As the floor shifted underneath his feet, missionary Jay Threadgill could only hang onto the hope that everything would be alright.

It wasn’t until the dust settled that the devastation was realized.

The church that he and his wife Linda had worked 23 years to build was gone. The schools they had built were torn apart. 

No water was available. No electricity. Children were missing. Members of their congregation were dead.

Though being a missionary in Haiti under normal circumstances isn’t easy, for the Threadgills the recent earthquake has made things even more difficult. Even before the earthquake, the ministry spent a large portion of its budget  – $70,000 a month – on getting water, buying diesel fuel to run generators for electricity, and dealing with a corrupt government.

The organization’s budget goes to pay for 72 employees including the pastors of 25 additional churches in Haiti and 17 schools for children.

The Threadgills have also opened a school called Morning Star Christian Academy that has already received provisional accreditation and has enabled several children to pursue collegiate degrees in the United States. Since opening the school in 1994, enrollment has increased from six to more than 300 students.

“Our school is one of the top three in the nation,” said Mrs. Threadgill. “We have to turn down students because we don’t have room,” she said, while addressing the congregation at Step of Faith Church in Farmersville Sunday.

Step of Faith has been part of the Threadgills’ ministry, Fishers of Men, for almost two decades, partnering through prayer, monetary contributions and on some occasions visiting Haiti to work alongside the missionaries.

Mrs. Threadgill had already planned a trip to Farmersville and several stops in the U.S. before the earthquake hit. She was stateside awaiting the birth of a granddaughter when the disaster struck.
 

Mr. Threadgill and the couple’s 18-year-old  daughter Taina, however, were at the family’s home in Port Au Prince that fateful day.

“My husband was literally knocked off his feet in our home and started crawling to find our daughter who couldn’t even yell,” she said.

As it turned out, Taina, had hopped into the bathtub and been covered by her Rottweiler who laid his body over her for protection.

“The reason she couldn’t scream was because she was being suffocated by fur,” Mrs. Threadgill said, managing to squeeze humor into an otherwise devastating story.

Mr. Threadgill has remained in Haiti with his congregation, while Taina has joined her mother in the U.S. to recover from the catastrophe. 

“She was flown out on a military cargo plane,” Mrs. Threadgill said. “She’s still recovering. She had never seen dead bodies before.”

Though the ground shook for over a minute with the 7.0 earthquake, the country is still feeling up to 5.0 aftershocks 11 days later.

“When I was speaking with Jay earlier, they hadn’t had an aftershock in about 36 hours, but as I was talking to him, another one occurred,” she said. “We still don’t know who we have lost.”

Amid trying to take care of everyone else, the Threadgills are experiencing grief themselves.

Mr. Threadgill has performed three funerals in the last week for individuals close to the family including a godson and a teacher who had been with them for more than eight years.

“We are finally getting aid,” Mrs. Threadgill said. “We have cases of drinking water thanks to the American military.”

Although the Threadgills’ ministry is receiving aid, Mrs. Threadgill said other organizations have not been as fortunate. “They finally had to reinforce the walls of the building because people were trying to crash the barriers,” she said. “Everyone is asking us for help ... the Mormons, the Catholics, everyone.”

Despite the overwhelming losses that Haiti and the Threadgills have experienced, blessings are still overflowing for them, Mrs. Threadgill said.

“It was between classes when the earthquake happened so our students weren’t in the school,” she said.

The organization, which had purchased land to build a larger church, had not been able to garner the funds to begin the construction for the foundation. “We were supposed to begin the foundation in December, but God knew about the earthquake,” she said. “If we would have started the foundation, it would have been ruined.”

Many missionaries are also overjoyed the government of Haiti has fallen, she said.

“About a fourth of all funds sent to Haiti were actually being used for the people,” Mrs. Threadgill said. “The rest were being used by politicians to line their pockets. In a way, we’re out of prison.”

