Compassion Services International

Letter from Bruce Howell, Foreign Missions Director

1/27/2005

Many of you are very interested in knowing about our churches in the affected areas of the world by the Tsunami that has affected Asia.

Dear Concerned Constituents of the UPCI Worldwide:
I bring you Christian greetings!

Many of you are very interested in knowing about our churches in the affected areas of the world by the Tsunami that has affected Asia.

As soon as I heard the news on Sunday, I made contact with Brothers Lynden Shalm and Richard Denny to see what the situation was in their areas, and I have continued calling several times to get an update.

Brother Shalm has worked tirelessly in this and has sent us a report. He is planning on making a trip to help Brother Prince Mathiaz, missionary to Sri Lanka, since he lived there and due to his knowledge of the area can be a tremendous help. He sent us the following report:

Much of the devastation in India has taken place on the southeast coastal areas of India. We received word from the Corbins in Bangladesh and they are fine. We also received word from the Frizzells in Thailand and all our missionaries and pastors are fine. Even in Myanmar, our superintendent’s home was shaken by the tremors, but everyone there is doing fine.

Brother and Sister Mathiasz were ministering in another part of the island when the tsunami struck Sri Lanka. They immediately returned and began to contact the believers. Brother Mathiasz gave me a very detailed report of each city that was affected, for which I will not take the time to go into at present. However, many low-lying parts of Colombo were severely affected. Even railway stations were washed away and many on the coast lost everything. Hotels very close to our headquarters church were severely affected. The nation at present has more than 1.5 million people displaced along its coast. The city of Galle, 60 miles south of Colombo was under 10 feet of water. The worst hit was the southeast coast of Sri Lanka, where we have some churches. Pastor Christie Jonathan escaped with his life and made it to high ground. He lost everything, even the shoes on his feet. When Brother Mathiasz spoke to him by phone, Brother Christie told him that the whole area had no drinking water or food. He was weeping as he spoke. He said, “Pastor Mathiasz, I am so thirsty, but there is nothing to drink.” He said that the ground was so full of water, they could not bury the dead. They began bringing the dead and put them on the second floor of a building. When another wave hit, it swept all the dead bodies off of the second floor and back into the sea. Brother Christie informed us that in his church, a new family of eight was completely swept out to sea and perished.

A precious young couple with a child that is blind had just began attending the church in Colombo. Brother Mathiasz received the news that this young couple had lost everything. In the midst of this terrible tragedy, there is some good news. Brother Mathiasz said that Sister Evelyn, the lady cook at the Bible school, was missing and they had heard reports that her house, which was close to the railway station, had also been washed out to sea. When Brother & Sister Mathiasz went to see if they could find her this morning, they found that she was in her house and it was the only house left standing. The enormous wave went around her house and she was spared. What a miracle!

Brother Mathiasz has opened up the headquarters church in Colombo as a distribution center for relief activities. As various relief organizations send food items, water and tents, these provisions will be disbursed from the church facility.

Brother Mathiasz is trying to determine how best to be of assistance. Establishing contact with pastors and believers has not been easy up until now. The Sri Lankan church has already geared up to assist in whatever way they can.

In India, Brother Ruben Hobday in South India’s largest city, Chennai, said that as far as he knew, God had spared all the pastors and believers in Chennai and surrounding areas. Most of them live 12-15 kilometers inland from the sea and were spared. However, the devastation along the coast is still being measured and accounted for.

Many have mentioned that they would like to provide financial help and assistance in some way. We are very grateful to Brother G. R. Travis and Compassion Services International, which is standing by and ready to provide much needed assistance. Any financial assistance can be directed to the Foreign Missions Division and designated “Tsunami Relief Fund”. Compassion Services is, at this moment, readying a medical team to travel to Sri Lanka to aid in the disaster relief.

Those who have been affected by all the devastation are eternally grateful for all the prayers of God’s people.

I just received a phone call from Brother Denny and he has informed me that all of our people in his region are fine according to the knowledge he has at this time. He continues to be in contact. However, all of the missionaries and national leaders assure him that our people are fine. I asked him to see if we can be of any assistance to others there. He will keep us informed.

I have talked with Brother Mathiasz and he is doing all right, but he definitely needs our prayer covering. Thanks for keeping all of these affected by this disaster in your prayers.