I am writing you today to ask you to join my family and others in making a contribution to Only A Servant Ministries for Christian relief for the precious people of the earthquake-devastated nation of Haiti. Present reports on the dead range from 30,000 to 100,000.

Those of you who have followed the story of the life and death of Shelby Kennedy, a former member of the local church of which I am a part, and the young lady who is the inspiration behind the Shelby Kennedy Foundation’s National Bible Bee, may know of the tremendous work of Shelby’s mother and father—Ken and Debbie Kennedy of Only A Servant Ministries. For just under two decades the Kennedys have worked in Haiti, bringing physical helps and the Gospel of Christ to the Haitian people. They offer the following inside report from earlier this week on the great Haitian earthquake tragedy from their teammates on the ground in Haiti:

We are all OK and those who are close to us are also fine. There is a LOT of damage and will undoubtedly be a great many casualties. My assistant Desir arrived here a few minutes ago and said he saw Caribbean Market (the largest, fanciest store in the country) had been flattened. He passed it a few minutes after the main shock. It is ALWAYS packed at that time of the afternoon so will have many deaths and injuries - almost all will be in the elite classes and the UN people here in the country. We were near the sand mines below our place at the time of the main shock and it looked like the whole two mile length of the cliffs collapsed. There are many hundreds of people working there.

Lots of rumors but not much we can confirm at the moment. Cannot get through to anyone on the cell phones as they are jammed solid. No electricity anywhere except for people like us who have inverters and generators. Shock happened just before dark so things are proceeding in pitch black - solid cloud cover as well. Many aftershocks - they had been coming every ten to fifteen minutes but just a little bit ago we had three almost one after another. Ann is the fastest one among us at jumping and running for a door. Just had the biggest one yet - 4th in about 5 minutes. Most unsettling.

Pray for us, and in particular, pray for those who surround us and have much greater problems than we do.

David and Ann Farquharson

Ken followed up with this notice:

Dear Friends in Christ,

Thank you for your concern for our Haitian friends. Most communication is down. We have not been able to contact our Haitian administrator, Lussade Eugene, and we are concerned for the schools. Unfortunately, they are in the worst areas and the buildings are not much. Pastor Marc’s school is in Carrefour, within a mile of the earthquakes center. Pastor Peti Noel’s school is in a very poor section of Petionville. All reports from Petionville are not good. We have received only one e-mail from some friends that live up the mountain, close to our old home and sort of close to Lussade. (It is at the bottom of this letter.)

This afternoon we have found a way for Micah to go to Haiti on Jan. 23rd. He will be helping with medical needs in the Petionville and Carrefour areas. Please, if you would like to help support his trip, any money sent for his trip will go towards helping our friends and others with medical and food/water needs in Haiti.

Just like many of you, we feel very helpless at this time. Please pray for Lussade, Pastors Marc and Peti Noel, their families, and the school children and their families.

We will update you when we have any news. Thank you for your prayers.

Because of Christ, Ken and Debbi Kennedy

And here is the final report:

Praise the Lord!! Tonight we finally got through by phone to Lussade. He and his family are doing well. He says the government is telling everyone not to sleep in their homes, so they all sleep outside their homes. He has some street people staying with him and his family. He has contacted Pastor Marc by phone and he and all the children are fine. We consider this a miracle!! He has not been able to get Pastor Peti Noel by phone yet.

Lussade said that he is almost out of food. They have water. No grocery stores are open, so he’s not sure when he will be able to get more food.

Micah has tickets to go to Haiti on the 23rd of Jan. Though they have tickets they may change the dates when they discern whether this is the best timing to go. The orphanage where Micah often stays is still up and doing well, praise the Lord.

If you would like to help with funds for supplies, any gifts sent for Haiti will go to Haiti or to help Micah get there. Thank you so much for your interest and your prayers. We praise the Lord for this good news. Please continue to pray for Haiti, Pastor Peti Noel, Pastor Marc, Lussade, the school children and their families.