THANKSGIVING FOR PRAYERS & HEALING
Boyd and Shirley Wyatt, MAX members from Belington, West Virginia, give great thanks for the quick healing and restoration of their 18 year old son Darren who experienced a very serious all terrain vehicle (ATV) accident on December 11. While out with friends, the accelerator of his ATV stuck. Darren lost control and crashed, resulting in extensive injuries; severe head trauma, a severed main hip artery, cracked pelvis, etc.. Fortunately, this incident occurred at a location where he could be easily evacuated to University hospital in Morgantown, VA where he received excellent surgery and care. Darren returned home after only a week in hospital and a full recovery is expected. "The community responded with prayer like you would never believe", says Boyd. "Praise God for hearing prayers". We offer our thanksgiving with the Wyatt family. Boyd is pastor of the Lambert Mennonite Church, part of the Virginia Mennonite Conference. Darren is employed at the local Wal Mart.
FIRE DESTROYS HOME IN RURAL BRITSH COLUMBIA
Imagine receiving a call when you were six hours from home on New Year's Eve informing you that your home has been totally destroyed by fire. This was the circumstance of MAX Canada members, Frank and Helena Fehr of Prespatou in Northern British Columbia. They received the call on New Year's Eve while visiting Frank's parents in La Crete, Alberta. Knowing everything was gone and nowhere to go if they drove home that night with their five children, they decided to prepare the children first and drove home to face their new circumstances on Saturday, January 2. "A few of our children are already frightened of fire so we were thankful we weren't there so the children did not have to witness their home and their treasures burn", says Helena. The community and their Old Colony Mennonite Church is being extremely helpful, enthuses Helena. "They invite us for meals, have provided lots of clothes, bring us baking and would provide lots of furniture if we had a place to put it. They constantly tell us 'If you ever need anything, just let us know,'" says Helena. The family is staying with Helena's sister, Judith, in Prespatou and will be there until a new home can be provided. When asked how our readers can best pray for them, Helena shared that they are expecting their sixth child in mid-February. "I know it will be very stressful for the children to experience another disruption in their lives, even though they are excited about it," says Helena.
LOST JOBS
After the December Support Network email, a reader encouraged us to pray for the many people who have lost jobs during these recessionary times. Many of them are part of the MAX family of members. At Mutual Aid Ministries we are aware of the challenges and crises created for individuals and families by job losses. We encounter them with regularity and certainly heartily support and encourage our readers to remember people who struggle with the impacts of lost jobs - those in our immediate families, those in our neighbourhood, those in our church family and the multitude of people we don't know personally. Thank you for the timely reminder, Lois.
JOB LOSS FOLLOWED BY CANCER
Given the prayer request above, it seems appropriate to invite you to pray specifically for sixty-four year old MAX member, Harold Hildebrandt. Harold, from Prince Albert Saskatchewan, lost his job with a wood supply company a year ago. October 2009 was a difficult month. Harold received the devastating diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and his unemployment insurance ran out in the same month. Today, his quality of life has diminished greatly, both due to financial hardship while he waits for a disability pension and due to rapidly deteriorating health. Harold has lost more than 64 pounds and requires the daily attention of a home care nurse. Harold and his spouse are part of the Free Methodist Church in Prince Albert. Please pray for them as they face an uncertain future.
MAX CANADA MEMBER DIES IN HAITIAN EARTHQUAKE
"It is with a heavy heart that I share with you the death of our dear sister, Yvonne Martin. Yvonne passed away as the result of the earthquake in Haiti, where she had just arrived to do medical mission work for the fourth time," reads the website of Waterloo Mennonite Brethren Church in Waterloo, Ontario. "Please continue to pray for her family, especially her husband, Ron. In unity with them, we are consoled to know that she died doing exactly what she loved to do. Yvonne's prayer for Haiti was Psalm 72."
