1 Peter 4:10

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

From the Pastor



Dear Friends,

First and foremost I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the great support in both monetary form and in the much desired prayer! And also the support via the kind words, your comfort, your shows of your care for me, this ministry and my family . . .

The time from when my beloved Virginia got sick until her death was a mere 56 days.

On December 14 she went to bed with a very bad head ache. At about 8:30 the next morning, December 15th, after a restless night where the head ache did not go away, she was making her way to the bathroom and fell unconscious.

My family, my friends, my church and several different groups help me to pay for the medical cost and other expenses. Virginia’s mother came to stay by Virginia’s side and help care for her.

During this time there was a man who came by selling tamales. He is a regular to our door, coming every Saturday, and a Christian too. We’d communicate by writing our messages back and forth – but he had an interest in learning sign, so Virginia and I would teach him some sign language whenever he came by.

He was able to share with Virginia’s mother about Jesus. Since she does not know sign, our attempts had fallen . . . well - on deaf ears, or more accurately, a deaf heart. It had been a long time prayer of Virginia’s for her salvation, and this man was able to lead her to Christ! When I told Virginia about this, at that time Virginia was able to sign with one hand, and she said “No, you lie!” When I assured her I was not, Virginia was so happy!

Then my daughter had her 6th birthday January 15th, and we carried the cake into the room where Virginia was and showed her the cake, and blew it out with our little family crowded around Virginia’s bed.

Also my wife had her birthday on the 31st of January. It was amazing to see how many friends came, both hearing and deaf! Our home was PACKED with well wishers! Unfortunately, she was in a great deal of pain. 4 days later she spiked a high fever and was vomiting. It was now the 4th of February and we took her to the general hospital.

Oh! so many things went wrong at this point . . . and as she worsened we had her moved, with Rancho Sordo Mudo’s director Luke Everett’s help, to a private hospital where she would get better care. That was Thursday afternoon. On Saturday the 9th of February she died.

We would have celebrated 9 years of marriage on the 20th of February.

1 comment:

Melissa's Life said...

Hi
I just read your blog comment on Rebecca Coult's blog about your missionary friends in Los Moches.. That's weird because I know them from Sinaloa as well.. The mom Anna Bonsell and I became really good friends while I live there going to school and I was going to intern at that deaf school in 06 or 07 ,I can't remember .. What a small world ...



melissa