More and more people are responding to our request from this past weekend to partner with us in helping the children of Haiti! Thanks for being so generous on behalf of so many in Haiti! We’re doing our best to sort through all of the requests that are coming in from Haiti and we’re attempting to prioritize them based on the urgency, the long-term responsibilities, and what plan is financially sustainable over the next few years. The needs are so great and so numerous so pray for our staff and leadership to have wisdom in making decisions that will bring relief to the Haitians now as well as in the years to come.

One of the schools that we fund has made the decision to join the rest of the schools in Haiti by closing its doors for the next 3 weeks. Everyone in the country has been directly affected by the tragedy of the earthquake. One friend wrote to tell me that “everyone is in a state of shock and mourning.” Pray for the teachers there who are loving the Haitian people in so many different ways. Two of the teachers (Jonathon & Cady) are members of Southland.

I met with a young Haitian man yesterday whose wife and 11 year old son were killed in the earthquake. He is now caring for his 4 month old son and has no life to return to in Port-au-Prince. He is stuck in Kentucky with a short-term visa. His name is Fenelon and he needs our prayers. Pray specifically that our Embassy is compassionate towards him and his plight and grants him an extension on his Visa.

Food and water shortages continue to be a daily issue in Port-au-Prince, so I want to challenge everyone who calls Southland home to remember the Haitian people in prayer every time we gather around a table to eat. We need to ask ourselves what we can go without so children in Haiti won’t have to go without.

I am always blown away by the love of God that flows through each of you and I want to say “thanks” for loving people, no matter where they’re from or what they’re facing! Southland family, thanks for being Jesus in this world!