Pat, wow, you and Vernon have been through a lot, much more than I can
imagine or fully understand.  I pray your sale goes well.

At 10:23 PM 10/22/03 -0500, you wrote:
>Dear Loving EChurch Family,
>
>I have so much to tell you that I don't know where to start. This is a bit
>long, so get something to drink and sit down.
>
>First of all, I'll tell you that God has blessed us emencelly.
>
>Not only has He blessed us, but He has made us stronger, as well.
>
>We survived the F4 tornado on June 24th of this year, in the bath tub, me
>on the bottom, and VErnon on top. We did not have time to make it down into
>the crawl space, as it was right across the highway when I heard it and
>felt the pressure drop in my ears. After the tornado was over, VErnon got
>out of the tub and helpped me out of the tub. He then told me: "We got to
>get out of here, there's gass." He couldn't find his shoes, so he put on
>his slippers and walked through all the glass and debree and mud and stuff,
>and walked outside to try and shut off the gass valves. They were broke. He
>came back in the house, and I was finding my way with my cane and my purse
>and he met me in the entry and helpped me out the door. We got as far away
>from the house, as possible, as all the gass tanks in town were putting out
>gass. One could really smell and hear those gass tanks. It was almost worse
>than the tornado. I was scared. We were concerned with all the cars driving
>in town that a spark would cause the gass to ignite and we would have all
>gone up in flames. It was not a pretty sight. God was with us all. Someone
>came over to us and asked us if we were alright. I said blank no! They
>asked us if we were injured, and we said no. They explained that they had
>to find the injured people first. We understood, but nevertheless, I was
>scared. I sent Vernon back into the house for a cell phone. He found his
>cell phone, and grabbed several things of mine and brought out to me. I
>thought that was sweet. One of them was my very expensive Plextor Daisy CD
>Recorder I had bought after arriving back from Portland, my tape recorder,
>and some CD's. He called Dean and told them what happened, and asked them
>to come up and get us. They came up, and they couldn't believe it. Betty
>grabbed me and squeezed me, and we both cried. After a while, we were on
>their way to their house, when we were struck witha super heavy hail storm.
>It was horrible. I was just sure every window in Dean's truck was going to
>be broke, but nothing was broke, and no dents in the truck. The hail was
>bad, too. We made it to De Smet, and that loving little dog Mitsi didn't
>know what was going on. Again, God was with us.
>
>
>The next day, We endured the stress of seeing what our house was like after
>it all. The news media wouldn't leave us alone. They were relentless. I
>finally talked to KELO Land TV station, so they would leave Vernon and Dean
>alone to work. We learned who our friends were, even though the county and
>state were very rude to them, and wouldn't let them in Manchester to help
>us the next few days. When we found out this, to be honest, we were very
>upset. The county and state didn't help us at all. They just bulldosed what
>they wanted to, and the county commissioner got his stuff all cleaned up.
>No one was given time to go through anything, or pick. We did find out who
>our friends, are exactly who we thought they were. We learned that this
>loving EChurch family was more support to us than we ever expected. The
>emotional support and prayers from you all have been tremendously
>wonderful. We thankyou from the bottom of our hearts.
>
>Three days after the Tornado, The Lord found us a nice house that needed a
>lot of work on the outside, and some work on the inside, but He has given
>VErnon the strength and wisdom to do that work. We couldn't have done this
>without the help of his brothers, Dean, and Lyle, for whom we are very
>grateful to.
>
>God took Vernon's Dad away from us, on the evening of July 28th, which was
>the day that we became owners of this house in De Smet, South Dakota. It
>was unthinkable what our doctor did to Vernon's Dad. He preferated his
>colon, and didn't tell the family about it until they got back to the
>hospital from lunch, and found Dad in intensive care. Then Doctor Wiedel
>had to admit that he preferated his colon. It was too late. Dad looked like
>he was going to have trippletts. We waited for him to have surgery, but
>found out much later that Doctor Sy was in surgery with someone else. It
