Voices from the south

We sit here this evening awaiting another round of storms.

The summer has suffered such a drought and now we are under storm watches and warnings. This morning brought so much rain at once that the city streets were flooding and getting across town to do a missions report on our local Christian radio station proved to be an adventure in itself.

By this afternoon we saw sunshine and now another round is expected tonight. Just as they say, if you don't like the weather in Indiana stick around because it will changed momentarily!

Yesterday and today had special blessings. As you know, I always talk about the family relationships that were developed with the people in whose homes we worked and within the teams that worked in those homes. Yesterday I received a wonderful phone call from Delores in Gautier. No special reason, she just wanted to call and say she was thinking about us and once again say thank you for all the teams who had come and made it possible to get their home back to a home again! It's those kind of calls that can really brighten one's day.

We also received a call from Convoy of Hope and have a planning meeting scheduled with them in the upcoming weeks. With hurricane season only days from expiring we all must do what we can to prepare for next springs disaster season. It will be here before we know it.

And then there was the phone call from Jenny in CA who is bringing her team into the south to volunteer. She had some last minute questions and concerns and is very excited at doing a mission trip within the states. I will miss getting to meet her in person but she and her church want to be a part of the first response plans and I promised to keep her in the mailing list loop.

I did hear from dear friends of ours in the Gautier area and they told me how a tornado touched down right next to their home this morning. They and their home are fine but their neighbors did not fare so well. There is quite a bit of debris mess and I told them they would now have the opportunity to do some disaster work of their own. They always told us how they would like to do what we were doing and now they get the chance. God has a sense of humor and it's one of those "be careful what you wish for . . . " things! We are thankful that they are okay and pray for their neighbors.

Speaking of prayer. I mentioned to you a couple of weeks ago that our neighbor was undergoing surgery and yesterday they received the results of the biopsy and it wasn't good news. I would ask that you continue to keep Tony and Evie in your prayers.

Also, one of our own Vineyard family underwent extensive surgery yesterday and really needs your prayers. Pete was in surgery for nearly 6 hours, had trouble with his pain meds after, had lungs collapse on him and is having a very tough time. Please also keep him and his family in your prayers.

Prayer contains such awesome power and although we might never visibly see the results with those who we pray for we know God's promise to always hear. Please use the power in your prayers. God gave it to us to be used!

One more short note. Monty and I have a new email address and if you would like it please leave a comment on the blog and I will be happy to see that you get it.

Until next time . . . Susan and Monty