Kissack Family Tragedy

The sudden death of my brother has of course hurt more than I could ever have imagined. This was the brother who raised me as a child. He was the only one of my siblings who had children and who was walking with the Lord. He was the bed-rock of our family. He was special in so many ways and our bond was deep. He did the 'father of the bride speech at my wedding', if that tells you anything. Our kids love each other as cousins should. I hurt for myself, our family and for my brothers family. It will be a long road ahead.

Apart from this loss, our family is in the middle of another desperate situation. My father was diagnosed with late stage Parkinson's at the end of last year and had to be moved into a nursing home. He has been rapidly deteriorating over the past several weeks. My brother traveled over to the Isle of Man to see him last weekend. He has not been eating or drinking much of anything for the past couple of weeks.

My dad's words on learning that his son had died were “now I have got no-one”. Whilst this is not really true as my sister has been there for him everyday and my other brother has visited him, I think it is telling on how he is feeling. His mind and his body are slowly loosing their ability and I am sure he is feeling lonely and afraid.

So I find myself in a dilemma . I want to be there for my family at this time and also for my dad as he faces the next few weeks. He is not able to travel to England for the funeral of his son; he is not able to eat; he is not able to do very much of anything for himself anymore.

On the other hand, I have a family here who needs me to. As nice as you all are, I don't feel like I could leave the children to be looked after for more than a couple of weeks.

We could all go to the Isle of Man for the duration of the summer, but would even that be enough? I don't know if I could handle my dad, my sister, the children, my grief, their grief, all on my own for a long period of time. And I just don't know that I am now capable of making a decision like that.

So I ask for prayer. Prayer to have hope, and light for the times ahead for my family. Pray too that I will know without a doubt what the right thing to do is, and then have courage to do it.

Needless to say, we do not have the finances to all go home, so that might be our determining factor, but we have also been in this situation before and God has provided what we needed, so I am not ruling it out just yet.

Today is Saturday.. We do not know when the funeral will be as there will have to be an autopsy to determine actual cause of death. I assume it will be the end of next week or the beginning of the following week. I do feel the need to be at home for the funeral, even if it is just by myself.

All of this has made me feel somewhat set adrift now. It is at times like this that you need family, but my reality is that my family now need me. You have all become the support that I need at this time, and I can not tell you have valuable that is to me. Thank you!

Inside the Prayer Room in Malta

The island of Malta, located right in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, is a mixture of all things in the area. The architecture and much of the culture is North African in style, yet the religious culture is heavily Roman Catholic. As we have been Worshiping the Lord, we have been praying for Malta in its significant location, to be like a lighthouse for the region's revival. The evangelical community is small, but several have been meeting with us in the Prayer House each day.

We have been staying with Ben & Eve Passmore, who run the Malta House of Prayer with a vision to see all the evangelical Christians coming together in prayer for the island and its neighbors.

We were blessed to use a vehicle to make the perilous journey into Valletta, once we were able to remember the confusing route! Other times we used the bus system, which is very cheep, but just as perilous - some of the buses that almost 50 years old!

In a typical day, we would get to the prayer room at around lunchtime, and pray in the afternoon with the OM team. We were anything from about 5 to 16 in number, as people came and went at different times. The evening meetings usually included local believers, and was often larger, and we had music. A few time, Jo and Nigel stayed for the night with others, praying for the needs of the Transform 2010 teams around the Mediterranean sea.

Harmans Heading for Malta for Transform 2010

On the 28th July, the Harman family will fly to Malta to participate in Transform 2010. An initiative to let the Gospel of Jesus be known in the 21 nations surrounding the Mediterranean sea.

We will be part of a small team that will be worshipping and praying for the teams form this central location right in the center of the Mediterranean.

It appears that God has made it clear that we should be there, and we invite you to pray for us and the events going on that are part of Transform 2010.

The cross shown on the right is the 'Maltese Cross', and has been a sign of protection and courage from the very beginning hundreds of years ago and is still seen in the same light today. We pray this for us and for the people involved in outreaches this summer.

The eight points are said to symbolize the eight points of courage:

• Loyalty
• Piety
• Generosity
• Bravery
• Glory and honor
• Contempt of death
• Helpfulness towards the poor and the sick
• Respect for the church

Nigel Helps Build Beds for Haiti Victims

As OM USA seeks to assist the people of Haiti in their recovery from the eathquake, custom crates were designed by an OMer, that can be converted to a bunk bed once it reaces its destination. A total of 25 crates/bunk beds were made at OM, and assemled by various volunteers, including Nigel (in picture) . They were sent full of supplies to help the victims at an orphanage that suffered severely from the disaster.

Lydia Grace

I know it has been a while, but now you know what we have all been waiting for! On September 12th, 2007, Lydia Grace was born at the home of Mum & Dad in Tyrone, Georgia. I have to say, it is great to be done with the pregnancy, but it is on with those little sleep nights, and a noisy, albeit excited household! She is a beauty, needless to say, and weighing a mere 7lbs 5oz is a feather compared to the other four.

Click here for more pictures of Lydia.

Ellan Wins County Prize for Art

On Monday, the whole Harman family attended a Talent Competition and prize giving ceremony at a local school. Ellan won fourth prize in her age group with her drawing of a Bluejay (a local bird).

The competition was a county-wide competition, and Ellan's drawing was selected from a total of 167 entries. Ellan presented herself well on stage as she received her prize, and we are all proud of her. Our thanks also go to Ellan's art teacher who taught her as part of the Home Schooling group some OM mothers do together every Friday.

Over the last few nights, Rebekah has learned how to climb out of her cot, and has been wanting to play at 3 O'clock in the morning! The following evening, there was concern as Ellan was suffering from severe earache, which was preventing her (and Mum & Dad) from going to sleep! After enough pain killers (for Ellan) and Hot Chocolate, we were all able to settle down for the night and there has been no pain since.

50 Years of Ministry

This year marks the 50th anniversary of OM. We have come a long way from the truck load of literature that George Verwer took to Mexico with some fellow students from Moody Bible College. Despite the changes, particularly in dress codes, OM still remains focused on getting the Gospel to those that have not heard.

As the web guy at OM USA, I was involved in setting up the 50th anniversary web site which has recently been released. The site has a lot of interesting info, including a time line, a quiz, some early videos and letters from the Founder(GV) and current Director(PM). Visit the site at www.OM50.com.