The city has been without electricity for three days now and a majority of the lines are down all over the city. Most likely power will continue to be off for several days.  Good thing the Malagasy are still used to cooking with charcoal! Water came back after 48 hours. 

We are sending this from a friend's hotel (the Hyppocamp) as Anita has invited us over for dinner to share news, exchange stories and help put an American guest at ease. We prepared this group email before hand and then sent it at her place as she has a generator. We are still able to check individual emails at this point so please understand if we have not gotten back to you.  Please pass this on to others as we are depending upon you all to pass the word.

We drove around parts of the town which were passable yesterday and today and have seen a lot of damage and a great deal of flooding. The dike broke and the north side of the town is underwater from the stadium. That explains why our Ambohitsabo church is under water. The priest was checking it early yesterday morning when he heard someone running, and blowing a whistle, telling everybody to run, for the dike broke and water was coming. Thinking he had a few more minutes, he continued checking the church, only to realize that it was coming much faster than he realized. Grabbing his bicycle in one hand, Rev. Noely helped a woman with her young baby with the other, forming a chain to get to safety, watching his shoes float away. 

The same priest was leading a baptismal service today in  Andranomena, on the south side of town and six miles from this church. During the service someone came running to say the water which broke the dike was now coming into one of the parishioner's homes. Several people left the church service to help assist the newly baptized church member evacuate her things which she had just put into her father's house yesterday because her house had gone down in the cyclone. 

The president of Ankilifaly church has water up to his chest in his home because of the same incident of the dike breaking.  We have not yet heard from our Administrator, but she lives on that part of the city and we are concerned that her home has undergone a lot of damage as well. These are only some of the stories of what is happening here in Toliara.

We are still trying to schedule a flight for Patsy to Mauritius. We are hoping she is able to go on Tuesday and will keep you posted.

Thank you for keeping all of us in your prayers. If you know of any relief agencies which might able to give assistance and aide, please contact them on our behalf.

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Todd A. McGregor

Assistant bishop of Antananarivo 

Area bishop of Toliara

 Hello again to friends of Patsy and Todd,

Todd and Patsy were able to get a call to Corbi, their daughter, before the last of their phone battery died.   Patsy and Todd are thankful for their lives, however, it is “really bad” in Madagascar right now.  No running water, no electricity, no communication.   Churches and homes of parishioners are flooded, damaged and destroyed.

Prayer requests for the McGregors, the clergy, evangelists, parishioners and the people of Madagascar:

God’s hand of protection from looting 
Their health (no running water, probably not much food and the stress of it all)
The people in Morombe where the cyclone came ashore.
Wisdom in what to do and who to help first, etc.
Cooperation of the people to work together to rebuild and the finance’s to do it.
For God’s Grace and Mercy

And anything else that the Holy Spirit lays on your heart.

Blessings to all of you,
Betsy Wenzel
(Patsy’s sister)

February 23, 2013

Dear Friends and Family
 
First of all, thank you for your prayers during Cyclone Haruna. We are fine and recovering from the storm. 
 
Rains began through the night on Thursday and Friday morning at 10:30 the cyclone began to hit. 12:00 noon the winds were high and continued to 11:00 pm, calculated to be gusting at 230 km/hr. The house survived, although we thought a few times the roof was going to blow off and Patsy abandoned ship and went downstairs while Todd mopped the incoming rain which was leaking through the roofs, windows and underneath the doors.  We were so thankful that the roof remained intact and the loud creaking was coming from the gutters, of which some did blow off. The largest part of the damage was from the south side as the storm circled around. At 4:00 pm the kitchen window blew out and went flying through the kitchen, frame and all, miraculously not shattering nor hurting either Todd nor Pierre as they were only a few feet from the window, nor breaking any dishes. We called in two other men and Patsy to help place a large board in front of the window, which took over an hour to configure how to secure into place with the large winds and rain howling.
 
11:00 pm the winds began to subside, but since the electricity had already been out for a day and we did not hear any news since the night before, we were not sure if it was the eye of the storm, or if the storm was leaving. Fortunately for us, the storm was moving across Madagascar heading, we heard, to Ft. Dauphin.
 
Other than that, the Gathering Place faired well except one large window downstairs which shattered. In Andranomena, the fence was completely destroyed, the shed roof and wood ripped apart, Victor’s roof and two doors ripped off the hinges, the guard’s door ripped off and the overhang to the guesthouses torn off. Thankfully the dormitory, educational building and newly constructed dean’s house are fine but we heard that many parishioners’ houses have been destroyed.
 
Regarding Toliara, we took a morning drive to Aubin (translator) and Tahiry’s civil wedding (which still took place at the Village Hall!) and saw many trees down, roofs blown off, electrical and phone lines down and buildings shattered. We have been informed that the dike of the river that runs north has broken and the north side of the city (where one of our churches is located in Ambohitsabo) has major flooding. Rev. Noely, in Ankilifaly, is taking caution and moving his things upstairs to where we used to live and other parishioners are already suffering heavily.
 
There is no electricity in Toliara, no water to the Gathering Place and limited petrol supply. We thank the Lord that no one we know of at this point has been injured and we continue to pray for God’s healing, strength and courage as we reconstruct the surrounding environment. We have not heard from any of our clergy in other parishes nor our evangelists. We are most concerned about Morombe, where the cyclone first came on shore.
 
If you get this email is it only because we have just a little bit of battery power on our back up system. We have extremely limited contact because everything is shut down, so please pass this email on to others because we are unsure when you might hear from us again.
 
Patsy was due to go to Mauritius on the day the cyclone hit Toliara (Friday 22nd)and her flight has been postponed until Monday or Tuesday. We will see when flights are leaving Toliara and will keep you informed.
 
Again, thank you for your prayers for protection for us. Truly our safety is a witness of the love and mercy of God. Please continue to pray for the community as we rebuild what has been lost.
 
Serving Him Together,
+Todd and Patsy+