Our loss....

Another dear friend has gone home to heaven on Tuesday of this week. We are happy for John, but terribly sad for Sue, their five children, and for ourselves. John and Sue were our neighbors for quite a few years as missionaries with MAF (Missionary Aviation Fellowship). Their home was a safe refuge for our family, and we have fond memories of evenings spent together at their table or in front of their homey fireplace.

When the children were little and Jim would travel, often John and Sue would walk over to visit in the evening, providing me with adult conversation. While Sue and I played duets on the piano, John would get on the floor and play with the kids, building a train or joining in whatever they were doing. They looked to John as a grandfather even though he always seemed way too young to fill that role.

More than once, I remember John and Sue coming for Thanksgiving to be our extended family. Most memorable, though, was the year they stayed by our side during the most difficult Christmas of our lives. It was the year Bekah was four, and the doctors were running tests to determine why she was bruising so freely. We all thought she had leukemia. Sue stayed with the other children while John drove me to the hospital to pick up Bekah, leaving Jim to await further results. We then came back to Mitla and tried to enjoy a turkey dinner amid the uncertainty.

Even after it was determined that Bekah only had ITP, and not leukemia as feared, she was still in a very fragile state for a couple of months, receiving a lot of extra care and attention. Not wanting Jon E, then almost three years old, to feel left out, John offered to take him for the day. More than one morning, Jonny would get himself dressed, pack a backpack with a change of clothes (just in case of an accident), and sit excitedly by the back door, waiting for "Mr. Hood" to come pick him up. Together they would walk back to their house where he and Sue would spoil him like good grandparents.

Some of you might remember hearing about John in another way. He is the one who mentored Chris, allowing him to work up at the MAF hangar as a teen, encouraging him in his desire to become a missionary pilot someday. He was a very dear friend to Chris and another Mitla youth (the son of a local pastor) who likewise has become a pilot/ mechanic, following Mr. Hood's example. Together with John, the two boys scrounged and recycled airplane parts to build a go-cart which Miki entered in a local science and technology fair. Their entry won first prize in the whole state of Oaxaca, and in the regionals including the surrounding states. They couldn't have done it without John teaching them so well.

John is also the one some of you prayed for several years back, when he was involved in a traffic accident which resulted in the death of a bicycler. You helped pray for him during the long months of house arrest until he was finally allowed to leave the country.

Many of our visiting teams have remarked about my unusual kitchen table, which is in the shape of a curved triangle, seating about a dozen people easily. I always defer the praise saying it was my vision, but John's design. Everyone else thought I was crazy, but John listened, and put my idea to paper, and helped me see it to reality.

The last thing I remember about John is the way he could make us all laugh, telling incredible stories about his life in various countries. I only wish I could more clearly remember the stories myself to retell them for others' benefit. He was a master story-teller.

Yes, we miss John and his unique personality and spiritual gifts. I can't imagine what Sue must feel, losing her life partner and best friend. Please pray for her as you think of her.