MARK ELLIS, of Assist News Service, reports…
Two missionaries from a Calvary Chapel in Wisconsin credit God’s hand of protection for their narrow escape from danger in the Port-au-Prince earthquake.
Pastor Huguener “Bastia” Bastia and his wife Betty minister at a Calvary Chapel located in rural Caneille, Haiti. They had arrived in Port-au-Prince to celebrate their wedding anniversary on the day the earthquake struck, according to Mary Danielsen, a secretary at their home church in Wisconsin.
“Bastia and I are both safe and unharmed due to nothing short of a miracle of God.”
– Betty Bastia in an email to her home church in the US.
“Bastia and I are both safe and unharmed due to nothing short of a miracle of God,” writes Betty, in a 13th January email sent to their home church.
Betty was in a grocery store in Port-au-Prince and Bastia was across the street in a barbershop with his friend TiJean when the quake hit.
“Within 10 minutes of being in the grocery store, I felt the floor start to tremble. I remember thinking, ‘This feels like an earthquake, but Haiti doesn’t have earthquakes,’” Betty reports.
When she looked up, she saw ceiling tiles trembling. Underneath her, the shaking increased to the point she could not stand. “I knelt down on the floor, covered my head, and prayed,” she writes.
The rumbling increased and the lights went out. “It was pitch black everywhere,” she writes. Betty heard people screaming and the sound of people trying to run to get out of the building as ceiling tiles fell and merchandise flew off the shelves.
“All around me, I was aware that things were falling, but nothing touched me,” Betty writes. When the tremors stopped, she tried to call her husband but there was no response.
Then Betty became aware of a woman behind her. “Are you OK?” Betty asked.
“Yes,” the woman replied.
“Don’t be afraid, Jesus is with us,” Betty told her.
“I told her to follow me, and with the light of my cell phone, we carefully and slowly began crossing the debris to exit the building. As I exited, I looked everywhere for Bastia. And then, right there in front of me, there he was along with TiJean. I cannot explain the relief and joy to see his face.”
Bastia had a more traumatic experience. He and friend TiJean sat in barber chairs in a large cement building when the tremors began. Both men ran for the shop’s exit door when they realised the seriousness of the situation.
TiJean fell on the way, but got out before the building collapsed. Bastia was not able to get out and a huge slab of cement fell from above and stopped precariously above his head.
“Gods’ angels were holding up the cement to not crush him,” Betty believes. Bastia looked, but saw no way out at first. Then he found a small hole to crawl through and escaped.
Betty and Bastia drove by the same barbershop the next morning, and it had totally collapsed. “Bastia would have died if that had happened while he was in the building,” Betty notes. “We are praising God continuously for His protection and deliverance. Thank you for all who pray for us. God has a plan and nothing will stop it.”
“The situation in Port-au-Prince is severe,” she adds. The Bastias have witnessed many trapped in cement buildings, with wounded, bleeding people everywhere, and the dead lying on the streets barely covered. There is little vehicle traffic and thousands of people walk the streets viewing the damage and searching for loved ones.
“The hospital was full and there were no medical personnel seen outside. One beautiful young girl was dying before my very eyes as a young man with her looked at me and said, ‘She’s dying.’ There were cries and wails of pain everywhere.”
– Betty Bastia describing the scene in a hospital after the magnitude 7.0 earthquake
Betty and Bastia took a truckload of injured people to a hospital. “There was hardly a place left on the hospital grounds to even put them,” Betty notes. “The hospital was full and there were no medical personnel seen outside. One beautiful young girl was dying before my very eyes as a young man with her looked at me and said, ‘She’s dying.’ There were cries and wails of pain everywhere.”
Phone communication has not been possible since the earthquake hit, according to Betty. Cell phones linked to communication towers are not working. Only satellite Internet has been operable, which allowed them to send their email to Wisconsin.
“Please continue to pray for us and Haiti,” Betty writes, “especially those impacted by the earthquake. God is sovereign, God is good, and He has a plan for each one. We pray for many to be saved through this present affliction.
“Thank you for your love and prayers. We are living proof that they make a difference. To God be the glory!”