Among the tales of corruption and devastation, Mrs. Threadgill relayed stories about never-ending hope and faith as well.

Though the Threadgills’ organization has no building to currently house a church service, there were still more than 5,000 people in attendance at Sunday services held in a field.

“They are singing praise and worship songs at all hours of the day and night,” she said. “My husband said you can hear them lifting their voices to God at 1, 2 and even 3 a.m.”

Port Au Prince, according to the Threadgills, will have to be rebuilt because the country cannot survive without it. The ministry plans on reopening a portion of the school in March if the building is deemed safe by the engineers.

“We don’t even know how many students we have left,” Mrs. Threadgill said. “Eleven days later they are still finding survivors, so that is encouraging.”

Mrs. Threadgill said her family became involved in mission work after their own lives were turned around by God.

“My husband and I had a $2,000-a-week cocaine habit, were alcoholics and my husband was beating me,” she said. “After we got saved, it was about six months later that we went on our first mission trip. Our whole lives changed.”

Though the Threadgills began their mission work in Central America, her husband said he heard God calling them to Haiti.

Mrs. Threadgill recounted coming home and realizing that her family’s TV and microwave were missing. At first she thought they had been robbed, but she soon discovered her husband had sold them to pay for his first mission trip to Haiti.

“I remember saying, ‘Wait. Where’s a Haiti? What’s a Haiti?’” Mrs. Threadgill said while laughing. 

Several months later she went to Haiti for the first time herself.

“There were naked, snotty- nosed kids everywhere,” she said. “There were no showers, and I just remember thinking ‘there is no way I am coming here. God’s sending me to Central America.’ I remember praying ‘God get me out of here.’ ”

Instead, while praying on a roof their last day in Haiti, Mrs. Threadgill said she finally heard the call her husband had hoped she would hear: “This is where I’ve called you.” 

When they returned to the U.S., the Threadgills set out to raise enough money for the move. After working several months, there still was not enough.

“The funds simply weren’t there,” she said. “My husband walked in one day and said ‘If the money was in the bank, it would take no faith.’”

And with that, the Threadgills packed up their belongings and headed back to Haiti with about $400. Their original plan was to stay for two years, but as Mrs. Threadgill explained, God had different ideas.

“I swear I cried for a year when I first got there,” she said. 

Shootings, voodoo and corrupt police were just a few of the challenges the Threadgills faced when they arrived in Haiti, she said. But when a missionary friend explained to the Threadgills that ministries fail in Haiti because the leaders leave, the couple knew they would have to stay.

And stay they have – 23 years. Through the death of a son, embargoes and kidnappings,  the Threadgills have called Haiti home.

Before she returns to Haiti,  Mrs. Threadgill said her husband has asked her to raise enough money to support the ministry for the next six months.

The operating budget includes mortgages for the church land and 72 salaries, which does not include the Threadgills.

“We are used to living on faith,” she said. 

But the couple is not willing to let go of the employees who have come to rely on them for support. “They are our family,” she said.

Though Mrs. Threadgill did not ask the people at Step of Faith to donate to her ministry, she did ask for their help. She asked the congregation to remember the needs of Haiti and to give as they were able.

“There are a lot of missionaries in Haiti. Some specialize in children, education, health, etc. Donate where you feel led,” she said, encouraging anyone interested in donating to research the charity and choose one that is reputable and has a strong presence in Haiti. 

Mrs. Threadgill’s most important advice for Americans wishing to donate to Haiti is not to forget about the need.

“People will give for two weeks then it’s gone,” she said, describing what often happens after a tragedy. “Please don’t forget us in two weeks.

It will take at least two years to rebuild, she said, asking the church to remember Haiti in its prayers, long after the shock of the earthquake is gone.

For more information about the Threadgill’s ministry, including updates from Mr. Threadgill  and for ways to donate, visit the Fishers of Men Web site at http://www.fomhaiti.org.

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