Keep Keeping On

http://www.KVIA.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?vt1=v&clipFormat=flv&clipId1=4459965&at1=News&h1=Haitian family in EP trying to get news from home&flvUri=&partnerclipid=

Hey everyone,
I pasted a map of Haiti so that you all would know where Jacmel is in respect to Port Au Prince. Nixon and I also pasted a link to an interview with abc 7, local news--although it should be seen in parts of New Mexico as well.
We are hopefully making an impact for the people of Jacmel. The world is hearing about Port Au Prince but Jacmel desperately needs help as well. Jacmel is only 25 miles from Port Au Prince but on a normal day, with not so good roads as well as a winding out of the way road through the mountains, driving time is about 3 hours.
As I said yesterday, this is our goal for now, please let us know if you have any connections. If we can get a platform to say a few words on tv, radio, local groups, churches, that would be a blessing to the people of Jacmel, Haiti. There is lots of suffering going on there, needs for meds and food and water, as well as many deaths to report.

Thanks to God we did hear from Mackenson. He is fine, and was in the north of Haiti where the Quake was not felt. Praise the Lord that he is fine. He was encouraged by our amazing JIH team to stay with his family.
The boys are in Seguin, JIH Director sent them with money for transportation as well as help for their families. We are so thankful. Seguin is relatively close to Port Au Prince as well and is high in the mountains. We pray that their families are allright. You can look on the mountains for Seguin. Nixon pinpointed it between Kenscoff and Marigot, under the capital of Port Au Prince.

Our team members on the ground in Port Au Prince are continuing emergency aid efforts and are looking after Haitian staff familie's needs.
Today the team cleaned out our guest house, taking sheets and any supplies that could be found. I wish we could get them those ibuprofen and Tylenol that you folks have collected. God knows.
We recieved a call today regarding Nixon possibly going with an organization into Jacmel from the U.S. That fell through and we trust that God didn't let it happen for a reason. Although I have to say that I was disappointed. Nixon and I are torn that we cannot be there with the people of Haiti.
The team on the ground in Port Au Prince have their hands full but I hope to know more soon about the people of Jacmel's wellbeing. My heart breaks for Lucette and her 4 children as well as for Madam Robert, Lancia's baby boy, and our dear elderly friends. We will know more soon.
Nixon and I learned that there are many dead in Jacmel. We don't have any sort of number to report as of now, nor do we have names.

Nixon's concern rises for civil unrest in the country. He fears that desperation, along with the Haitian government's silence, can cause the people to act foolishly. Please pray that God would keep the people calm.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/cb_haiti_earthquake

We need the money to keep flowing in so I am posting the information as to how to give to the people of Jacmel. Please give what you can.
Joy In Hope
Earthquake Relief - Donate at http://www.joyinhope.org/donate.asp and select "Immediate Needs" (or mail checks to JIH - Earthquake, 2731 NC Hwy 55 #251, Cary, NC 27519) to help provide much needed food and supplies to those affected by today's earthquake.
Praying,
Nixon and Sandra Altidor
Jer. 29:11

Concentrating on what we can

Dearest friends and family, January 14, 2010
Greetings in the name of our Lord. Nixon and I are doing well. We are trying to keep busy, keeping informed as to what is happening back home and trying to raise awareness as well as funds for our area. We understand that Port is in terrible shape but the surrounding areas were also greatly impacted. Our concern is that the majority of the help will go to Port and the surrounding areas will be the last to get aid. Jacmel, the small city in which we work is in devastated. Our goal right now is to get funds sent over there to help in the relief efforts made to help the city of Jacmel as well as it’s surrounding areas. Here is how you can get funds to Joy In Hope.

Earthquake Relief - Donate at http://www.joyinhope.org/donate.asp and select "Immediate Needs" (or mail checks to JIH - Earthquake, 2731 NC Hwy 55 #251, Cary, NC 27519) to help provide much needed food and supplies to those affected by the earthquake.

Joy In Hope has a facebook page as well.

You can also look on our facebook page to see more pictures or see more updates. Nixon and I have a facebook page-Nixon Altidor as well as a blog: reachinghaitiforchrist.blogspot.com, joyinhopeboyshome.blogspot.com.

It is estimated that 75% of the buildings were damaged, and many are missing. Most of the community is sleeping outside, fearful that their homes were damaged. Our Joy In Hope team on the ground in Jacmel are also sleeping outside. We have no information as to how many are dead or missing. Both of the orphanages as well as our Boy’s Home are in good shape. Our home, in downtown Jacmel, has been closed up because of the risk of collapse. The Pye orphanage, one of the two orphanages under Joy In Hope, was damaged but we think it can be repaired. The Mangine orphanage held up very well.

Our boys spent their first night at the Mangine house, sleeping under the stars. Yesterday morning the boys went up into the mountains of Seguin, about two hours east of Jacmel, in order to check on their own families. Nixon and I expected that. We are a concerned about Mackenson, one of our boys in the Boy’s Home. He was having trouble finding the finances to come down and go back to school so he had not arrived back to Jacmel. We are hoping and praying that Mackenson was in the northern part of Haiti and was not at all affected by the Earthquake. Please keep Mackenson in your prayers.

Nixon was very worried about his father, who lives right outside of the city. After a lot of waiting, our people with Joy In Hope on the ground in Jacmel were able to check on Nixon’s dad, his new wife, and his 6 month old baby boy. Praise the Lord for this. Nixon still has another few brothers that he would like to hear from, on his mother’s side of the family, as well as some friends.

