December's newsletter

Moving forward

I’m taking our worn down mini –van down the dirt and rock road, on my way home from interpreting at a bible school for our deaf Pastor Carlos. I bottom out a few times, but it goes with the territory and my mind wanders to the bumpy road it’s been since our last letter to you in May. *whew*

Like the road, it’s been rough. It’s the first anniversary of when Carlos lost his wife-my best friend- and he was left with his two young children and a small but growing deaf congregation—Many people ask how he is doing. He is moving forward and keeping so busy that he is perpetually exhausted.
Then, during our summer trip, Lonnie got so bad, he was continuing to lose weight and had no strength or energy—It got real scary, and he was hospitalized a couple of times -so we had to look at some serious questions about whether or not we could move forward too.

Before

Out of necessity, the deaf ministry was scaled down during this time so we could focus on family,-but the ministry continues. When we are not at doctor appointments we’ve been busy with interpretations, Sunday worship, continuing to meet with Pastor Carlos on a weekly basis and being a help to him as much as possible, and we’ve set a tentative date for our next deaf women’s retreat for April.

After

The good news is God answers prayers and on January 9th Lonnie is scheduled to receive a kidney from his brother Kerry from Missouri. We anticipate at least three months of recovery—but after that everyone expects a full recovery and Lonnie will go back to being “normal” again—at least as normal as Lonnie ever was. ;-)

Lonnie’s brother is sacrificing more than his kidney. So Lonnie and I are raising funds to cover some of his lost wages—if you’d like to help- please make a check out to Baja Compassion with a note or memo indicating that it is for Kerry.

We ask that you cover Lonnie and the family- extended and otherwise -in prayer during this time!

Thanks all!