Praying for Bro.

Shortly after the earthquake in Haiti, my brother, Kirk Overstreet, received a phone call from his pastor friend, Val.  Val grew up in Boston but returned to his homeland of Haiti 8 yrs ago to bring the love and hope of Jesus to his people.  Val's phone call to Kirk was one of need.  His flock of 80 people had grown to over 800.  Most of them orphans. 

Kirk, along with his church, Set Free Yucaipa, knew they needed to love on their brother in Christ.  Things were set into motion and Kirk and his wife Tamra were scheduled to leave on Friday, February 12 to head to Haiti for 5 days.

Thursday late evening they received a phone call from their travel agent saying their flight into Port-au-Prince was cancelled.  Kirk and Tamra drove to Ontario airport to speak with a Delta representative.  Due to a snowstorm arriving in Atlanta they needed to leave that night.  In ONE hour to be exact.

They drove home, loaded up their luggage, headed back to Ontario, ran the whole way and made it onto the flight.  There was a slight change in plans.  They would now fly into Santo Domingo, DR, find a way to the border then take a bus to Port-au-Prince where they would meet Pastor Val.  This was doable.  And during their layover in Atlanta, the U.S. Airways representative told them their flight out on February 17 was fine. 

Upon arrival on Friday, God provided a ride for Kirk and Tamra to the border.  It is there that they spent the night, took their last shower, and refreshed before crossing into Haiti.

Saturday Kirk text messaged me to say they had arrived and that things were CRAZY!!! 

That was the last we heard from them until today.  Here is an e-mail message Kirk sent:

We are okay. WE stink and are very tired. We have been sleeping outside with the orphans. We have a rooster we would love to kill that crows from 4am till 6am right by our heads. The orphans are so amazing. They have the greatest smiles and it has been a release for them to have us with them. We had a wedding inside the house and it was the first time they have been in the house. Now they are starting to feel safe and some have slept inside. It was a beautiful wedding.

The sights of destruction is horrifying and the smell is like raw hamburger meat left out for days but it's humans left under the rubble for a month now. The tent citys everywhere have people with smiles and life. The thing that bothered me the most is that we noticed no aid workers or supplies being given out. The people are going into the rubble and building tents out of scraps.

Saturday my wife and I went to the palace and they were having a 3 days of prayer and fasting. They had a big stage with worship and prayers going through the sound systems. I started walking through the crowd and a few people started falling out all around. Few would just start crying out to Jesus with hands raised. Of course I videod.

Preached at a church. The pastor lost his wife and child during the earthquake. His orphanage and school collapsed but all the kids, teachers, and pastor was outside playing soccer during the quake. No one was hurt. The pastor ran to check on his wife and kid to find his 2 story home crushed to the ground.

He was able to dig his wife's body out but couldn't get to his daughter. He showed us the grave of his wife on the property.

We walked 4 miles back to the orphanage we are staying at on Sunday after church. I got my head burned walking in the sun and the humidity was intense. We would gain strength as we would hear worship and preaching every few blocks in yards and tents. Hundreds of people worshipping with their homes they build for years and spent thousands of dollars on.

Pray for us as we meet with a few pastors that want to be a Set Free church. We are going down to Cir Soliel. A notorious slum known to be the most dangerous area of all of Haiti. They are even known for cannibalism. The pastor said the quake has brought so many to Jesus and he has never seen anything like what God is doing in his entire life. We leave in an hour.

Pray we get home. Not sure about our flight.

God is at work!  Join us as we continue to pray for the people of Haiti, the Church, and for Kirk and Tamra.

And please pray for Pastor Val.  The wedding Kirk mentioned was Pastor Val to his fiancee (now wife).  They were to be married this summer in Boston but asked their family to use the money for feeding the people who are living on their church grounds.  Pastor Val and his fiancee, had even sold their rings for food.