A difficult Wednesday

I had originally planned to do a "thank you" list today, in light of Thanksgiving tomorrow.  I may have to wait and do that tomorrow.

On Monday we had received word that a good missionary friend of ours from Bohoc (near Pignon) had a heart attack on Saturday evening.  The good thing was that he was in Florida at the time.  Many, many prayers went up for Jim.  This morning the family had to make a very difficult decision to remove life support.  Jim passed away not long after that.  We have known Jim and Barb Howard for many, many years.  They are a fantastic couple who have done a tremendous job.  Their goal was to help put people in business so they could be self sufficient.  There are many in Haiti who have been helped by Jim and Barb. 

We are asking all who read this to lift Barb and their boys up in prayer.  This will be a very difficult time for them.  

I remember when they used to come down to the airport for mail and cargo.  (Now their things are flown up to Pignon, so we don't see them very often).  But the guys at the airport used to call Jim, Goliath.  Jim is a big teddy bear.  Looking gruff with a heart as soft as a teddy bear and a love for all he came in contact with.   Jim loved his iced coffee and the hottest pima (hot) sauce there was.  And he was a hard, hard worker.  

Our hearts are broken right now.  It is so hard to think that Jim won't be there with a phone call or a cryptic email.  He loved to tease, too.  He will be missed an awful lot.  By a whole lot of people here in Haiti, as well as in the US.  

So, we are asking for prayers...for all who knew and loved Jim.  He may be in a fantastic place, but he's left a huge whole in our lives.  

And now another prayer request.  Vero and Shannon went to Port to work on the permi de sejour papers (residency papers).  I had told them this was not the time to go, but they felt they should.  They are now stuck in Port, with road blocks all over the place there.  I have a feeling we won't see them until sometime next week.  We were told the problems would start here either today or tomorrow. And this will go through the election.  And it could last beyond.  Depending on who gets in.  I wish they had made it home before all of this.  But we are praying that the Lord will put His protection around them and keep them safe.  That is our second request, pray for their safety.

The last request is for the situation here in Cap.  Pray for common sense to take over and for peace to reign.  Pray for protection for all those who are here serving the Lord.  We won't be leaving the house from this point on until things calm down, but there are others who may not be able to do that.  

 Sorry for the long prayer requests, but I know many of you will pray with us on all of these things.  God is willing and able, and answers prayers.