Friday, February 17, 2012

Emergency Prayer Request: Pray for LISA, My Friend Here in ALASKA


Greetings to all my beloved readers, from the Arctic Circle in Alaska.

As you know from reading my blog, I came here to Kotzebue, Alaska, to help my dear friend Lisa, who has become a nurse among the Inupiaq here. She has two children, one of whom is autistic. Her beloved husband, Steve, could not come due to health conditions: he regretfully has been forced to remain behind in the lower forty-eight. Lisa is a devout believer in Jesus her Messiah: she is of Jewish background (Russian/Polish) as is her husband, Steven, who is also of Russian/Polish Jewish background and comes from New York City. Her whole family is  dedicated to the Messiah of the Jewish people, Yahshua Ha'mashiach, or Jesus the Christ.

This is ultimately why I came here, to help her with the many responsibilities she faces as she flies to the Eskimo villages and helps the Natives here. Her children must be cared for while she is gone, and I am here to do that, among many other things. Most of the time, I prepare morning meals and evening meals and week-end meals as well. I also provide cleaning, laundry, etc. All of this is performed free of charge: Lisa does not have the funds to pay anyone for help. It is all being done on a volunteer Christian basis. This is what true loving Christianity has always been about: laying down our lives for others, in love, without any thought of return.

Lisa is struggling to overcome adverse reactions to the extreme cold, which is affecting her heart at this time. Lisa also has pre-existing health conditions, such as diabetes and congestive heart failure as well. Yet, this courageous nurse was willing to put her health at risk to come to this brutally cold Arctic climate, to help the Inupiaq Eskimos here.

Tonight she came to me, struggling to talk. She has been suffering from extreme exhaustion all week, and now swelling of her legs and fluid building up in her lungs as well. Plus, Lisa is forced to WALK TO WORK in extreme temperatures reaching even to -60 below ZERO F, because we have no vehicle to commute in and cannot afford one at this time. With her heart condition, this walking in brutally cold weather daily  could actually kill her. And the cost of taking a daily  taxi is prohibitive.

Fully aware of her health conditions, and the effects of the cold and stress on them, I often have been staying up throughout the entire night praying for Lisa's situation here (and for everything I report on as well.) It is already late here tonight, but as usual I am up praying for Lisa and her many physical needs. And I never stop praying about the subjects I write about: they are a continual burden on my heart.

My Christian and Messianic Jewish readers, will you please take the time therefore to act as a true member of the body of Christ, and pray for Lisa and her health and her job as well? Without her health, she cannot work and take care of her two children. And because of her husband's health conditions, he cannot work either, nor can he come here. We are in a precarious position here, and the burden falls upon me to hold this situation up. But more importantly, we look to Almighty God to hold us up! And to the prayers of the Body of Christ as well.

A VEHICLE WOULD MAKE SUCH A GREAT DIFFERENCE FOR LISA! Will you also pray that God's grace would help us to get a vehicle quickly...ANY kind of vehicle. It will take the grace of God, because the cost of everything here in Alaska is so extremely high, that the moment she collects a paycheck, it is GONE for the many bills and prohibitively high cost of living here. we actually need a donated from here, because it is impossible to go to Anchorage and get a vehicle and drive it here, due to the hundreds of miles between Anchorage and Kotzebue and no roads here. We are truly ISOLATED here in Kotzebue.

SO, we covet YOUR prayers at this time for LISA, her two sons, and myself. Lisa's health is our NUMBER ONE CONCERN at this time. Your prayers will make a big difference in her crisis.

Thankyou for your concern and prayers! If you have any viable ideas about geting a vehicle for Lisa's health concerns, share them with us. JesusChrist4ever@live.com

-Pamela Rae Schuffert reporting from Alaska

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