One missions team from Gateway Free Will Baptist Church in Virginia arrived just minutes before the earthquake loaded with medical supplies.
The Gateway team arrived in Haiti at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Their first stop: dropping off medical supplies to missionaries at a nearby clinic, but as the team drove, the earthquake hit and they began to watch walls and buildings crumble.
"Within minutes, they began to see folks running, screaming," Gateway Senior Pastor Karl Sexton said.
Via texts and later Facebook, Sexton found out his team was safe, but witnessing a terrible disaster.
"As they were driving they saw complete devastation, dead bodies in the road," Gateway Pastor Brian Cory said.
The toll-free number to call for information about family members in Haiti is 1-888-407-4747. The State Department says some callers may receive a recording because of heavy volume of calls.
Cory received texts from his mother-in-law, a member of the team. She told him their plan to drop medicine at a missionary clinic quickly turned into an extended stay.
"The clinic was just full of people with medical attention and needs and so they were spending much of the night Tuesday night meeting the needs of folks there," Cory explained.
In the aftermath of the quake, the team helped the injured and cleaned up debris. They also made plans to stay at the clinic for the remainder of their eight day trip.
Looking back, Sexton and Cory say God's hand in this trip is clear.
"Some people say it was terrible timing, but we say it was perfect timing. We had all the medical supplies," Sexton said.
"Within an hour after they arrived, one of the last planes probably to arrive there was a missions group from the U.S. with suitcases full of medicine and full of food with a nurse, people there to help," Cory recalled. "I would definitely say a miracle that they're safe, but just a miracle the timing aspect of it."
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