Where were you when the January 12, 2010 earthquake hit?
Our family was in the Dominican Republic. Ned and Jesse were at the mechanic’s helping our new host get the YWAM Santiago van fixed. Debbie, Sammi and Hannah were in La Sirena, the Dominican grocery, shopping for food for the week. We all felt the earthquake quite strongly!
What a welcome to the island of Hispaniola for the Walker Family! The Dominican Republic and Haiti share the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, just off the coast of Florida. The earthquake hit strongly in Port au Prince, Haiti. Within 24 hours of the earthquake, Ned was meeting with 60 plus
leaders of local mission’s organizations and churches to see how we could all best mobilize to get aide into Haiti. Within 48 hours, our family was able to help purchase, package and send supplies directly into Port au Prince, Haiti. What a life changing experience for our family. We know that God had prepared a task for us to do and we just had to be willing to do it. God has prepared a task for all of us. Our family’s task is to serve in missions wherever and however God leads. We are currently on staff with YWAM (Youth with A Mission) Orlando. We are working towards setting up a facility long term in the Dominican Republic, where families and individuals can come and serve God through serving others.
Ned and I are finishing up the Basic Leadership School. This school has really taught us to be intentional about leading others. It has been a really hard school but we are learning a TON!!
This summer, we will put these newly learned skills into action as we take our family to the island of Hispaniola once again. We will start out leading an Epic Quest trip of 23 participants aged 9 to 18 to Barahona, Dom. Rep. We will be helping build an orphanage alongside a local church there. We will also be doing local evangelism outreaches in the Haitian and Dominican villages. We will be working in Barahona from June 24th to July 19th. On July 20th, our family along with the YWAM Orlando interns and Outreach students will be going into Port au Prince, Haiti to help build homes.
Won’t you please join us by praying with us for protection and health for our team and to see God move in the lives of Dominicans and Haitians as our family ministers to them in very practical ways?
