On Friday night we had a Gathering Hearts for Honduras board meeting. There were some items up for discussion; but we also took time for some great fellowship in the Lord. These are our brothers and sisters who have been with us pretty much from the start. I will be returning to Honduras on Wednesday. Nicolas does a great job in our absence, but we all get a little uneasy when we’re up here . Cheryl has not been given a release by her doctor so she will be staying here in Tulsa. Our hope is that she will be released after her appointment on November 19. If so, she will come on down then.
On Friday night we had a Gathering Hearts for Honduras board meeting. There were some items up for discussion; but we also took time for some great fellowship in the Lord. These are our brothers and sisters who have been with us pretty much from the start. I will be returning to Honduras on Wednesday. Nicolas does a great job in our absence, but we all get a little uneasy when we’re up here . Cheryl has not been given a release by her doctor so she will be staying here in Tulsa. Our hope is that she will be released after her appointment on November 19. If so, she will come on down then. Last night the Briscoes from here in Tulsa joined us for dinner. Afterward we had a great prayer time, much of it for Gathering Hearts. Today Cheryl and I had a meeting with engineering faculty and students at Oklahoma State University. The purpose of the meeting was to begin planning for their January ’14 trip to our mission center. They will be closing out the water filter project in Seis de Mayo and beginning a new project in the area of El Sauce. Several have been to our place before and are eager to return. If all goes well I will be returning to Honduras next week; Cheryl will have to wait here until she’s released by her surgeon. Her next appointment is November 19.
Last night Cheryl and I had a meeting with the Hembrees and the Colwells here in Tulsa. We had dinner and then a great time of prayer for Gathering Hearts for Honduras. Nelson and Juliza (our Honduras pastors) will be returning from Venezuela to Honduras on October 25th. If Cheryl is able to get along by herself I will leave at the end of October. This afternoon we went to a birthday party for Dr. Green…his 80th. He has brought many teams to Honduras, and has greatly helped many people. Our prayer is that he will be able to make many more. Tomorrow we will be attending both First Methodist and Saint James Methodist churches.
We made some progress today toward getting our freight shipped to Honduras. We learned of another carrier that is fairly reasonably priced; is not demanding the difficult paperwork that the other carrier is demanding; and takes care of some of the details that we have found so time consuming in the past. At this moment we plan to continue moving forward with this new carrier. We had a meeting with Cheryl’s surgeon today. Some progress has been made on her kidney, but there are still issues and she may need another procedure. We were hoping we would be able to go back to Honduras together this time but that looks unlikely as her next appointment is not until November 19. Tonight was the First Methodist small group meeting. We had dinner and then a really good prayer meeting. They are a great support and encouragement.
I’ve been back in Tulsa for more than a week now. I arrived the day before Cheryl’s kidney procedure which was lithotripsy. I guess it’s too soon to tell if this is going to restore her to good health. The surgeon thinks progress was made, but she doesn’t feel good. She has an infection and residual effects from the anesthesia. She’s not bedfast, but hasn’t been out of the house for weeks. If you know Cheryl, that’s cause for concern. Much of my time these days is taken up with getting the container ready for shipping from Gulfport to Honduras. The 1000 Christmas gifts for the kids are packed; there are bicycles, tools, sewing supplies, etc. packed and ready. Dole has made demands this year that they never made before so we have had to get our lawyer in Honduras working on it. Nicolas called today and said even the mayor of Puerto Cortes is involved. Please pray for this matter and especially for Cheryl.
- Gary This past weekend was the annual conference for all the missionaries in Honduras. This is always a very special time when we get to be with people we care for very much but whom we see only once a year. The speaker this year was Roy Comrey, originally from South Africa and now from Canada. He is able to combine excellent Bible teaching with a wealth of personal experience. There was a team of 12 from New Jersey that came to minister to children and youth. We picked them up in the Nissan and took them to the conference. Today was church here in the village. Nicholas and I took the van and went to El Sauce and Campana to pick up those who wanted to come. Attendance was pretty good. Those in charge of the service had the privilege of using for the first time the projector which the Southern Heights Christian Reformed Church in Michigan donated. Tomorrow is my last day here before returning to Tulsa for Cheryl's next kidney procedure; I'm sure it will be a pretty busy day.
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