010

Financial Donations
Donations to the International Response Fund can be sent to the

American Red Cross
P.O. Box 37243
Washington, D.C. 20013

or made by phone at 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish) or online at www.redcross.org <http://www.redcross.org/>

Donation of Goods
Medical (first aid) supplies and nonperishable foods may be dropped off to Christian Louis, Coalition for Haitian American Empowerment of Monmouth and Ocean Counties. He can be reached at 732-455-5546 or 732-492-0360. The drop off location is at 1310 Asbury Ave. in Asbury Park. They plan to ship out supplies next week.
Sisters Academy is serving as a drop-off center for goods from 1/14-1/16, 8a-4p; goods include tables, water purification systems, and clothes. Sisters Academy is located at 1416 Springwood Ave. Asbury Park, NJ 732-774-9056.

Locating Family Members
Red Cross Family Links Website through ICRC: http://www.icrc.org/familylinks

Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network. SATERN has volunteers that have been monitoring Ham radios all night for info coming from the area. Should anyone be looking to locate a loved one or get any info on someone they can register at www.qso.com <http://www.qso.com/> and go to "health and welfare registry".
Russ Hendrickson. KC2VFH

People trying to locate U.S. citizens living or traveling in Haiti should contact the U.S. Department of State, Office of Overseas Citizens Services, at 1-888-407-4747 or 202-647-5225.

Another Mission Worker in Haiti Sharyn Babe

As the Presbyterian World Mission team works to ascertain the status on their missionaries to Haiti, please keep Sharyn Babe in your prayers, along with Mark Hare.
Sharyn has a site on Mission Connections that you can follow to see what she's been up to there since 1987. Sharyn is pictured below with her husband, Rodney.

News Update on Earthquake

I received an email after the original post on the PCUSA response to the earthquake in Haiti.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is working to provide relief.  Donations are welcome.

In addition, the local chapter of the American Red Cross is seeking to provide assistance and grief counseling to identified Haitian residents living in the Monmouth and Ocean County areas.  The largest identifiable populations are in Asbury Park and Neptune.  They have notified churches in that area that ARC is ready to help.  The contact at the Jersey Coast Chapter of the American Red Cross is Cleo Hendrickson, Director of Community Initiatives, phone 732-493-9100.

Haiti Hit by Massive Earthquake

A massive earthquake, registering 7.0 in magnitude rocked the Caribbean country of Haiti on Tuesday. The Associate Press reported this morning the quake, the strongest in 200 years, has resulted in near complete devastation, affecting perhaps 3 million people. Many international agencies are coordinating to help.

Stateside, Haitian immigrants living in the United States are praying and hoping for the best at this time.

As of this morning, the Presbyterian Church has not issued a news release on PCUSA's role in helping. Presbyterian Mission Connections has a site featuring Mark Hare, a missionary sent to Haiti in 2004 to help with MPP, a 30 year old farmer's cooperative to help reinforce their agricultural work. Mark has many photos and stories about his work in his blog. I've taken the liberty of posting one of those photos here (see above).

Many organizations will be providing relief to Haiti at this time. MSNBC has a list of many groups that are active in the nation and will gladly accept donations. Among them are the American Red Cross which will be providing $200,000 immediate support to the Haitian relief effort, to help with food, water, temporary shelter and emotional support.

You can follow the Presbyterian News Service to see what the response from PCUSA will be in the near future.