Forward; Haiti Relief from the U.S. & and Half a World away

[Ed Pettibone]

Posted by Ed Pettibone; Copied from ABC- USA, International Ministries

Haiti Relief from the U.S. and Half a World Away

by James G. Layton
Vital, Kristy, Ketly -- Haiti Feb 2010.jpg
The delay in mailing this is due to a mighty blizzard on the East coast. Our apologies.

$303,000 has been given to International Ministries in response to the January 12th Haiti earthquake with one of the latest contributions coming from half a world away. At its 125th anniversary celebration, the Angami Baptist Church Council, part of the Nagaland Baptist Church Council, collected $8,744 to fund Haiti relief efforts through International Ministries (IM). The council, an IM partner for more than a century, also collected $5,920 in support of IM’s mission that reaches people in more than 70 countries. The Angami is one of many tribes in Nagaland, a state in the northeastern portion of India. In 1885, four Angamis became Christians; today 27,245 members are part of 104 Angami Baptist churches.

Kristy Engel (center), a pediatric nurse practitioner and IM missionary in the Dominican Republic (DR), and Vital (left) and Ketly Pierre, IM missionaries in Nicaragua, have been overseeing medical care for Haiti earthquake victims not served by any other groups. Rotating teams, composed of volunteer professional medical personnel from the U.S. and elsewhere, travel from the DR each week to Port-au-Prince. Temporary clinics are set up in schools and
church buildings. Word-of-mouth advertising is initiated by school principals or church leaders 24-hours before each team arrives. Once a treatment place is established, different teams go to the same location until Haitians are equipped to provide care. When that occurs, teams under Engel’s supervision are sent to other critical neighborhoods. Volunteer doctors and physician assistants are asked to email a message to BIMvolunteers@abc-usa.org to become part of a team.

Adalia Schellinger-Gutiérrez, M.D., an IM missionary in Mexico, devoted a week in early February as one of a 30-member rotating team. She says, “On just the first day we were able to see 527 patients who were so grateful for the care they received. As American Baptists, we have a long mission history in Haiti and have avenues for providing food, water and medical supplies as we team up with our Haitian sisters and brothers.”

IM missionary Stephen James, M.D. and his wife Nancy, a registered nurse, requested prayer support as they left their home in the north of Haiti to return to Port-au-Prince. Their plans included helping to prepare a place belonging to IM’s mission partner, the Convention of Baptists in Haiti (CBH). When teams soon arrive during the rebuilding phase, they will be assured of a safe place to stay.

The rebuilding phase will also be the focus next week in Haiti when José Norat-Rodriguez, IM area director for Iberoamerica and the Caribbean, and other American Baptist and CBH leaders meet to refine plans for the immediate future.

Donations continue to be needed. Donors can give through the IM website: http://www.internationalministries.org/items/80, or by check to: “OGHS – Haiti Earthquake Relief” and mailed to: International Ministries, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851. Support can also be given by American Baptists through their church by making checks payable to the church with “One Great Hour of Sharing – Haiti Earthquake Relief” written in the memo section. These gifts will be sent from the church through the American Baptist region and then to International Ministries.

A new tax relief law allows people who contribute to Haiti earthquake relief by March 1, 2010 to take a tax deduction for the contribution on their 2009 tax return. This means donors can receive an immediate tax benefit, rather than having to wait until they file next year’s return. Donors may deduct these contributions on either their 2009 or 2010 returns, but not both. See: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,, ... ?portlet=7

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American Baptist International Ministries, organized in 1814, is the oldest Baptist mission agency formed in North America. We serve more than 2,500 short-term and long-term missionaries annually, bringing U.S. and Puerto Rico churches together with partners in 76 countries in cutting-edge ministries that tell the good news of Jesus Christ while meeting human needs.

1.800.222.3872
http://www.internationalministries.org
1-800-222-3872
P.O. Box 851
Valley Forge, PA 19482

[Haruo]

Thanks for posting that, Ed. I'd be interested in knowing the "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus" is of Angami origin (I know it's from the Assam region, hence the tune name, though not from Assam State, and presumably from Nagaland). In any case it appears to be true. They have decided to follow Jesus.