Wednesday, January 19, 2005
            RE:      Operation Wave of Blessing Report Part 1

To Whom It May Concern:

            Thank you for the opportunity to share my (Mark Taylor, Johnathan Macris, Aris Agelakopoulos, Lynn Everswick) findings from this past Friday, December 31, 2004 to Sunday, January 09, 2005 trip to South Asia, mainly Sri Lanka to help aid in the relief efforts of the Tsunami’s that came ashore Sunday, December 26, 2004 at approx 8:35 am – 9:15 am.

            The simple objective of the trip was to get on the ground and find out how we could be a blessing to the effected people both on this trip and future trips.  In order to do that we had to 1) locate the effected areas, 2) set up relationships in the effected areas, 3) set up transportation and housing both to & fro as well as in the effected areas, 4) prioritize needs in the effected area, and 5) execute the priorities.
 

Outcome:

1)               Locate the effected areas:
We found the area on the central eastern shore of Sri Lanka to be the heaviest hit, everything within one mile of the coast was devastated.  Specifically we based out of Batticaloa.  From Batticaloa we ventured south to the region of Ampilla as well as north to a Tamil Tiger held area where many GO’s (Government Organizations) & NGO’s (Non-Government Organizations) would not go resulting in refugee’s falling through the cracks on the large scale relief effort.  Over 8,000 are reported dead and over 100,000 displaced in the small area we were working.

2)               Set up relationships with the local Christian church to help strengthen them:
The last thing we wanted to do was to blaze in from the west and start our own initiative, simply we may be there for two years but the local church will hopefully be there till the end of our time here on earth.  After getting on the ground and talking with many of the local believers and foreign missionaries we decided to partner our efforts with the Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka, namely Godfrey & Jude.  With less than 2% Christian in Sri Lanka and the extreme persecution the church has seen there over the past 3 years (many church’s burned and pastor’s lives threatened), we decided we wanted to do all we could to make sure the relief & help that we brought was to be associated with the local church to help bring them encouragement and blessing, as well as to allow them to be favorably looked upon by the local Buddhists, Hindu, and Muslim.  We have also teamed up with international partners Mark Smith with World Relief & possibly Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse.  IMB is in touch and we will be supporting their efforts as well.

3)               Set up transportation & housing both to & fro as well as in the effected areas:
We contracted with a van line to provide all of our current transportation needs as well as our future needs.  The main run is 7-11 hours over the mountains from Colombo to the eastern shore.  The hired driver, van, and translator then stayed with us and assisted us with any of our needs.  We found the Batticaloa Youth for Christ as well as the local Zion Church to quickly open up the doors for our lodging!

4)        Prioritize needs in the effected area:
We identified many needs and prioritized them this way; a) pumping wells, many are dying as a result of cooking, drinking, and cleaning dishes with contaminated water.  Not only are the wells full of seawater but are also contaminated with raw sewage; b) counseling, every day that I was there I watched morale drop lower and lower as people began to come to the true realization of what had happened; c) temporary housing, all of the refugees are living mainly in schools causing life to never return to normal with children no longer able to attend schools; d) permanent housing; e) possible rebuilding of bridge that was destroyed in a battle 3 years ago and is making the supply of relief difficult to deliver.

5)          Execute the priorities:
We have already and will be executing plans for a) pumping wells, b) counseling, c) temporary housing, d) permanent housing, e) bridge building.

Tentative plans for a) & b) is for the well pumping and counseling team to be the next on the ground, we will be better prepared with testing agents to test pH, Salinity, Nitrates, Phosphates, etc.  The counseling teams will simply stay in the refugee centers and listen to their stories and encourage the refugees.

The c) temporary housing and d) permanent housing will have to be partnered with the government.  Most of the land is owned by the government and what is private is very costly.  We are talking with the government about donating land for both the temp and perm housing and we’ll provide the labor and materials.

Building the bridge (e) is a HUGE dream that will be very difficult to accomplish.  We have considered ideas such as partnering with an outside government group (such as Greece) to accomplish such a feat.

-How people can support:

1)               Pray for the gospel to reach these lost souls.  Matthew 24 reminds us that in the end time’s nation will rise against nation, & kingdom against kingdom and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.  The hope comes in vs. 14, where Christ tells us that this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations!

2)               Give and/or go!  The financial and “hands/feet” needs are HUGE and we need the support of the body of Christ!