Isaac and us

We were supposed to get the full force of Isaac last night...well, early this AM at about 2:00.   We have had gentle rains and almost no winds all night.  PRAYER WORKS, and we want to thank everyone who has been praying.  The storm hasn't passed over all of Haiti yet, and yes, they say we will still get some "harsh weather".  Now, who to believe, them or God.  No choice there, God wins out every time!!

We have been watching the weather maps, and it shows we should be in the midst of some of the harder parts of Isaac.  We haven't had any news from the rest of Haiti, since Don's ham radio decided it's too old to do anything, and the antenna has made the same choice.  But God knows all about that, too.  

We are really rejoicing that our internet is working.  With the cloud cover, it could well have been down.  Another God thing!!  We are thankful for this constant slow, ground replenishing, soaking rain.  It was so needed.  Now maybe the gardens will start to produce again.  The only down side right now to this storm for us (Haiti) is that the temperatures have dropped, a LOT.  Now for those of you in the states, that may not seem bad, to have the temps in the low 70's and upper 60's, but here that is very hard.  Damp, cold, ground for these people to sleep on is not a good thing.  We are inside a house, with block walls and it's cold for us.  I can't imagine how cold the Haitians in mud huts must be.  So, please, keep praying for them.

We are still rejoicing over how God worked for MFI and the situation there.  Remember to keep them in prayer.  They have a lot of responsibilities with serving so many missions.  

As we pray for Haiti and it's government, we are also praying the the US and the coming elections.  Please pray with us .... 2 Chronicles 7: 14 ... "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."  This is a prayer for both the US and Haiti, and for countries all over the world.  God can and will work in governments, even if they take His name and His words off walls, and out of buildings.  God will honor our prayers if we do as this scripture says!! 

Have a blessed day and keep praying.  It sure is working here in Haiti right now!!

Update

I've been trying to get on here all day....and for some reason it won't let me.  That is a frustrated sigh you hear.

First we are TOTALLY praising God for the meeting MFI had yesterday.  God really went before and with the guys.  Here is what the vice president of MFI wrote...

 

The meeting with the DOT went very well.

 A workable solution was reached for MFI to continue our flights and “Stand in the Gap” for missions.

 Praise God! Thank you all for praying.

God heard and answered our prayers.  He sure is awesome, isn't He??  

We've been trying to prepare for Isaac, who is coming down the road now.  Don's been trying to get his ham radio and antennas working right... and has run into some problems.  But he IS working on it.  He (actually our watchman) cut down some branches that they felt were blocking some communication.  The last one, of course, hit the antenna and bent it.  So, they worked on that.  Don tried using a sling shot with rope to get up and over it, but didn't work...so Milot (the watchman) went up and did his best, and got it back where it belongs.  Then the dipole antenna snapped... that's still in the works of being fixed.  He can use it as is, but wants better communication.  The fun just never ends here.

I have put some photos of the two of them out there working on things.  Keep them in prayer, okay?  It's hard to see MIlot up on the tower, but he IS there.

 

 

 

From the time I started trying to post this AM, we have had winds start to pick up.  It's not bad.  Just some wild winds here and there.  And the clouds are starting to move in slowly.  Some are moving fast, but I think it's just the difference in altitude.  Not sure how long I'll be able to be on the internet.  With the clouds, our satellite service is limited and will finally be cut off.  But I'll try to post every couple of hours until we can't.  Then once it's clear, I'll get back on and let you all know how it's going.  (if our satellite dish doesn't move, that is!)

Keep praying this storm keeps decreasing (God CAN do it).  If it doesn't, it will head directly to our daughter's place in Alabama.  (Of course this is a mother's concern, right?  Would rather it NOT head that way.)

Until next time, lift up praises with us for the outcome of MFI's meeting in Washington.  And keep praying for all of Haiti through this storm.  (All the people here covet your continued prayers for safety.)  Thanks, and talk soon, I hope.

Some urgent prayers needed

For those of you who do not receive our email update...we have a couple of prayer requests that are urgent.

