Thank you for calling.

This is a picture of my brother Steve ("Elder Ewo") on his LDS mission in Haiti.  This is all of the missionaries in his entire mission... for those of you who don't know... that's one tiny mish!


With the earthquake in Haiti last week, it seemed like last week was a little bit of a whirlwind. For those of you who don't know, my brother served a two-year mission in Haiti for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  First through our letters back and forth (Steve wrote us a long letter every single week of his mission - and I wrote him every single week he was on his mission!) and then through actually going to Haiti as a family, our family has really grown to love the country and its people. Through Steve, we've had the blessing of being able to get to know some very special Haitian friends.  As a result, with the natural disaster happening last week, we were all trying to follow Steve's lead in finding ways that we could help.

So follow Steve's lead we did on Friday! Steve spent from 5am until midnight on Friday night working the KUTV's American Red Cross Disaster Relief Telethon.  My sister as well as Mike and I were blessed to be able to pitch in the effort to raise almost half a million dollars for the Haitian Disaster Relief Fund. Mike and I (and our friend Luke) were on the phone non-stop from 8pm-11:30pm on Friday night, accepting donations. People called in with donations that ranged from $1 to $5000. Everyone giving what they could.  We were so busy I didn't even notice video cameras canvasing the joint - we just didn't have time to pause and smile for the cameras! (Except for my cell phone camera...of course!)

I think that participation in this Telethon is just the beginning.  Steve has rallied together a group called, "Haitian Heros" which you can find on facebook. It's a great network where you can get the latest news on how to help out and what's going on.  Also, he is gathering full sized quilts for the LDS church to send over with humanitarian aid supplies. Yes, it's warm in Haiti, but sleeping on top of a quilt is a heck of a lot better than sleeping on the street.  If you have any full sized quilts to donate, bring them on by and I'll get them to Steve.  I am sure that as time passes and things get more organized, we'll all have more opportunities to serve our Haitian friends. In the meantime, keep them in your thoughts and prayers.