Sad Day at Mount Horeb

This was not just any normal breakfast today.  Danielle and Sunny got up to cook French toast for their team members along with some crispy bacon and some very sweet yummy scrambled eggs.  But this breakfast took a little twist afterwards.  As I typed this I am still weeping over a decision our dear sweet Martha had to make concerning her job and her family.  At this time when the pictures were taken the final decision had not been made.  But I asked the team if they would clean up the kitchen because Martha needed to leave this morning to go home to help her daughter who has stomach cancer.  Of course they did with willing hearts.  But that is not the sad part of this story.

Martha, Mike and I later sat down in our living room to discuss the process of the days ahead.  With tears in her eyes and as I formed tears along with her, Martha was honest in saying she did not know how long this was going to be, only God knows this answer.  She said it could be six months or longer.  Well Martha, Mike and I were avoiding the inevitable part of this conversation.  She needed to go home to care for her very sick daughter.  So on July 3 we said good bye to a long time friend of fourteen years.  She brought laughter to us all on a daily basis.  Alexia and Rudy would always ask when is Martha going to be back we miss her.  Martha only worked when we had teams.  Martha took good care of my home on a daily basis and the North American dorms.  But she is more than a housekeeper.  Martha is one of the most godly ladies I have ever met.  She loves her Lord with all her heart and when she got to preaching sometimes all I could do was simply smile and say "Preach it Sister".  Because that is just what she did.  Ingrid and Martha got along the best of any woman we have ever had on the campus.  Martha is the last of the staff Mike and I inherited when we came on board ten years ago.  Martha now age 68 once said I will go home when you go home.  But sadly God had other plans for Martha.  We shared with Martha in our living room that morning how God is first in our lives and your family is second.  Whoever is reading this today and knows our Martha who has took great care of all us for fourteen years will know how much she is going to be missed.  Her daughter's name is Gladys and I ask you please if you are reading this to pray for Gladys and her family along with Martha in the days of head.  Pray for God's healing hand on this cancer which has taken over Gladys' body.  Pray Martha has the strength and energy to care for her daughter in the days and months ahead.  There is surgery planned for July 6th.  As Mike always asked the teams who come through here what kind of footprint are you going to leave.  Well my friend Martha taught me so much about being a godly woman and how to rely on my Lord with everything.  Thank you Martha so much for being my Honduran mother!!!!