The first one is for Missionary Flights, Int'l.   They are facing some major problems that could ultimately affect everyone who uses their services, but mainly the organization itself, in big ways.  Three of our head people are headed to Washington, D.C. to meet with the department of transportation, who is over the federal aviation administration.  We need some urgent prayers that God will go before them and pave the way for these people to see and understand that MFI IS a non profit, private airline, serving only those people who are affiliated with them.  It is an involved situation, but God knows the situation and your prayers will be a major part in helping MFI out.  Thank you.

The second prayer request is also urgent.  We have a hurricane headed our way....this is what I wrote in our email update about it:

 Well, I'm putting you all to the test here.  We do have another urgent prayer request.  I don't know if you follow the weather station at all, especially our area, but I know one person does.  Our daughter calls whenever there is a storm out there and tells us to be safe.  Hurricane Isaac is out there and heading our way.  Sometime Friday evening to early Saturday morning, we should be getting the effects of it.  This is all in the projections, but we have witnessed in the past that when people pray, God listens.  One time (when the US military was here) we had a hurricane coming directly across the north of the island.  The Haitians were in the churches praying God would turn it away.  When it hit the Dominican/Haitian border, it made a 90 degree turn north.  We only got some rains out of it.  God answered those prayers.

So, would you pray with us that He would not only turn this storm away, but that He would diminish it to about nothing, so others are not effected by it either.  

 We are just to the right of the curve on the number 2, just to give you an idea of where we are at with this. 

And a short note here about Savanah.... she is now the happy, biting person in possession  of two front bottom teeth.   Keep her in prayer so she doesn't get into too much trouble with them.

Okay, you have a lot to pray about here, with us!!!  Thanks for praying and being with us on this!!  God Bless!! 

Strange happenings

It's been an unusual week...or so.  First, I have battled this site for a while.  It would not let me sign in, and changed my whole system.  For someone who is NOT computer literate, this was a problem.  I pray I now have that solved.  Well, at least I'm ON here now.  

We were sitting in the kitchen with a couple of "our kids" and a third one came.  She said, "you won't believe what happened just a few minutes ago, right down the road."  Well, that brought everyone sitting up and questioning.   I have to admit that even in Haiti this was a first for us.  There was a funeral and everyone was there and they opened the casket for a "last viewing".... it was the WRONG person.  No one knew who the body in the casket was.  My first thoughts were, what do you say to the family?  How do you respond to something like that?  I asked what they did.  They shut the casket, put it in the hearse and took it back to the morgue.  Wow, glad we weren't there.

We have a bathroom/bathhouse for our watchmen, here on the compound.  One of the guys came and told Don that it was "falling down".  Okay, this small building is over 20 years old, but all of a sudden, "falling down"?  Don went out and checked it out.  Evidently a tree (that our night watchman planted, RIGHT AGAINST the building) had started pushing the wall in.  So, Don has been working on trying to get that wall back up and cementing it in place again.  Some of the fun challenges of working here.  This may take him a few days to fix.  Has already spent a day just getting some things ready for it.  

We had a "town meeting" with the US ambassador and some of the consulate personnel on Thursday.  We aren't into politics and this is what these meetings are all about.  We went because we are sub wardens for the north of Haiti.  (I keep quitting, but they don't seem to hear me on that. Probably because they can't get any other volunteers.)  We had to take Savanah with us, of course.  And I got a picture of the ambassador holding her.  But it was on my phone, and I can't seem to retrieve it.  But we did get a photo of her in her sunglasses, on the way to the meeting.  It surprised me that she kept them on.  

 And then yesterday, Bibiana, her REAL grandma, came to visit her.  She is here doing some teaching and took some time for Savanah.  The kiddo, being what she is, didn't warm up to her at first.  Just looked and looked at her.  But she did sit on her lap, anyway.  Grandma brought her some presents and she was intrigued with that.  I'm going to print the picture of her and grandma, and the one of her and mama, daddy and sister Ruby and put them in plastic, so she can have them, hold them, and look at them.  I hope this will get her used to seeing them all anyway.  But it was a good time to see Bibiana again, for us too.  She was a doctor here for many years before moving to Canada.  So, our little Savanah has a grandma from Argentina who lives in Canada and works in the whole Caribbean (teaching evangelistic health care through Medical Ambassadors).  She has quite a heritage already.  Her grandpa is Canadian, her mom is Haitian/Canadian, and her "sort-of-grandma" is American, living in Haiti.  Wow, poor kiddo will have a real time remembering all of that.  

