Pray for Haiti

My heart hurts every time I watch the news about the earthquake in Haiti. It is already such a poor country with so many problems. This is such a terrible tragedy.

Every time I see the images of the destruction, I think of an elder I knew in the MTC. His name was Elder Jean Louis and was from Haiti. He, along with three other missionaries from various francophone countries (Reunion, Tahiti, and France) joined my MTC district part way through my stay there before leaving for their missions in Quebec.

In the picture above, Elder Jean Louis is the second one from the left--he was about as tall as me, and had a great sense of humor. I remember one specific meal at the cafeteria we were all joking around as best we could in French (he didn't speak any English at that time), and he started laughing so hard that food came spewing out of his mouth. When my dad had his heart attack while I was in the MTC, both he and Elder Durand (who was from France) provided a lot of comfort and empathy.

This picture makes me smile. Many of our elders had a tendency to fall asleep during class time. Elder Jean Louis came up with this bright idea: if you draw a pair of eyes on paper and put them behind your glasses, it "looks" like you're awake, and you can sleep all you want!

I lost contact with Elder Jean Louis after the mission. I hope that he and his family are ok. I have absolutely no way of knowing. So when I see information about the death, damage, and destruction, I think of his gigantic smile and happy demeanor, and know there are so many other Haitians like him who have lost their homes, friends, and families.

Please pray for Haiti.