From May 25 through May 31, 2005, Pastor Bill and Jackie Tucker conducted hope and encouragement evangelism meetings in Sri Lanka, and visited some of the survivors of the December 26, 2004 tsunami.

As you can see from the images, Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, is located on a narrow strip of land between the east coast most seriously damaged by the full force of the tsunami, and a western lagoon that borders the large island of Sri Lanka, off the southeast coast of the subcontinent of India.

Pastor Tucker’s e-mails are shown below.

Click here to read Pastor Bill Tucker's Sri Lanka journal.

It continues to be hot here. But we had a shower that cooled things off temporarily. There is a lot of unrest here with government troops that are patrolling the streets. With the Tamil Tigers being strong in the area, it is common here to have people shot just about every day. Since we have been here there have been two shootings. One was a friend of the pastor, who had just visited him. However, because of the victim's past connections with the Tamil Tigers, he became a marked man and was assassinated.

We had 13 baptisms on Sabbath [May 28], four of whom were Hindus. They say that any baptism over five is a great number. But we aren’t here to count numbers. Victims of the tsunami continue to come to our meetings. Every night we have asked people to come forward for prayer and God’s blessing. One night they all almost ran down to the front. They don’t leave the church until you place your hands on their heads to ask God to bless them. We have had children who have lost their parents coming from nearby refugee camps.

We have visited the tsunami disaster areas, and talked and given out stuffed animals and clothes to these victims. They said, “We have many tourists come and take pictures, but you are the first people to give us anything.” Some of the areas in Sri Lanka have received a tremendous amount of help, other areas have not. We have seen evidence of World Vision, Gospel Mission, Red Cross, UNICEF, and a few organizations and ministries that have been helping out.

We went to a large warehouse where are housed 500 people who were next to the tsunami-stricken beach, people who lost their homes and many of their relatives. The conditions in which they have had to live for the past five months have been horrendous. It’s hot and steamy and they are crowded together in small cubicles of space 10 X 10 feet per family. This is where they cook; this is where they live and sleep. It’s so sad to look into the faces of the people.

We were visiting Sunday [May 29], when soldiers came to the house we were visiting; they came inside to search the place. This kind of thing is called a roundup, and is done more and more. We have seen military everywhere and it’s disconcerting when you see them brandishing their semi-automatic weapons. Needless to say, these people live in constant fear from not only the potential of the next tsunami, but the state of political unrest. We continue to ask God for His protection.

Today I continued to visit people with the pastor. We saw a family who had been Hindus, but husband and wife were baptized after the pastor had studied with him for more than four years. Their daughters are preparing for baptism and we encouraged them. They live very near the tsunami damage, but because their house is better built than the others, it was only damaged in a few places. It became a refuge for 25 people who rushed to the house to be saved from the waves.

Today we also visited an orphanage for mentally retarded children. We gave them stuffed animals, pens, and crayons. The children loved the toys. These precious little ones were abandoned by their parents. Others were begging on the streets before being taken in. It was a joy to minister to these for whom Christ also died.

Tomorrow we will finish our meetings. We will be buying much-needed supplies for 105 families who live together in a warehouse. They were victims of the tsunami but are not able to go back to their land. There are 42 infants in desperate need of infant formula that we are buying. There are also 100 school children who we will be helping with school supplies. One of the great needs that we will be supplying are cooking utensils for each family. I wish we could do so much more: it is so overwhelming to witness with your own eyes what these people have to go through. We have no concept even from watching the television at home, for media images don’t begin to give the whole picture.

I’ll stop for now. I don’t know if you will get another transmission from me. I will try to send pictures, though it has been difficult in the past, and it’s not easy to get Internet access. For that matter, computers are not part of the everyday life as in many countries today, so it’s a challenge to find a cyber café.

Blessings,

Bill & Jackie & team