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

Second Update on my niece

Friends, one more update on Liz's kidney situation. Turns out the positive update from earlier has turned out to be somewhat less so. The definitive results from the biopsy shows severe rejection indicators, likely from being under immunosuppressed for some time. She is at this moment receiving a treatment to "zero out" her immune system (a type of chemotherapy) which she hopefully will tolerate. If that works well then she and Jane will fly home tomorrow night where she will spend the next seven days in the hospital for the remaining doses of immune system therapy. So, we would appreciate continued prayers for her situation to improve. The prognosis is good if the doctors are correct in their diagnosis and treatment option. Our greatest worry is the amount of damage, if any, caused by this episode. Thanks again for your care and concern

Prayer Request

Around midnight last night I heard from my brother, Ron, that my niece, Liz, was transported by ambulance from Colorado Springs to a Denver hospital with a transplant center.  She had a kidney transplant 4 years ago.  Her blood pressure and creatinine levels were high; her hemoglobin count was low.  Please pray for Liz, my brother (who is at a conference in Chicago) and his wife (who is at home in Kansas City.)  

Please pray for the three of them, especially that the doctors there will be able to get her counts under control and that there will not be any damage to her kidney.  I'll update as I have more information.

Casa del Juicio--Friday

We are settling in to a routine of leaving the house about 5:15 p.m. to be sure we have a parking space relatively close to the church.  Arriving by 5:30 gives Stephen time to get ready before he starts playing the piano and gives me plenty of time to get my area (entry to counseling/counseling stats board) set up for the evening.

Last night we had less help in our area, so Misha and I were busy the whole time.  Seventeen groups (424 people) passed through; there were 55 professions of faith and 18 rededications.  The total for the week is 101 professions of faith and 54 rededications.  The last counseling group finished at 12:10 a.m. and we were home by 12:30 a.m. 

Today and tomorrw we start two hours earlier, which, hopefully, will mean we'll get home no later than 11:00, but we'll see.

Keep praying for the health of the workers and for the Holy Spirit to convict those people who see the drama and bring a great harvest of souls.

Judgment House Prep

Vida Nueva is presenting Judgment House at the Miralvalle campus, February 4 to 7, and at the Lourdes campus, February 12-13.  Please check out the info on the Judgment House website (here) to get an overview of the project.  Our church writes its own script so that the the characters and scenes are based on the reality of life here in El Salvador. 

 The undertaking is a huge one, involving 100's of Vida Nueva members in various roles, construction, registration, actors, guides, security, child care, counseling and more.   

I picked up some black fabric at the church on Friday because they need some additional costumes for the demons who are in the "hell" scene.  Although they said there was a pattern, after I got home with the fabric, I realized the pattern was the one robe that they found.  The first step was to desconstruct enough of the robe to be able to use the pieces as patterns for the new robes.  Here are some pictures of my work and the final product (one of four), minus the hemming on the sleeves and bottom.

I told Stephen I  might not be able to sleep tonight!  I'll be glad when I'm finished.  Next year I think I'll request to help with the "heaven" scene.  

The performances start with dress rehearsal on Wednesday (night for church members to come) and then run through Sunday night.  Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we'll start at 6:00 p.m. and, if it's like years past, we'll finish after midnight.  Saturday and Sunday performances start at 4:00 and should end by 11:00 p.m.  Please pray for everyone involved--most of the people will be working all day.  Most importantly, please pray that the Holy Spirit will convict those who attend the drama and that we'll see many people come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. 

Prayer Request--UPDATE

Pastors Felix and Steve took the three guys (Stephen, Joseph and Hayden) to the hospital this morning.  In fact, they went to three different hospitals and none of the three had the vaccination available.  Their wounds were well cleaned and they were started on antibiotics.

According to the CDC, exposure or possible exposure to rabies, while not a medical emergency, is considered a medical "urgency" and treatment is recommended as soon after exposure as possible.

We are starting to call private hospitals to see if they have the vaccination available.  Please pray for us to find a doctor/hospital that can provide the first step of the treatment today.

Prayer Request!

Stephen and two other guys from the states went out to run this morning before breakfast.  While running all three of them were bitten by dogs.  Since we don't know the condition of the dogs and since there isn't a "department of health" to help, we are taking all three of them to the national hospital of Managua this morning so that they can the get the rabies vaccination.  We are not sure what the protocol looks like here, but it will likely require a series of injections.

Please pray for them.  Of course, they were hoping to avoid getting the shots, but we really don't have a choice.

