We've been a bit overwhelmed with a few things lately. One of the main things was the notification that the Cap airport was to close down for 5 1/2 weeks. Needless to say it upset a lot of people. MFI has people scheduled in for those 5 weeks, and these people have already made other flight arrangements to get to MFI. This would cause some major problems for them. But MFI would also have some major issues with cargo backing up and things that needed to get here to Haiti or the Dominican. The word came out on a Wednesday and it was to close on Friday...not enough notice for anyone to do anything. I will say that MFI "took the bull by the horns" and was trying to make arrangements to at least be able to get mail to the missions, if nothing else. They didn't sit and stew and wait, they went into action right away. I'm not saying they were happy or that it would not cost them quite a bit to do this, but they were not idle. Closing this airport for that length of time would really have been hard on the economy in northern Haiti. I was in constant contact with the airport director through this. I really felt bad for him. He did not make these decisions, but he was the one who would get all the flack for it from everywhere. So, when I called him, I simply told him we knew it wasn't his decision, but was there anything we could do to help him or was there any way he could suggest for us to get around this. He did have suggestions and we were very thankful for those. And he said that we were at the top of the list for him to call if/when firm decisions were made. He said MFI has always been there to help Haiti, and he would do his best to help us.
Not sure where the most pressure came from, but the government finally rescinded the closure. The airport stayed open. They may have to start with some restrictions soon, like only allowing planes to land/take off in the mornings, so work can continue on the airport in the afternoons. And there may be some weekends where they will close to do some major runway work. But these would be minor things for most airlines anyway. We had sent out prayer requests for this whole situation, and God came through for us yet again.
We have had some real "fun" times with electric lately, too. The radio station where we get most of our power, decided to cut way back on their hours of generator time. We were spoiled by having power from 6 AM to 10 PM. Then all of a sudden, it went to 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM and noon to 5 PM. But they didn't let us know it was to be cut down. This has created some major problems for us, since I use the internet for a lot of things. I couldn't even do my MFI work at first. We have a generator, but not a huge one that works. Then we had trouble getting fuel for it. Well, you can see the whole scenario and the mess we were in. We are starting to get things worked out a bit now, but it's a challenge. I have to get all the work I can, done in those few hours. Even on our small generator, we have no power to the pump house, so we have no water most of the time now. Keep us in prayer as we keep trying to get this whole situation worked out.
Vero went to the states for 2 1/2 weeks. Abbie spent the first week in Port au Prince, then came and spent a week and a half with us. She started school during that first week. She really likes school, which makes us happy. And she does well, too. The Saturday before her mama came back we had a couple kids over, set up the pool and set up the little bounce house we have. They had a lot of fun. Then Sunday, Abbie was in a concert. She played piano, played the flute, and was part of a dance routine. I was able to stay for part of it, but since the concert was over 2 hours long, I ended up bringing Savanah home, Don was able to record most of Abbie's performance, and that was great for her mama to see. These are just a few pictures from that day.
It has been extremely hot here lately. It should be cooling off, but it sure hasn't. The rain we got when Isaac went through was great, but we sure could use some more. We have been getting just little bits now and then. Enough to keep a drought away, I guess. But the heat has sure not let up at all.
Don has delivered water again. People are so very thankful for it. It's a shame we can't get wells drilled in some of these places, but different people have tried and not had success. Keep that in prayer. So many areas are without water. And with no measurable amounts of rain, many existing wells are coming up dry.
Well, back to work. Want to get a lot accomplished while we still have power. Blessings to everyone. Keep praying for Haiti. And keep praying for the US and the upcoming elections.
Remember 1 Thess. 5: 16-18... "be joyful always; pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (NIV)
No comments:
Post a Comment