Report from Sri Lanka

Yesterday an email was sent out to everyone here at The Salvation Army's headquarters from a missionary who is serving with The Salvation Army near where the Tsunami's hit. She was writing to a man named Colonel Faulkner who is in charge of Personnel here at the SA but since he was willing to share it with us, I thought others might like to read it as well. It is quite eye opening, as all news of the disaster is. It is also a call to prayer although most of us have been since we heard the news.

Grace and Justice in a time when neither seems very close,
Joy

Colonel Faulkner would like to share the following message received from Lou Brandon following the disaster in Sri Lanka:

"Thank you Colonel for your concern.

Things are pretty grave here.

All of our officers survived. We had officer all along the coast. Most lost everything, but God spared their lives. We have been unable to evaluate our properties as of yet. There is too much confusion. We have been doing relief work, sending teams to make sure our people are okay. One officer lost several family members. He just buried his wife three months ago. Please pray for their family.

Most of the deaths here appear to be children. Sunday Morning the sea was doing amazing things. The children were in awe. They called their mothers and father to watch. Then the waves came and everyone was gone.

Babies torn from their mothers arms. Grandparents at home gone.

The city of Galle is a ghost town. Sunday morning trains were full of travelers, the bus stand was full of people waiting for their transport and the open air market was crowded as usual. All gone. The trains floating out to sea, the buses full of people floating out to sea.

Usually for Christmas I take a short sanity break. I head to the coast and take lodging at one of the hotels. This year there were no rooms where I normally stay. There was a room available at a hotel in Hikkadewa, right on the beach. I knew the place and decided it was too busy and it would not be a quite place. So I declined. Colonel that hotel is gone, it collapsed and washed into the sea. Many tourists died there. By the grace of God, there go I. It could have been me.

Please pray for us. This county is not equipped for this type of disaster. Neither is this territory. Our Terrirorial Commander is on furlough in Indonesia. The earthquake happened during the time they were in the air. Our Chief Secretary and myself are doing the best we can.

Thank you for your concern.

One last thing before I close. Our Dewheila Girls Home and Eventide, has a fishing boat sitting in its yard. We have forty girls there and 30 senior ladies. Most of the girls had gone home for Christmas and the rest were attending services here at THQ. No one was hurt.

The waves lifted this big fishing boat out of the water over the railway track and over our 6 foot plus retaining wall and set it right down.

God is good.

That is about 3 miles from where I live. I am six blocks from the ocean.

Thank you for your prayers.

Love to you all.

Happy New Year. "