Thanks for lifting them up in prayer today.

Prayer Request

As you know we recently moved to a new apartment in a new building.  The owner of the apartment had purchased and installed an electric stove, refrigerator and washer and dryer. In 2010 when we moved to El Salvador, our townhouse did not have any appliances so we bought a stove, refrigerator, washer and dryer.  We knew that it might be difficult to sell these items, but were hoping that our old landlord would want to buy them so he could set a higher rental price.

He originally told us he was interested in buying them, but last Friday he emailed to let us know he was not going to be able to purchase them.  At this moment they are still in the old townhouse--our final rental period ends on Sunday, December 8.  If we don't find a buyer by then, we will have to move them out and store them somewhere until we return to El Salvador on January 2.  

We are in Nicaragua this week so, once again, the time frame is very short.  We return to El Salvador on Saturday afternoon and will only have about 24 hours to take care of the situation.  Please pray that God will provide a "just-in-time" buyer for these things.  

Say a quick prayer

We are driving to Guatemala tomorrow morning to help with last minute prep before the 35 team members arrive on Saturday.

If you have time, please say a quick prayer for us as this will be the first time we've taken the inflatable across the border in our pickup truck.  We're praying for an  uneventful crossing.  We have all of the paperwork, which has been duly signed and notarized, but you just never know what will happen at the borders.  

Looking forward to sharing pictures and stories from VBS next week!

Prayer Request Update

It's been a week since Stephen hurt his back, and he has been a very good patient.  Thankfully, his it seems to feel a little better each day.  Please continue to pray for him as we have a campaign that starts a week from Saturday.  Of course, a campaign means that he will be responsible for the inflatable which equals loading, hauling, unloading, lifting, setting up, rolling up, loading, repeat.  At this point, he will be limited to driving the inflatable around and overseeing the work.   We are specifically praying that God will provide strong, willing volunteers to do the work so he can continue to recover. 

  

Prayer Request

You never know what the day will bring.  Wednesday morning Stephen was at the piano practicing songs ahead of the Wednesday night band practice.  He turned to his left to see the computer and with that movement (something he does numerous times) he let out a (almost) scream.  I was down stairs and didn't really understand the significance until I heard it a second time. 

When I got upstairs he was in a great deal of pain and was unable to get out of the chair.  After getting some Advil in him, I pulled the chair into the bedroom and he basically rolled out of it onto the bed.  He was hoping that after a couple of hours flat on his back, he would be fine, but, as most everyone knows, it rarely works that way with pulled muscles.  

The afternoon progressed with massages, ice, heating pad and pain.  He didn't make it to practice Wednesday night or to church last night.  His pain level has diminished somewhat over the last two days, but he still has along way to go to be pain free.

Please pray that his pain will end, that the inflammation will subside and that he won't do anything to cause a recurrence.  I know he'll be wanting to run as soon as he can, but pray that he will be patient and take the time he needs for his back to recover completely.  He'll definitely be "off" inflatable duty until he is back to normal.

Praying for Aviah

Our 4-month old granddaughter, Aviah, has been in the hospital since early Thursday morning when Daniel and Shannon took her to the emergency room.  It's been two and a half days of ups and downs as the doctor's have been working to diagnose her correctly.  

She is now at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (part of the Stanford University Medical Center) undergoing treatment for an infected umbilical cyst.  Yesterday they performed a surgical procedure to drain the cyst which had been growing over the past 24 hours.  The infection has been identified as MSSA, which, although one step below the antibiotic resistant infection called MRSA, still requires very strong antibiotics.

She is on IV antibiotics and will likely remain on them for several days until they are sure she is infection free.  In addition, they are watching to see if there are any additional problems with her digestive system since her stomach has remained distended even after the reduction of the cyst.

Please pray for her and for her parents, Daniel and Shannon.  Shannon's parents are staying with Maleia and Josiah so that Daniel and Shannon are free to stay with Aviah.  Pray for wisdom for the doctor's, that the antibiotics will help rid her body of the infection and that there will be no other complications.

Transplant Update

This morning we found out that Elizabeth's kidney has almost completely stopped producing urine.  Obviously, this is not the news we wanted to hear.  She has had a CAT scan and an ultrasound, as well as several blood tests.  The blood tests are within normal ranges; the other test results are not yet available.

This could be the first signs that her body is rejecting the kidney or it could just be a temporary "wrinkle."  At this point, my brother said that the surgeon is "not overly concerned."  We are holding on to his optimism and God's promises!  Please pray that the kidney wakes up and gets back to work!