We, the sisters of the United States Region want to thank you, our sisters from across the congregation for your thoughts and prayers for us, our families and all the people affected by Hurricane Sandy.  We and our families have experienced very strong winds and rain, power outages and loss of internet connection.  However, others have suffered loss of life, homes and businesses.  Others have been unable to travel for reasons of business, health or family.  In some places the destruction will take months and years to repair.  Billions of dollars have been lost to the economy and billions more will need to be spent for immediate and long-term restoration.  Please continue to keep all those who lost so much and all those helping them in your prayers.