Saturday, February 16, 2019

Haiti in turmoil


Greetings,

Well, I have gotten so many emails about the situation here, but have not been able to answer many.  Our generator time is limited, with the fuel situation.  But I thought I’d try to get something out to let everyone know what is happening as far as we know.  

Roads are still blocked.  But open for a bit now and then.  Not sure of the reasoning, but probably for people to be able to get food supplies.  I don’t honestly know.  Vero has been going out some, but not very far.  Our area here is not in as much of an uproar as other places, for which we are very thankful.  But those in our area are not traveling outside of this area either.  It’s been a week and a half since this all started.  And with so many issues, I’m not sure when it will settle down.  We’ve heard rumors galore but have no idea what is going to happen in the future.  Is there a solution?  We have no idea about that either.  

We stay out of politics and arguments.  What we do know is that the Lord is on our side, keeping us safe.  Phone service has been erratic, power of course being rare, so have gotten into doing some great studies and lots of prayers.  

One of the pastors and his wife stopped over a couple of days ago.  They also live out here in the more quiet area.  Like us, he avoids any speculation of politics or events.  He said the best thing we can do is pray and let the Lord handle things.  We spent time in prayer with them, and it was wonderful.  It is awesome to be able to spend time in prayer with such strong Godly people.  

Someone asked if we are afraid for our safety.  Honestly?  We don’t feel we are in any danger ourselves.  Yes, we do wonder what will happen in the coming days, but as we wonder, we lift that up to the Lord.  Many of the missionaries in different organizations have left, or are planning on leaving Haiti until things calm down.  And there are others who, like us, plan to stay.  I know of a few Haitians who have visas who want to leave for now, too.  But I guess our thoughts on this are more toward different thinking.  When things get rough, we walk away from here?  That just doesn’t seem right.  Many years ago when there were problems, almost all of the foreigners left, to avoid the problems.  We stayed, and a few weeks later had some Haitians come and tell us something that stuck with us.  They said, “When things got rough and bad, the missionaries left, when we needed them the most, but you stayed.”  No, we probably didn’t make a huge difference in anything, except to pray with and for people.  And we felt the Lord didn’t tell us we wouldn’t have problems, He said He’d be with us through the rough and troubled times.  

So, yes, please keep Haiti in prayer, big time.  I know several people have said it’s not even on the news in the US about what is happening here.  So put Haiti on your prayer chains and let people be aware that this small country needs an abundance of prayer.  Keep the Haitian people in prayer, for safety and wisdom in all situations.  And yes, add us to those prayers, too, for safety and wisdom.  

Lift up the pastors here who are preaching the true Gospel, that they will refrain from getting into the political realm and just keep people centered on the Lord and His word.  It is a very difficult time for all those here right now.  Tension and strife are abundant.  Prices have risen, but people can’t get to places to buy anything, if or when they do have money. This is a time for reaching out to the Lord and drawing closer to Him.  

So, please, PRAY, PRAY, PRAY, for God’s will and direction for all those in this country.  Thank you!!

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