Prayer Request

Friends, I've been having periodic problems with my gallbladder and recently had an ultrasound. They discovered a 1.5 cm gallstone.  I saw a surgeon last Tuesday and he believes I should have my gallbladder removed.  We talked at length about whether it had to be now or could be at some point in the future as the flare ups aren't regular. 

His recommendation was to have it removed based upon my symptoms and to do it while we are here in a more controlled environment.  I definitely don't want to be on a mission trip and have a gallbladder attack that would require emergency surgery.

My surgery is Wednesday, January 31, at 1:00 p.m, here in the Kansas City area.  Recovery is 5-10 days at home.  It's no problem for me to fly on February 17, when we head to CA.  There is a 3-week restriction on lifting (luggage, grandkids, wet clothes, etc.) so I'll have to be careful with that through February 21.  

I'll update as I have more info.  Appreciate your prayers for me, the doctors and Stephen

Friday in Bogota

Friday was the last day of our campaign in Bogota.  We went back downtown and visited with people along La Septima, like we did on Wednesday.  Once again it was a fruitful morning with more than 30 professions of faith.

Friday evening the church rented out two indoor soccer fields and held a soccer tournament.  They ask the members of the church to form teams with their friends and come to field and participate in the tournament. Their goal was to have six teams, but they ended up with eight teams.  The gringos went to the soccer complex and shared the gospel with the team members and their families as they were waiting their turn to get on the field.  The exciting thing about this type of event is that the people being reached are all natural contacts of VidaNueva Bogota members which, of course, makes follow-up much easier.    

After the event, we returned to the hotel, ate a quick dinner, picked up our luggage and took the shuttle to the airport. Our flight to Houston departed at 1:30 a.m.  We landed in Houston about 6:30 a.m., made it through immigration and to our gate about an hour before our Kansas City flight.  We stepped off the plane in Kansas City to a temperature of 7 degrees!  

Wednesday in Bogota

Pastor Steve arrived on late Tuesday evening.  He was up bright and early to do the devotion on Wednesday morning and devotions just don't get any better than that.

We loaded up about 9:30 and headed to La Candelaria (downtown historic Bogota) where we shared the gospel along La Septima (7th Avenue.)  You see all types of people along that street and many of them are willing to listen to the good news of Jesus.

One of the members of Vida Nueva has a friend who works with families and children in a pueblo named Choachí, so Wednesday afternoon we traveled an hour and half over the mountains outside Bogota to get there.  The views were spectacular and the drop-offs incredible.  

We set up a VBS-like rotation with Bible story, crafts, snacks and recreation and were able to work with all 60 kids in about an hour and half.  We were also able to share the gospel with many of the parents who were there. There were almost 30 professions of faith during the afternoon.

 

Tuesday in Bogota

Tuesday morning we worked along the streets near the Unilago mall.  The interesting thing about the mall is that it is almost exclusively technology shops:  computers, cell phones, projectors, repair shops, printers, inks, cabling, batteries and more.  There were also people on each corner of the mall hawking software of every kind. 

There were many people on the streets and most of them were more than willing to stop and talk.  There were close to 30 professions of faith on Wednesday morning.  Here are some pictures of the team at work:

 

Tuesday night we had our first traditional family festival at a park in the Tintal neighborhood.  Four or five families from the church live in that neighborhood.  As usual, there was an inflatable, face painting and popcorn.  The team went out to visit and I had the privilege of translating for Don Laity.  The youth from VIda Nueva Bogota did the drama and Pastor Matt from Glenn Baptist shared the gospel.