News from Ground Zero

From my friend who recently journeyed into the Himalayas to bless Muslims with Christ...

Thank you so much for all your prayers and emails. We have been blessed to know of the concern so many people back home have for us and for Kashmiris.
On Sunday I went with some of our co-workers to survey the areas outside our city which suffered the most damage in Kashmir. We quickly discovered that there was little or no relief coming yet to the mountain villages. A policeman escorted us to his village where no one had been. Thankfully no one there had died, but every house and building had been damaged badly and were no longer safe for people to stay in. We asked the village leaders what type of help they needed most. They replied that they needed tents/shelter more than anything else.
Since then our tour company has been partnering with other organizations to find ways to provide tents to villages like this one which are remote and not likely to receive relief very soon. The winter is fast approaching here and there is already snowfall on the high mountains. These villagers are now sleeping outside with no shelter from the cold.
Tomorrow (Wednesday our time) I am going with a group of co-workers to survey more villages. Please pray that this trip will be effective in finding out needs of specific villages. Pray for God to protect us as we travel to these areas.
The most important thing you can do right now is pray. Here are some ways to pray:
1. Wisdom - we need a lot of wisdom from God right now to know the best ways to provide help. Getting tents to some villages may sound simple, but it is rather complicated as we need to do it in a right way.
2. Tents - pray that we can obtain tents to provide to the villages we survey.
3. Unity and good cooperation - there are a lot of people working together on this project.
4. Kashmiris - no one knows how many people are without shelter. Pray for God to comfort these people and to provide for their basic needs.
5. Good weather - it has been raining which only makes the situation worse. Pray that God will bring us good weather to aid our relief efforts and to comfort the homeless.
6. Good rest - all of us are tired. We can only imagine what it must be like for the Kashmiris sleeping outside tonight.
7. God's glory - while we see and read reports of the devastation here and in Pakistan, we acknowledge that God is in control and sovereign over this world. We desire to see him glorified through an event as tragic as this earthquake. Pray that we would be good witnesses of his glory to the people we help and serve.