Prayer requests...

Several people have asked me about specific prayer requests that we have here.  Right now, the biggest one is that the Schmidts can get reliable help.  They have been praying about this for some time, and I was a partial answer, but since I'm not staying permanently, they need more help.  They want this to become a Haitian work- not just the Americans doing everything for the people of Haiti.  They have hired local ladies to come and help in the past, but they stole things on a regular basis, and they had to fire them.  There is a lot of work to be done, but right now they are so busy just surviving that they can't really get organized.  As Mrs. Schmidt said:  "It seems like all we do all day is feed the children, change diapers, feed ourselves, and do laundry!"  In other words, we're so busy with the necessary mundane things of life that we don't have enough time to do other things that are important to make the orphanage run properly, and get organized.  So, the biggest prayer request is for dependable help.

     Prayer request number two is that they will be able to get the container out of customs.  The container, besides having supplies, also has a big army surplus generator that is designed to run around the clock, unlike the ones we have now.  Right now, this container is tied up in customs, and there are some problems with getting it out.  If they could get it though, it would be a great blessing.  However, with the disturbed state of the country, the Haitian government is moving very slowly.

      The third prayer request is that we wouldn't  experience any problems because of the elections.  The Haitian elections were held this past year, and there was apparently a lot of fraud in counting the votes.  The people were extremely upset, and there was a lot of rioting in Port Au Prince.  The government agreed to a recount, and now they are talking about having a runoff instead of announcing the recount.  This is because of the way people are talking, basically saying that they want their candidate (a popular singer) to win, or they won't be happy.  We aren't too worried since we are a good distance outside town, but we've been stocking up on things that we'll need in case things are bad.

   So, if you all could keep these few things in mind, these are the specific prayer requests for Shiloh Children's Home at this time.