Nixon and I desperately want to be able to get back to Haiti but we just don’t know what we will be able to do at this point. We are scheduled to fly out next Wednesday, the 20th of January. We will just have to wait to see if we can get a flight out at that time. We are thinking we will not be able to take any of the clothing and supplies that we are gathering. Jacmel is a 3 hour drive east of the capital of Port and it will take time for those roads to be passable. We are thinking we might have to backpack it into Jacmel, perhaps by motorcycle. At this point we are not gathering any more supplies or clothing to take back to Haiti. We will get what we have to Haiti, whether in the near future or later future.

Right now our goal is to just spread awareness as to our local needs in Jacmel. If you have any groups or churches that we could share a few words with, please contact us. We can also be reached at 915-449-0861.

Norma Hinojos was interviewed yesterday by abc 7-local news. Nixon and I were interviewed today and it will be airing on abc at 10:00pm. Please spread the word and paste the joy in hope earthquake relief fund information on your facebook. Again, please let us know if we might be able to talk to any group and raise awareness as well as raise funds for the people of Jacmel.

We love you guys and pray blessings on you and your families. And thank you all so much for all your prayers and emails of love and encouragement. From the bottom of our hearts, thanks you. Attached is a picture of Mackenson as well as pictures of Jacmel, Haiti-home to us.
In Him,
Sandra and Nixon Altidor
Jer. 29:11

The Earthquake

Nixon and I were leaving D.C. with some good friends of ours when we recieved the first email on the earthquake. Panic was my first reaction. Then my mind flooded with questions and worry.
Thanks to the internet we were able to get on facebook and recieve updates from our friends and organization(Joy In Hope) in Jacmel, Haiti.
Everyone is accounted for in Jacmel, Joy In Hope. We know some buildings are down including a hotel--dont know which one. As we have seen, much damage is reported in the Capital. The real shocker is the palace collapsing as well as many other goverment structures. Haiti has suffered a severe blow.
The many countries that are ready to respond are comforting. We know God is present and in control and even now He sees and hears his children crying.
Nixon and I are stunned. We are scheduled to fly out in only a week and momma thanks God that we are not there. Honestly, my feelings are quite different. I just want to be there and comfort my boys and help to do anything that I can. We feel terrible that we are not there. Helplessness is definitely something that we feel.
All we can do is pray and see what we can do for now.
Nixon is worried about his dad, his new wife and their 6 month old baby boy. We are also worried about our very dear elderly. We hope to know how everyone is tomorrow.
We hope to know in the next few days as to our travel plans.
I will keep you all updated. Please keep Joy In Hope in your prayers. Please visit Joyinhope.org in order to make donations or email me for more information.
We arrived in North Carolina about an hour ago and are scheduled to fly out to Texas tomorrow afternoon, unless can be useful to our Stateside office here in N.C.
Praying,
Sandra Altidor

New Mexico

Yesterday we took a short road trip with our friend Yoli. I love New Mexico. It has a different style, different decor, different people, different feel and the State border is only about 30 minutes away from the west side in El Paso.
Our highlight was a Tiki the Toucan. Nixon spent way too much time talking to him.
We still haven't heard anything about my uncle. My same uncle Martin's son's wife's father was kidnapped yesterday morning. His body was found later the same day. I was watching the news last night and there are so many more found each day.
My heart bleeds for my aunt's family and for all those stuck in the middle of this.

A tough day

Nixon and I spent the night at my baby sister's house on the other side of town. Since we will be traveling for a couple of weeks, our time is coming to an end in El Paso and we are just trying to spread ourselves out as much as possible. Everyone wants a piece of us.
We stayed up and played Sequence. It was really fun and I remembered our playing with our boys. I miss our boys very much these days.
Almost as soon as we woke up, our morning took a serious turn. My uncle was taken from his family this morning. Mexico's drug war seems to be touching every family that we know. Even those who are not involved have at lease some relative that drags them all into the mess. Nixon and I took some time to pray and we spent the day "being there" for my mom.
It is amazing to think that my mom and I were just at my aunt's house on Christmas day, as is our custom every Christmas day. We have been praying all day and our heart's have been heavy. I constantly remember that we serve a living and active God who hears our prayers. My momma has another brother that is an atheist. He told momma to pray since she knows how to communicate with God. I pray the Lord works a miracle.
We are expecting snow again tomorrow. This would make it the third snow this winter. What a strange winter in the desert.

More pictures

What a trooper!

My poor little frozen black man!

I can't believe we stood in the freezing cold just for

a picture. The snow was falling thick though,

it was beautiful.

Fourth Day in Texas

It snowed last night!! Wow!!! We meant to do some work on our upcoming presentation yesterday but we ended up spending the day connecting with old friends of mine and MORE FAMILY! This isn't even 1/3 of the family. How much family do I have? Tomorrow Nixon will start meeting some friends and sponsors.

Anyway, back to my opening statement. It snowed last night and it is cooollldddd!!!!!! The temperature will not get above 40 degrees farenheit and when we left the house this morning it was 29 degrees farenheit. Nixon is doing well, the cold seems to make him giddy. He just laughs and laughs. I, on the otherhand, am very congested and denying the possibility that I now have a light cold. Nixon's stomach is also doing well but I have a bit of Mexican happiness. Go figure!

We are having a great time. I have been working on making the final preparations for our Missionary presentation and Nixon has been entertaining the family kids all morning. He is supposed to start French and Creole lessons with one of my nieces and nephews next week. Fun Fun! I plan to sleep. LOL!!