Please pray for the Pieper family here in Winnipeg. There was a serious accident yesterday (Feb 26) that took the life of the father, Ralph Pieper, and has left his 13 year old daughter, Jennifer, in critical condition at the Childrens Hospital with brain trauma. There will be a prayer vigil for her at the Henderson Highway Church at 7 p.m. CST tonight. Please join us in praying for a miracle for Jennifer and for support for Neva (the wife & mother) and the other kids. There were six children in the van at the time of the accident, the others only have minor injuries, one needed stitches to her head and face, the others have minor cuts and bruises and will likely feel the effects of whiplash in the next day or say. Neva was not in the accident.

Thank you.

Sarah,

I received the following email from Mark Shipowick last evening:

quote:

---

Hi Daryl:

My brother-in-law was killed this morning in an accident and his daughter's life is in the balance as I write. If she lives though, they say she would be a vegetable. So there is a lot going on here. My children were in the vehicle and my daughter was hurt but not seriously. My two younger children were living with that family while they attended Red River Valley Junior Academy in Winnipeg.

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers.

Mark

---

Are you and Mark referring to the same accident?

In any case, we will be remembering them in our prayers.

Here is another email from Mark that I received this evening:

quote:

---

Hi Daryl:

Thank you so much for remember this family and my children in prayer. I just got off the phone with my son Eddie, 14. What he and two of the other children saw at the accident will be riveted in their minds for life.

Jennifer Pieper, almost 14, is the one who is in a coma on life support. Her condition doesn't seem to have changed for the worse or better. I understand there is little brain activity.

The mother, Neva is devastated. She is taking it very hard. I think she needs the prayers of the church as much and more than her daughter. The oldest daughter Heather, almost 16, is beside herself at times with grief. She was very close to her father and her sister. They were all close to him but Heather more so I think.

I'll be flying out to Winnipeg hopefully this Sunday. I won't be able to give you an update until I get back likely.

Thank you again.

Mark

---

It is obvious now that both Sarah and Mark are talking about the same accident and the same people.

Please remember these people in our prayers.

This is just terrible news. My heart goes out to those who are suffering right now. And our prayers are with everyone involved too. May the Lord come quickly!!

Oh how very, very awful. It just brings it all back about Howard's accident. I will so much be praying for these people. Poor Mark as well. Our people are so much under attack. Satan just will not leave any of us alone will he? Poor dears. Yes, please, please come quickly Lord Jesus! We are at a total loss without you. (

God bless,
Wendy

My prayers and thoughts are with everyone in this terrible accident. We never know from one day to the next what it will bring. This is a very sad thing to happen to any family. Let us pray they will keep their hand in Jesus' Hand. They need His comfort now.

I'm so sorry to hear about this terrible accident. my prayers are with your family also.
I'll be so glad when this terrible struggle on earth is over. Please come Lord Jesus!!!

Here is an update that I received this evening by email:

quote:

---

Just thought I'd update you on Jennifer.

Last night she was taken off lifesupport and is now sleeping in Jesus her LORD and Savior.

Thank you for the prayers and the support so far.

Please continue to pray for the family as they strive to rely on Jesus as they grieve the loss of their father, husband, daughter and sister.

Jesus is a wonderful savior who wants this all to end. I rest in the thought that he is coming soon and will end all these tragedies and horrible things that happen to his children while waiting for his soon return.

Come quickly LORD Jesus.

---

Mark...I have been on the jungle roads with spotty internet access...I have no words that can express my grief for you and your family. Words fail me...

Hello:

Thank you very much for your prayers. I flew out to Winnipeg Monday morning, but as Daryl posted, Jennifer was taken off life support shortly before I got there. There was a double funeral yesterday. Ralph and Jennifer were both well know and loved in the community and they had to rent a larger church in order to accommodate the people. Ralph had a responsible position as a Farm Management Specialist with Manitoba’s Department of Agriculture. He specialized in computer software applications to help track farm business, crop and stock management and he developed many applications to increase Manitoban’s farm productivity. Many of them are posted and can be downloaded free of charge on Manitoba’s Agricultural site.

Jennifer was an exceptional young lady, loving and extremely helpful and extremely efficient. She will be missed as much as her father. She looked and acted much older than her age. She was a vibrant, transparent, talented, friendly young woman.

In spite of how serious her injuries were, I was very hopeful until the end that God would heal her, but it wasn’t to be.

Thank you for keeping the family in your prayers. The hardest part will be for the mother, Neva in the weeks and months ahead when all the friends and family return home and she carries on. I’m glad to say she’s accepted this very well under the circumstances. She’s been an inspiration to all of us. We knew how much she loved both of these dear ones, and she’s bearing up heroically.

One small thing that those of you who may or may not know her could do is to visit her home church web site, http://www.hendersonhwysda.org/ and you’ll see towards the bottom of the page that a trust fund has been set up at CIBC for her children. There are instructions there on how to contribute to it, so I’d encourage you all to pray about it and give if you feel impressed. I should add one or two more comments.

Ralph and Neva have a long history of helping others – relatives and non-relatives alike. They’ve taken in the destitute often for months at a time, traveled tens of thousands of miles to nurse their parents dividing their own family for weeks at a time. This fall they persuaded their father and great aunt to come live with them. This was after they agreed to keep my two younger children for this school year. In November, Neva’s father who had just settled with them about a week before died in her arms, likely of a heart attack brought on by congestive heart failure. She was very close to him. He was 86. When this second tragedy happened, the members of the household included the 98 year old feeble Aunt, a dear women, six children, and two adults. The Aunt is still with her and she plan to keep her and my two until the end of the school year. She is an amazing, worthy woman.