>was horrible that night when he got out of surgery. They had flown in blood
>platelets from Mitchell to try and save him. Doctor Sy who did the surgery,
>felt so bad, he was so kind and loving when he told us that Dad would not
>make it through the night. Dad passed away at 11:20 that night, as they had
>taken the equipment off him at 11:15 that evening. I was holding on to
>Dad's hand when he died. Doctor Sy stayed with us and comforted us, until
>we left the hospital that night at 12:30. God will deal with Doctor Wiedel
>when time comes for judgement day.
>
>
>Again, we endured another stressfull event, when at the two buildings we
>have left in Manchester were robbed and vandelized on September 21st of
>this year. Many things were stolen and other things were just thrown
>through the buildings. God was telling us something.
>
>I cried many tears through all of this, and I prayed, and I talked with
>some of you on the phone, and you were very loving and sweet. I felt all
>your love and prayers through all this time. Vernon took this all very
>hard, as well, but he did not show his emotions. He often got mad at me,
>but we delt with it. Of course, he never got physical in any way, just when
>i went to squeeze him when he needed those lovings and squeezings. I got
>many lovings and squeezings back. <smile>
>
>We have been so very grateful for all of the help from all our relatives
>and friends, and the Mennonights, and for the gifts and donations we
>received from family, friends, and Churches.
>
>Through all of this decitions have been very hard to make, and I don't know
>if VErnon knows how much I've prayed to God asking Him for the right
>decitions for us to make. Vernon and I talked with Dean and Betty and Lyle
>after the robbery, and we all felt, what I had been praying about, that we
>should sell everything in Manchester, and sell the property as well. We new
>we would take a loss as for all the lawn and garden parts he has there, is
>worth much more than he'll ever get out of it. I continued to pray that God
>would send the right person to us to buy the property. Vernon and I talked
>about it a lot. I told him how much I was praying. He felt that was good.
>
>Over a week ago, Rex Guyer saw VErnon in the alley working on the rooff of
>our house, and stopped to talk to him. He told Vernon that he and his wife,
>Lynette Guyer were interested in buying the Manchester property. Rex said
>they would talk about it, and get back to us.
>
>Just so you know, Rex and Lynettte Guyer were one of the couples expecting
>twins that lost their house which they were renting, in the tornado in
>Manchester.
>
>Last Friday, at around 5:30 PM, Vernon came into the house and said to me:
>"You just sold your property in Manchester." I was upstairs making beds,
>and I was super glad. We were getting ready for company for supper that
>evening. When she got here for supper, we told her, and we had something to
>celebrate.
>
>On Monday afternoon, Rex called to tell us that we would be meeting with
>the lawyer on Tuesday at 1:30 PM. We did just that, and it went excellent.
>
>We didn't ask a lot for the property and the two buildings left on it, but
>we are free from that expense now, and we'll hopefully have an auction sale
>in a few weeks, and sell everything up there that needs to be sold. We have
>60 days to get everything off the property, but it is their's now.
>
>Please join me in Praising God for everything He has blessed us with, and
>please continue to pray that this all goes well, and that the meeting with
>the auctioneer goes well tomorrow, and that we can have this sale soon, and
>get it done with.
>
>Please also pray that Vernon and I could eventually get out of debt, as
>this has not happened yet at all, as we've been spending all our money on
>fixing up this house and replacing things that were lost or damaged in the
>tornado. The insurance company has been a bit slow, at paying us for the
>items we've submitted for replacement or repair, but we did not have
>replacement at full value, so they only replace a very small percentage of
>things at today's prices.
>
>Please watch for us in December on the Weather Chanel on Storm Stories. We
>were interviewed and filmed in September. I will keep you all informed, as
>to when the film will be shown.
>
>We want to thank you all so very much for your love and prayers.
>
>God Bless you all.
>
>Love you all,
>Pat Ferguson

John

A)bort, R)etry or S)elf-destruct?<*>