wfn.org | ABCUSA: IM Downgrades Full Alert Status of Situation in Haiti

["SCHRAMM, Richard" <Richard.Schramm@abc-usa.org>]

by Eleanor Lundy, American Baptist International Ministries 

American Baptist News Service (Valley Forge, Pa. 3/3/04)--The Crisis
Intervention Team of International Ministries, American Baptist Churches,
today downgraded the status of the situation in Haiti from full alert to
"optimistic caution," according to Herb Rogers, a team member and former
American Baptist missionary to Haiti. 

"We are grateful to God that all communications from our missionaries in
Haiti indicate that they are safe and well and have returned to normal
routines as much as possible," Rogers said, noting that this process may take
weeks or months. "We are grateful that telephone service has been restored to
its previous state of reliability. Your American Baptist missionaries and
those of others boards and agencies continue to be a source of light and hope
to the Haitian people who have suffered so much during the past month," he
said. 

American Baptist missionaries Wayne and Katherine Niles wrote of their
gratitude for supportive relationships and for the ability to remain in close
contact with other missionaries serving in Haiti. "We thank God for His
protection, and His way of keeping the whole world in His hands. Last night
we sang hymns, prayed around the circle and the world in three languages, and
had a good night's sleep," they noted. 

International Ministries' Crisis Intervention Team asks American Baptists and
friends around the world for their continued prayers for our missionaries and
Haitian partners in ministry.  

Daily updates to International Ministries' crisis hotline will be resumed if
necessary in the future.

K/2004ABNS/04ABN28 

American Baptist News Service: Office of Communication, American Baptist
Churches USA, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851; (800)ABC-3USA x2077
/ (610)768-2077; fax: (610)768-2320; www.abc-usa.org;
richard.schramm@abc-usa.org