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Local missionaires leaving Haiti amid violent riots
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HAMMOND – A few days late, members of The Mission Church are headed back to Louisiana after being stuck in Haiti.
The group shared a picture they took together as they waited for an airplane. The group was smiling, finally able to get to the airport after the United States government ordered Americans in Haiti to shelter in place amid a violent protest over a hike in fuel prices.
Pastor Jim Grega and four others of the Tangipahoa Parish church had been in Haiti where they’ve been doing mission work for years. The Mission has a large school and church set up there.
“We've had the UN here with us... which has really been a God-send. They set up a plan on Sunday because we thought we were going to be overrun,” Grega said earlier this week.
“We were blessed enough not to have to go through with it.”
Grega said the situation was uneasy, but his group was safe
Grega’s congregation here supports a school that is expanding, a church on some sprawling 7-and-a-half acres and helped build a well. Grega and his team are proud of their work.
It’s why they’ll be back.
“We’ve come so far – why stop now?”
“A lot of these kids don’t have an opportunity to go to school, so this is a great thing,” missionary Tim Barends, who, with his wife and son, is working with Grega in Haiti.
The group from Tangipahoa Parish wasn’t alone in the situation. Another 35 Capital Area missionaries were stuck in Haiti.
As many as 150 missionaries from the United States were impacted by the riots.
Click HERE for the original WBRZ.com story and to read the bible verse missionaries said kept them calm.
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