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Miracle Family, Miracle Baby
By MarJean Peters
Many missionaries come from the lower 48 to minister in remote Alaskan villages. However, some of the pastors and missionaries we minister to are native Alaskans who seek to win their own people for Jesus Christ. One such family are George and Eunice Landlord who came to faith while watching Billy Graham on TV many years ago. God led them into full-time ministry to disciple people in the village of Marshall. Samaritan's Purse is building a new house and Youth Center there for them this summer. We are excited to see God raise up this native couple as missionaries in their own culture!
Our ABM team became more intensely involved in their lives last year when they adopted a native baby. When first asked if they would adopt the yet unborn child, there was no way to know the single mom would deliver early. Baby Isaiah came into this world three months pre-mature and only weighed one and a half pounds. His chances of survival were minimal, yet he underwent five surgeries in his first few months. His adoptive parents prayed fervently for his life, as did our Arctic Barnabas team.
We met George and Eunice at the hospital in Anchorage but were not allowed into the intensive care unit. George just shook his head in concern of how Isaiah not only changed their lives as an addition to their family, but now their whole lives revolved around his needs. They would have to stay in Anchorage until Isaiah could live independently of monitors and doctor visits, which could be up to a year. This meant uprooting from Kako Bible Camp where their family was to reside and minister until the completion of their home in Marshall. Their two children also had to relocate to an Anchorage school. We felt their concerns about housing, transportation (since neither of them drive), schooling, as well as financial and emotional support.
We took them out to eat, prayed with them, and confirmed to them that God would carry them through. Their warm hugs and words of appreciation for our visit gave evidence of their need for us to stay connected with them through this time. Our second visit found them much more encouraged as God had provided temporary housing at a hospital guest house for families of long-term patients. Their children were enrolled in a school for native children, and their needs met. We took them to the store and bought groceries for them.
Dustin Hibbard, another ABM staffer, visited them after they had to leave hospital housing and move into a motel without cooking facilities. Dustin encouraged them with his visit and gifts including a toaster oven. Our family adopted the Landlords for Christmas and bought gifts and food to brighten their holidays away from home. Our daughter, who lives near their motel, picked up their needs list and purchased coats and Christmas gifts for them, which our son in Anchorage delivered to them.
We met with George and Eunice in Anchorage on January 16, 2010 at the “Kako House,” which had opened up, allowing them to move out of the motel room. Their faces were radiant! They could not stop thanking and praising the Lord for His faithful provision to them over this last year. George shared how they attend a native church and how he gives testimony every chance he gets of God’s faithfulness surrounding their “miracle baby”. At the time of our visit, they still felt concerned about finding yet another place to live. The home owner was asking them to relocate as soon as possible because they needed their house for frequent medical trips to Anchorage from Kako Camp.
Baby Isaiah was napping when we arrived, but when he awoke Eunice brought him out. We were wonderfully surprised to see a wide-eyed and robust baby boy! On our previous visits we were not allowed to see him throughout his five months in ICU. This boy did not at all resemble the photos we saw earlier on Eunice’s cell phone of the tiny preemie enmeshed in tubes. Truly God’s miracle! George and Eunice continued to smile and excitedly share provision after provision of God’s faithfulness to them. When we left, they thanked us again for the groceries and huge box of diapers we brought and added, “Your visit made our day!”
Since our last visit, they were given permission to remain in this house through April. Truly an answer to prayer! Baby Isaiah was hospitalized twice for pneumonia, so Arctic Barnabas' ministry to them continues and will continue when they arrive in Marshall as God’s light in that place.
