Matthew 25:40 ESV – And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to me.
In the wake of the tremendous earthquake disaster in Turkey and Syria I thought it appropriate to give recognition to a special group of men. Within hours of the earthquake a team of men and dogs departed from Hungary. These were some of the members of the Hungarian Baptist Aid; Rescue24.
Hungarian Baptist Aid was formed in 1996 and now has a number of ministries. One of the earliest was the formation of a search and rescue team. The search and rescue first formed with a few men who trained their own dogs. They were so successful in their efforts that the Hungarian Government recognized their abilities and provided the men with Diplomatic Passports. Having diplomatic passports means that they can travel anywhere in the world where they are needed, immediately without need to make arrangements with the country they are traveling to, and begin their search for victims of disaster upon arrival.
Rescue24 departed Budapest Airport, February 6th at 10:30 PM (their time). Their team consisted of 19 medical and search specialists and 7 rescue dogs. Arriving in Adana, Turkey they loaded 2 tons of equipment onto trucks and traveled 3 to 4 hours to reach the disaster. Once at the disaster site the team put their dogs to work and began locating and rescuing people trapped beneath the ruins. For more information you can visit https://www.facebook.com/HungarianBaptistAid and see photos of the team and view videos they have posted.
You can also visit https://www.hbaid.org/hungarian-baptist-aid and learn more about some of the outreach programs of Hungarian Baptist Aid.