Cheryl is still experiencing discomfort, but is making good progress after her surgery. Of course she was not able to attend church today but she has been getting around the house some. Yesterday Michael and Mom Longstaff arrived in Tulsa at about 3 PM after several delays. Of course, it was great to see both of them.
I just finished writing our greeting and message to our employees who will be having their graduation and Christmas parties tomorrow. This year we have invited the families of each of our employees so it should be a joyous occasion. Before we left we bought each of the ladies a blender and each of the men a leather wallet. As you know, the 15th, Wednesday, was the day when each employee receives his/her regular paycheck and an additional month's pay. As is often the case that turned out to be quite an adventure. We didn't have quite enough to cover the check that I left for the occasion, but there were four smaller checks which, added together, brought us within $2.96 of having enough. I was thrilled until I received a phone call from Nicholas about an hour later. I had forgotten that the bank requires that I estimate the actual date when each check will be cashed. That being the case, each of the checks had a date sometime later on in December or in January. Thus, we were right back where we started. That is until today when we received notice that another check had come in which covered the entire amount. I shared this with the employees so they know that God has answered their prayers and ours as well.
I'm happy to report that Cheryl arrived home at about five o'clock this evening. I had reported that she was to be home yesterday, but early yesterday morning she developed a fever and it was decided she should stay in the hospital another night. Early this morning she once again developed a fever and when we talked to the doctor it appeared she would not be able to come home yet today. However, this afternoon things took a turn for the better and she was discharged. As you might suspect she's not feeling very well but just being home is a real boost. As I reported before, the post testing indicated that the surgery was a success this time. The next one will likely be in the early part of January.
Cheryl had her repeat kidney stone surgery yesterday and this time it was a success. The process took longer than expected because the tube into her kidney had to be placed by means of CAT scan as she has an abnormal placement of kidney and colon. She has a small incision in her back runs to the kidney and therefore spent the night in the hospital last night. She started running a fever about midnight, but that was gone this morning, and if it remains gone she will come home today. There was another CAT scan done after the surgery last night, and this morning the doctor came by and said it revealed that he had gotten nearly everything. Anything that's left will pass through a stent. Thanks for your prayers.
Nicolas took Levi to the hospital today for a follow up exam and they found a further problem with some of the corrective work they had done. He will go back tomorrow to prepare for a further surgical procedure on Thursday. We worked again today on getting the newsletter out, hopefully this week. Cheryl checks into the hospital tomorrow am at 6:30; the surgery is scheduled for 8:30.She's experiencing discomfort tonight; pray everything goes well.
______________________________ For the serious minded Believer, what rivals the fear of dying? Maybe it's the fear of Living. Cheryl had a difficult night last night, not much sleep, so I urged her not to go to church this morning. Jeff and I went to First United Methodist and enjoyed their outstanding Christmas program. Afterward I attended the Carpenter's Sunday School class where they had special prayer for Cheryl. ____________________________________________________
As I drove to church this morning I remembered having repeated what some other missionary said,"Without your financial support we would not be able to stay on the field; without your prayer support there would be no reason for us to stay on the field." I have wondered, "Do I really believe that?" The more I think, I see evidence to support both. The one about money is obvious. But there is also plenty of evidence of our great need for your prayers. For example a couple of years ago we made an offer to buy the rice processing plant to expand the ministry. It was a reasonable amount, but Luis Paz declined it without a moment's hesitation. With that we understood it was not an issue of money. As many of you know, in a meeting before we left, Luis disclosed that what he wouldn't sell he has decided to give. He's going to let us have the facility to use in developing the ministry and the community. Yes, we always need money; but more than that we need your prayers. Today we went to St. John Hospital for Cheryl's pre-op in preparation for surgery on Wednesday. Some lab work had been misplaced so she had to have it done over. Nicholas wrote today that one of the patients from Seis de Mayo that was treated during our last clinic died yesterday. The funeral was today . Going wireless at the mission center helped a great deal in recruiting new students this time. It's proving to be a bit of a challenge to make sure the Internet is used for instructional purposes only. Amy called earlier this week. She had been in New York doing a benefit Global Green concert. While she was there she also saw Marisa's performance in the stage play of Les Miserables. Amy and some of the other performers put together a CD and her song, Gasoline Rainbows, is the title of the CD which was number three on the iTunes charts.
Cheryl's kidney surgery (lithotripsy) November 30th was not successful. She will be undergoing a more invasive surgery procedure (Percutaneous Nephrostolithotomy) on the right kidney on December 15th and the left kidney two to three weeks later. X-rays revealed that the right kidney has some abnormalities and could somewhat complicate the procedure. Would appreciate your prayers.
I got a call from Marlon in Honduras yesterday. I hadn't heard from him or seen him in months. I'm not exactly sure why he called, but I suspect that he would like to come back to work for us. I hope the dorm project moves forward so that we can have him back. I called Nicholas this afternoon to make sure he got pictures of Dr. Rios's students doing their dental clinic. They had already left the mission center. As it turns out, it has been raining the last three days and is cold and only about 20 people showed up. With five students seeing patients, they were finished by mid day. Dr. Rios did say that they will be coming back at another time.
Yesterday morning five members of the Carpenter's Sunday school class at First United Methodist Church here in Tulsa came to visit us. They brought Christmas gifts and a wonderful holiday coffee cake and then we had about two hours of great fellowship. We shared, sang, and prayed together. It was such a great blessing. In the afternoon we went to an open house for a recently married couple in our church; then did a little shopping and came back to the house. Later on I went back downtown to the Methodist Church for dinner and a Christmas party put on by the PTL Sunday school class. All in all a pretty full day.
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