With a sigh of relief one of my close friends finally contacted me that was in the heat of all the tsunami stuff... This man has had an awesome impact in my life and I was heartbroken as I helped with repairs on his house before him and his family left for East Asia. They live not far from where everything happened.... Here is his reply with some information censored for his own security...


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Andrew,

Thanks for writing to me. Right now I'm in (Indonesia) at an (annual
meeting). Last night many of us met to further plan disaster relief.


We seemed to have been shielded from
the tsunami by the island of Sumatra and the Malaysian peninsula. The
island where we used to live was hit-100 people died there, 5 from our
former village. That neighborhood was hit hard but, compared to
Indonesia, not as badly. There have been no effects (here)
where we live though. We're thankful but heartbroken for the
Indonesians and others--Indonesians especially because that's where we
used to live.

In the next week or so I'll be going as part of disaster relief to Aceh,
Northern Sumatra, where over 100,000 people were killed. I'll be
translating (same language as Malaysian there, basically) for medical
relief teams as well as for any other teams that come in. One of our
projects will be to get with people to help them locate the corpses of
their family members and then to cover them and perhaps try to scoop
them up for burial. We can only spend 14 days at a time in the disaster
zone and then have to come out for a week, but then will possibly be
sent back in with another team.

I would appreciate your praying for me and others on teams-I'm steeling
my emotions and hope I can be helpful with my language and cultural
skills, despite the gripping scenes I know will surely be there. I have
to get through the tears I know will come when I'm there. But it's not
at all about me... Please pray that many would come to Christ as many
others like me are now helping there as well-people who know how to
share their faith. Pray for those who hear while they witness the
reality of God's love through our actions as well. Pray for the name of
Jesus to be lifted up and for God to receive glory in a dark place.
Pray also for the girls as I'm gone.

I'll try to catch you up on the news when I get back from Aceh.

Love you bro',
David




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I would be there right along side this guy if I could, but I know this is a time of rest and healing for myself... I even looked up flights to where he lives yesterday...