Monday, December 10, 2012


Hello,

I am writing to share a bit more from my heart and to thank you for your prayers for the ministry and our family. I am also writing to ask for more prayers for our family and the ministry. As we get closer to the dates of our move to Haiti in January we are experiencing what feels like heavier spiritual attack. My intent is not to list everything, but to ask for prayer covering, so I would like to share on just two areas in particular. The first is about my father. He passed away Saturday night. My daughter who is a CNA and an emergency room tech, has been caring for my father and helping my mother since the first of July. We have spent the last few months visiting and preparing, as they live a couple of hours away. My father has always been a very faithful, moral man. Some of us have tried in the past to share with him about having a personal relationship with Jesus, but he would answer vaguely. Right before Thanksgiving my daughter was able to share one more time with him and he truly gave his heart to the Lord, she was also able to tell him we loved him and understood he was at the end and that we all wanted him to know it was okay for him to go. He said thank you to her and expressed his love. My daughter also organized a huge (37 people)Thanksgiving dinner at my parents home. We suspected this would be his last. I felt like I was supposed to call hospice the next week. He was officially put on Hospice the following Friday. Then in the middle of the night last Wednesday, I woke up and felt like I was supposed to pray for both by father and my daughter, only to get the call to come as the end was near a little while later. Most of my siblings are a few hours away like I am, so one by one we arrived at my parents home. We spent the next few days all gathered with my Mother and Father at their home. My daughter, sister and I were able to take shifts round the clock in caring for him, with advise given by phone from the Hospice Nurse. All of my siblings and my mother were able to lay hands on him and pray. We read our favorite scriptures to him and played our favorite worship songs over him. Saturday night we were all able to have all of our hands on him and with tears and prayers we ushered him into the kingdom. God gave us a huge gift.

The part in which I am referring to as spiritual warfare happened while my father was dying. During this time my daughter in law-in-law, whom I love as my own, ended up in the emergency room, not being able to breathe, having sparks of light in her eyes and then loss of vision. We were going to honor her with a baby shower this weekend, which we did not hold because of the family being with my father. She is 7 months pregnant. Just minutes ago, at a cardiologist appointment she had a heart monitor put on her, to monitor her heart for the next 48 hours. This event and others like it, are why we are asking for and so greatly appreciate your support through prayer. As Mike has shared in the past, your prayers are a lifeline for us and we are so very thankful for them.

Blessings,

Chris