SPHS Class of 1950 graduate helps in Thailand

Santa Paula News
Published:  February 18, 2005

Marie Jones graduated with the Class of 1950 from Santa Paula High School, and has been serving as a missionary, along with her husband, for the past year.

Out of the van and into service at the makeshift morgue, after a drive to the tsunami-ravaged coast of Southern Thailand at Phuket, a 30-member team of Bible students and missionaries experience firsthand the rewards of helping those beyond hope. Marie (Dominguez) Jones of St. Joseph, Missouri and Janet Rhoton of Hiawatha, Kansas worked among the survivors, sharing words of comfort and building emergency housing in the refugee camps. Several members of the team were enlisted to the grisly task of tagging and sorting the innumerable dead.

Visibly shaken at the enormity of the devastation, team members relied on each other and their faith in God that they would make a difference. Homes were built, people fed, counseled and prayed for, and commitments were made for ongoing support as the refugees begin to rebuild their shattered lives.

Unimaginable tales of tragedy and terror were told, as the victims began to make their steps back to a normal life. We spoke to two sisters; one lost two children and the other lost one and they both lost their mother. Mothers were forced to choose which child they would save; men returned to their villages, finding nothing but mud and debris.

The Bible school was closed and every member of the team put their heart into the work before them. Some of the team members have returned to do follow-up work.

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