March 16, 2010 – 12:02am – Tuesday – Bon Repos, Haiti (Ruuska Village) – Report submitted by Joe Hurston (Air Mobile Joe)

I spoke to the Airport Direction office today. It should ok for me to come in and stay a few days. You see, the new rule is planes can only come in for an hour. I was able to explain that we have been working in-country for over 30 years. Hope the authorization comes through. Spoke with the nurse taking care of our patient. He’s holding steady and should make the flight just fine tomorrow. I was able to speak with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) personnel regarding the future placement of Voyager water purifiers. These guys fly all over the island and see first hand serious needs. I look forward to working more closely with them in the future. We had a major victory regarding the placement of the containers and the best news is…today, Kyle brought the first container to the Village and our gracious neighbor is allowing us to park them in her yard. Listen, anytime one gets a container out of Haitian Customs, that is a major victory! Praise God! 

The “tent men”, Jim and Dave were joined today by Greg Stockton. Remember, their ministry is getting quality tents into as many locations as they can. After a quick run to town to get authorizations, fuel the plane, etc., returned back to the village. Loaded up the “tent men” and headed to Leogane. Enroute, I saw a gripping billboard reminding the Haitian people that “Hurricane Season is coming”! The forcasters are predicting a very busy Hurricane season. What we do, we must do quickly. 

On the way to Leogane, I was able to drop the drum set with Pastor Desarmes on the way. The destruction we witnessed was staggering. One report stated that 80% of the building were destroyed or severely damaged. We concur. We also stopped at the Leprosy Hospital. I was shocked to see the residence of the Catholic nuns was completely destroyed. There were injuries. It was a sad scene. Of course, we had a flat tire, a common occurance in Haiti. 

In a few hours, we head to the airport and fly back to the U.S. Please pray all goes well. I won’t have time to “blog” in the morning.

God Bless and thanks for your prayers!!

Air Mobile Joe