Hurricane Irma

Greetings,

I wanted to get a note out here to let everyone know how blessed we were.  I know so many, many prayers went out to keep Hurricane Irma off our coast line.  And those prayers were answered.

I have to share that my main concern was not for our home, although we knew our roof would be the first thing to give in to the winds and rain.  All that kept coming to my mind was the homes on the mountain side just inside the city gates of Cap Haitian.  There was no way those homes could survive the winds and rains a strong hurricane like Irma was threatening us with.  My heart was reaching out to the people in those homes.  Where would they go?  Inside their homes...and in all probability, be washed down off the mountain.  Loss of life would have been astronomical. So we kept praying that the Lord would move it north enough so these people would have a chance.  

Yes, I do know of the destruction caused on the many islands and areas before it even got to the island of Hispaniola.  I have not heard of what has happened in the Dominican, but I do know that here in Haiti, damage was very minimal.  SO VERY MUCH less than it could have been.  

We were prepared, as best as we could be here.  And I have to laugh when one of the missionaries made a truthful statement.  He said, in America, before a storm hits, be it a ice storm, snow storm, or a hurricane, Americans are out emptying out the stores for supplies. And that is true, but it's called being prepared.  Here in Haiti?  No one has the funds to go and buy things or to even make their home weather proof.  There is no mad rush to empty shelves in stores of supplies.  There IS a lot of prayers taking place.  

I remember back in the early 1990's (not sure of the exact year or date) a hurricane was headed our way, along the northern coast of the island.  US military was here at the time.  One of the fellows in charge of those military in tents at the airport, came and asked us where he could put his troops to wait out the hurricane.  We had no idea where several hundred men and women could be housed.  But I had asked him if on the way to our home had he noticed the churches and that fact that the doors were open and they were full?  He wanted to know what that had to do with his people.  I said, those people in the churches have no way to prepare.  They are simply asking the Lord to help them.  Either to divert the storm or see them through it.  No comment from him.  BUT, after the emergency was over, he came out and said, "I have NEVER seen a hurricane make a 90 degree turn before."  That is what it did.  At the Dominican/Haitian border, it turned 90 degrees and all we got was some minor wind and rain.  I told him, "Well, you have never seen the Haitians pray, either, I guess."

But I can honestly say that is was not only the prayers of the Haitians that kept us from mass destruction.  It was the prayers of God's people everywhere.  God stepped in and answered those prayers!!!   I have no answer as to why others areas were hit so hard, but I DO know God was here with us and He had control over what we faced.

I just wanted to get a quick thank you out to all of you who have kept us, not only Don and I, but Haiti as a whole, in your prayers.  Those prayers were definitely answered!  
Blessings and Thank You Again for your prayers!


   Psalm 32: 7  "You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance."