March 6, 2010 – 6:37am – Saturday – Bon Repos (Ruuska Village), Haiti- Report submitted by Joe Hurston (Air Mobile Joe)

Awoke to 2 quakes last night. Glad to be sleeping in a tent. Cindy and I saw such major damage yesterday as we drove the motorcycle to the “other side” of the quake. As we drove west, we saw huge cracks in the road and land depressions as the massive quake roared toward Port-Au-Prince and beyond. The experience must have been terrifying, because many Haitians have never experienced a significant earthquake. My thoughts were for our friends as we headed deeper toward ground zero. 

The town of Gressier, where we first lived after we were married was 60-80% destroyed. Those structures left standing had serious damage. We went to our first home…it was standing, the other house on the same piece of property was completely flattened. We made inquiry of our neighbors and miraculously, no one that we knew had perished. However, from the evidence, we know that many died in the community. 

Pastor Desarmes’ mission (church/school/clinic) was 100% destroyed. These grim images made us both glad to be sleeping in a tent and not under a big concrete roof. The amazing thing that we saw again and again is the attitude of the people. Many are just going about their lives and slowly rebuilding. Pastor Desarmes was “on-site” supervising about 10 men in the clean up / reconstruction process. The structure that he is currently building is a single story with a tin roof. He is near retirement age. Cindy and I joked with him that he is going to have to put off his retirement for a while. We laughed…it was good. 

Today, we wait. Barbara was unable to get final clearance of a Visa for a little 7 month old. Today, it may come. If it does, then we have to pack up and fly….literally on a moments notice. If the Visa does not process today, we stay and put more water purifiers out. Either way, we win. Please pray the Lord has His way with this day.

God Bless!

Air Mobile Joe