Please pray...

Tomorrow I will be taking my mom, Reta Diggs, to Lincoln, Nebraska for open heart surgery. Please pray for her that the surgery would go well, that they would be able to do all the repairs necessary and that she would have a speedy recovery. She will be in the hospital 5-7 days before coming home.

Continue to pray for the people of Haiti. It seems the aid given after the earthquake has been squandered or held for ransom or something...nobody really seems to know the scoop on that, all the Haitian people know is that not much has been done to provide them with housing more permanent than a few sticks and a piece of tarp. Most of the rubble is still where it fell on Jan. 12th. Now, thing that was feared most has happened. There is the outbreak of cholera which is not being contained. The death toll has reached 1,344. Monique's brother-in-law died from it at the very beginning before anyone really knew what it was.

Recently one of our masons came down with it. Wilckly had thought ahead to prepare for the worst possible scenario. We had bought a dozen bags of the IV solution used for treatment. Having these on hand along with oral rehydration solutution Wilckly had brought back in his suitcase, saved the life of this young man. They started an IV for him and made him start drinking the oral rehydration fluids immediately and took him to one of the treatment stations. They continued to rehydrate him but told us that our quick action to get him rehydrated, saved his life.

People as far away as my home town, Bedford, Iowa, made an impact on the life of this young man. They were not satisfied to read about it on the news without taking action. They couldn't go to Haiti to help and they didn't know how to stop the cholera. Instead, Mick Ware of Bedford, asked if it would help if they would make small packets of the oral rehydration powder to send with us. We told him yes. We said if people came and we weren't able to give them an IV, we could at least start them on the oral fluids. Mick and some friends put together five hundred of these small packets, according to what WHO (World Health Organization), recommended. It is plainly a packet of sugar and salt, even though I don't remember the exact amounts of each one. All you do is pour it into a bottle of treated drinking water, shake it up and drink it. The efforts of these people, who cared enough to take action at home, were able to help Wilckly save the life of a young worker in Haiti. Praise God for their willingness to take action.

Keep praying as Wilckly and all of our family and workers attempt to take precautions to drink, cook and bathe with water that is not infected. It is urgent that we get the two busses of supplies, that are sitting in Maryville, MO, sent to Haiti as soon as possible. Call 712-621-1464 if you would like to know how you or your family or oranization can help with this. Thanks.