Family Fridays- Melissa and Beverly

When Jeff and I visit families, we usually find them happy and friendly. Life in Haiti is difficult, but most people are managing the best they can and appear content. Occasionally God reminds us that this is not always the case. People in Haiti are exactly like people everywhere in the world. We all deal with the same issues, and some people are really struggling.

Beverly Erismé

On Friday Jeff and I went to visit Melissa Beauvil and Beverly Erismé. Both of these girls are four years old. Beverly lives in a beautiful area. You walk through this path that looks like something in a botanical garden. When we went through the gate they had the house and a covered pavilion where all the people were. Beverly lives with her father, grandmother, aunt, and a cousin. Even though the area was beautiful, there was real hurt within those walls. Beverly’s grandmother was still grieving from the recent loss of her husband. She talked about how hard it was trying to continue to be the

Melissa Beauvil

stability of the family without her husband. She asked for prayers for healing and comfort. She also asked for Beverly to be successful in school.

Next we visited Melissa. Melissa’s mother recently married her boyfriend and had a baby. Neither she nor the boyfriend work, and we know they have had a lot of difficulties. We have tried to provide help for them when we could. When we visited the mother, she told us of her struggles with food, rent, and her new marriage. She sobbed as she asked us to pray for her and her children. It truly broke my heart. As I watched her cry, I felt helpless to do anything significant for her. But then I remember James 5:16- Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. (NLT) I know that I cannot do much physically to help our families’ situations, but I can do the most powerful thing in the world, I can pray. We sometimes look to prayer as a last resort or the least helpful option, but the bible says prayer is powerful and effective. Please join us in praying for our families each week. It is the most important thing we do.