The Latin America Administrative Committee of the Board for World Missions and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Dominican Republic have jointly called Rev. Rona Abraham to spend two months in Haiti looking for outreach opportunities and for further opportunities for humanitarian aid after the earthquake in January.

Abraham, a Haitian who completed his ministerial training in the Dominican Republic through WELS in 2007, left for Port-au-Prince Feb. 10. He also will be exploring the area around Cap Haitien.

The call was extended when Rev. Robert Smith from the Latin American Administrative Committee and Mark Vance from the WELS Committee on Relief traveled to the Dominican Republic Feb. 2-5 to assess how WELS can best address the physical and spiritual needs of earthquake victims in neighboring Haiti.

While in the Dominican Republic, Smith says that he had an opportunity to see Abraham's enthusiasm for ministering to his fellow countrymen. Smith and Vance—along with Abraham and several others from the Dominican church—had traveled to a hospital in the border town of Jimani where earthquake victims have come seeking care. "We were visiting just to see what conditions were like, but Rona all on his own took the initiative to go around and talk to people who were there and hand out copies of 'The Promise,' " says Smith. "God sent us Rona to have in place at this time."

Smith says the committee will decide whether to send Abraham back to Haiti for a longer period of time after it reads Abraham's report and recommendations. "Right now we're trying to determine what's possible and where it's possible," he says.

 

Photo credit: ©2010 Evelyn Hockstein/CARE