 

 I wish I could get a photo of Savanah when Abbie walks in the door.  She simply "lights up" when she sees her.  That expression didn't mean much to me until I saw her react to Abbie.  And Abbie is SO good with her.  It's a joy to watch them together.

We had a really good service yesterday at English church.  A former missionary...well, he's STILL a missionary...is here for a few weeks and spoke.  We have always enjoyed listening to Pastor Hudson Hess.  He has such a wonderful way of bringing out God's word and his teachings draw you in.  And of course, with Enoch playing piano, we always enjoy the music side of things, too.

We have had some rain.  Had a really HARD rain last week that about flooded us out, but then after a short time, it calmed down and simply rained gently for a while.  Not enough to really replenish the ground but at least it was a start. 

Well, it's back to work and trying to sort out some paperwork now.  I really don't mind doing the paperwork, but it seems to GROW when I haven't been in here for a couple of days.  

Remember, no matter where  you are, or what your circumstances are, God is right there beside you.  He is walking with you, holding your hand, and He knows what you are going through.  Keep in touch with Him.  Keep your prayer line open at all times.  And remember to pray for others too.  God listens and He does answer.  Maybe not the way we think He should, but He knows what we need, when we need it, so depend on Him.  Remember to also praise Him for all He has done, is doing, and will do in your life!!  

Hot weather and prayer

I'm not sure if it's cooling off anywhere else, but it's still rather hot here in Haiti.  And our electric goes off for an hour or two during the day now, when it's the hottest...figures, right?  But we do survive.  Yesterday, while Don and group were at the airport, I was holding Savanah.  All of a sudden I thought, oh, the smell of rain.  I looked up, the sun was shining but it was sort of misting out there, too.  That went on for about an hour and a half.  Not a lot of moisture, but it sure smelled good after all the dust we've been breathing.

One of our "girls" came and washed windows with me the other day.  I could not believe that when I turned the hose on the screens on the sidewalk, I had puddles of MUD.  I knew the windows were dirty, but didn't realize they were THAT dirty.  And wow, now we can see out of them.  Yes, the winds are still blowing dust, but for a while we have clean windows.

Savanah is keeping us laughing all the time.  When she gets in trouble, she wants up, and then kisses and cuddles.  Or when Don told her no, she hung her head for a long time.  But she is a trooper, too.  When she falls, she looks to us to see what we'll do.  I tell her, get up, you're okay.  So, she keeps on going.  She loves her huge brown teddy bear.  I really thought she'd be afraid of him, but she's not.  She hugs him and loves to lay on him when she's tired.  

A good friend of ours gave me some books on prayer, since I feel led to start doing some major intercessory praying.  There was a statement in the front of the booklet by Brother Andrew and Al Janssen, "PRAYER, The Real Battle".  It really hit home on the need we ALL have for praying and seeking God.  And praying earnestly.  The paragraph is by Ronald Dunn.  

• "The Book of Acts is filled with prayer meetings; every forward thrust the first church made was immersed in prayer.  Take another look at the church at Pentecost.  They prayed ten days and preached ten minutes and three thousand people were saved.  Today we pray ten minutes and preach ten days and are ecstatic if anyone is saved."

Doesn't that say something to you?  We are putting more emphasis on what WE do and less on what God can do through our prayers.  That paragraph really spoke to me about the need to immerse ourselves in prayer, and let God do the work.  Isn't that the way it's supposed to be?

So, with that in mind, I'm going to cut this short and do a little more praying.  Won't you join me in lifting up praises, thanksgiving and prayer needs to the Lord?  

Till next time, I'll meet you in the prayer room..... blessings!!