Yvonne, a well-known retired nurse, had worked at a Medical Clinic in Elmira, Ontario for 36 years. She was leading a team of seven people from the Kitchener-based Evangelical Missionary Church in Canada. Just ninety minutes after they had arrived in Port-au-Prince to provide humanitarian assistance to several northern Haitian communities, the earthquake hit and collapsed the guesthouse where they were staying. While her colleagues escaped injury, Yvonne was trapped and killed in the collapsed building. Pray for Ron Martin, their three adult sons and their families, including ten grandchildren as they prepare for Yvonne's funeral on January 20 and move through a profound grieving and healing process. Pray also for the people of Haiti and the thousands of people involved in rescue efforts.
UPDATES
JIM SCHAPANSKY Several prayer requests and updates for Jim have been noted over the past year, the most recent in October, 2009. Diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumour in July 2008, Jim succumbed to his condition on December 29, 2009 with family surrounding him. His funeral service was held on January 4 at the Word of Life Church in Niverville, Manitoba. Please pray for Jim's family as they adjust to life without Jim. We particularly grieve with his sister Val, a MAX employee and colleague in Hesston. In her comments about her brother Jim's death Val wrote, "Jim was so courageous and so gracious and so life-giving to so many people and we are proud to call him husband, father, son, brother, uncle and friend."
RACHEL MEDERNACH (See December 2009) In December, we shared about the very catastrophic head and skull injuries MAX member Rachel suffered in an ATV accident near Saskatoon during the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. We are pleased to share a recent update provided by her mother Joanne Schwan. "Rachel is speaking more and her voice is getting stronger. She is still fed through a stomach tube and the hope is that her 'swallow muscles' will strengthen and heal so this will not longer be necessary. There is also hope that she can have titanium skull replacement surgery done in the near future. Her professional medical team is happy with Rachel's progress and set a tentative release date for March." Her mother writes further, "Prayer has been such a major part in Rachel's recovery and our strength. Thank you so much for putting Rachel in your prayer request letter."
STEPHEN NEUDORF (See November 2009) Stephen, from Vanderhoof in northern British Columbia, needed urgent treatment to correct vision deterioration due to Keratoconus, a disease that causes the cornea of the eye to heave and degenerate. With assistance from a MAX Share Fund grant, his employer and church community, Stephen was able to obtain the necessary but high risk treatment in Vancouver. "Although the final success will not be fully known for about a year, the scariest risks associated with this treatment have passed without incident," writes Stephen in a recent email. "I should be able to wear my special contacts again shortly and have a high quality of sight. Lord willing, the lenses I have now will still fit. Thank you for all the wonderful support." Please continue to pray for Stephen as he undergoes the healing process. Pray that he will not need to go through the major expense and time-intensive process of getting new lenses.
DID YOU KNOW?
Did you know that you can access back issues of this Support Network prayer request email on the MAX and MAX Canada websites? Click on the "View our Archive" icon on the home page of either website and read the stories and prayer requests going back to October 2007. Website addresses are listed below. |
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How can you assist the MAX Support Network Ministries?
- Insuring with MAX. Remember, Mutual Aid Ministries is supported by an annual tithe from the insurance operations.
- Encourage others of like mind to place their insurance (home, farm, church and business) with MAX. Remember, the more successful MAX insurance operations become, the more effective Mutual Aid Ministries can be.
- Share a story or prayer request with the MAX Support Network Ministries for consideration in an upcoming email. Remember, we must have people's permission to use their stories. Send stories or prayer requests to supportnetwork@maxwholeness.com.
- Make a contribution to the MAX Canada Share Fund, Inc. or the MAX Share Fund, Inc. Call 877-770-7729, ext. 202 (Canada) or 877-971-6300 (U.S.) for more details.
- Be informed about MAX. Click on the following link to view "Barnraising is Back": http://www.maxwholeness.com/barnraising & "The MAX Financial Cycle" http://www.maxwholeness.com/fin_cycle/MAX_cycle.html. You can also access and share this information by visiting our website www.maxwholeness.com or www.maxcanada.org. We welcome your feedback.
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We thank you for your support and commitment to the MAX Support Network Ministry and the other Mutual Aid Ministries programs. Please let us know of others who would like to join the Support Network Ministry email distribution list by sending their email address, with their permission of course, to supportnetwork@maxwholeness.com.
Sincerely, |
The MAX Mutual Aid Ministries Team
Carl Litwiller, Nelson Scheifele, Lloyd Miller |
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Creating and Sustaining