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September 20, 2005
Encouraging Times
We slipped up and didn’t post our Sept. Prayer Bulletin on the website, so some of you haven’t heard from us for almost a month. Sooner or later we’ll get better organized! The Prayer Bulletin just went up, two weeks after it was written, so I’ll update you just on what has happened in the past two exciting weeks.
Wil is enjoying school! He’s on the soccer team as secondary forward (that means he comes in when the primary team has scored a certain number of goals). His first game is tomorrow night and he’s very proud of his new uniform, number 15. He doesn’t seem to be stressed by school work so far. We haven’t seen any grades yet, but he thinks he’s doing OK. One night he had so much homework that he stayed home from youth group to get it all done. We appreciate the sense of responsibility shown in making that choice. For his elective he is taking New Testament Greek (!) and his teacher was Dave’s teacher for Greek at Multnomah, and is also our Community Group (Sunday School) teacher. We’re in Romans for the second year. That book is so rich that we’re happy to be studying it at a slow pace.
The freshman class is also selling Entertainment books this month. That won’t mean much to you non-Americans, but it’s a fund raiser for their trip to Washington, DC in a year or two. Wil already has orders for about 10 books. If any of you would like to order, they are available for cities all over the US, Canada, and even different countries. They cost $30 for here in Portland. If you order through Wil then he and Damascus Christian School get credit. So let us know if you’d like one for your area and we can tell you the code to put in for his school.
A number of very special things have happened during these past two weeks. One was having my friend Linda Storey here to visit. She and I got acquainted in England about 30 years ago when she and her family were living in England and attending Gold Hill Baptist Church. We did a lot of walking and talking, and fit in hiking, kite flying, beach walks, and swimming as well as shopping and mundane chores. Linda left on Saturday morning, and Dave and I were able to go from the airport to the dress rehearsal of the Lord of the Rings Symphony! The performance was brilliant, I think even more fun than seeing the concert since we got to see where the conductor thought more practice was needed. Afterwards I learned that tickets for the evening performance started at $50 each! We were able to go free having signed up for a classical series starting next week. After the concert, we went on a tour of the Portland Center for the Performing Arts, right next door. We’d never been to that building, so learned a lot and enjoyed the tour, and now want to get to some plays as well! Some of you will know that during my first two years in England I went to concerts or plays or operas or ballets almost every night of the week! During the years since then, and especially during those in the Philippines we were lucky to get to one once a year. So we’ll try to find a healthy balance now.
Recently we had arranged, on very short notice, to attend a week long retreat for pastors and missionaries run by a group called SonScape. The organization is in Colorado, but they are running this retreat at a bed and breakfast north of Seattle, WA from Sept. 27-Oct. 5. Other missionaries from our church had attended a SonScape retreat and encouraged us to consider going. When we stopped to pray about it, and considered that we’ve had very little time to stop and process things since I was diagnosed with cancer in March, we decided to apply to go. We know that the stress level we’ve faced these past two and a half years could easily have flattened us both and we praise God that He has repeatedly picked us up and kept us going. But we see too that this is the ideal time to draw aside for a week to spend time with Him, in beautiful surroundings, and with trained counselors there to help us process things, as we seek to know His plan for our future.
Our church encouraged us to put together a Transition Team to help us with processing all of the changes we’ve been through, and planning for the future. We asked two couples who had been missionaries and needed to return to the US, plus a third couple from the church who have a heart for missions and a lot of practical, business experience to be on the team. We met for the first time the day we were considering applying to SonScape and they encouraged us to go ahead. We are grateful to have them as a sounding board as we look at where we are now and plan ahead. We were able to share with them our vision of continuing to be involved in challenging Filipinos to become global Christians and involved in cross cultural ministry, right from here in Portland.
God really seems to be confirming that plan as He has led Dave in making contact with strategic Filipino pastors in the area at strategic times. This led to our attending a meeting yesterday with Pastor Joy Tira and Professor Enoch Wan, two of the editors of the book “Scattered: the Filipino Global Presence.” Dave will meet with them again on Wednesday to plan for a city-wide Filipino missions conference. Pray the Lord will continue to open doors in this way.
Posted by David at 5:17 AM
September Prayer Bulletin
Dear Prayer Team, September 5, 2005
It’s Labor Day here in the US and we’ve used it as a day of rest! We were in Eugene and Cottage Grove, OR from Tuesday to Thursday attending two OMF prayer groups and in between visiting Crater Lake and the area near Florence along the Oregon coast. We were invited to join friends from church in Central Oregon over the weekend, but decided we needed rest more than more travel. We are enjoying our home more as we find places for things and get them put away. Things are more or less in order now in each room, and that feels good. I’m about ready to tackle making curtains and maybe even doing some baking.
When I saw Dr. Panutich on August 23rd I learned that the tumors in the liver were the same size on this last scan as on the one before. Also the blood tests to check on liver function, which had been high for the previous two monthly readings, were back in the normal range. Those were very good and very welcome results after five months of every doctor visit bringing more bad news! It means we can begin to plan more than a week at a time, and are now actively asking the Lord to show us His direction for us in coming months. We are officially on home assignment until Feb. 2006,and are happy to represent OMF at prayer meetings, churches, and mission conferences. Diary dates are coming together, both with visits from friends (Linda Storey will be here Sept. 9-17), a women’s retreat at the coast with ladies from Damascus (Sept. 23-25), and representing OMF at a church in Grants Pass in Southern Oregon Sept. 30-Oct.2. I’ll be part of a team leading a Precepts study on 2 Chronicles and 1 Samuel Sunday evenings beginning Sept. 18, and Dave has been asked to co-lead one of the Community Groups on Sunday mornings.
Wil starts school on Tuesday, Sept. 7. He has been working on math over the past month and I’m encouraged to see how much he is able to do well when he’s focused on that. Please pray especially for a good academic performance in math and English (two weak areas for him) so that he will be able to be on the school soccer team. He loves the sport and appears to have a lot of natural talent. Our hope is that wanting to stay on the team will be the motivation he needs to work hard in school! We’ve spent some time today agreeing on his responsibilities around the house and what his allowance should cover. As he takes over management of more of his finances, we pray he will be responsible and learn good practices.
Bob Lopez, director of PMA, is presently in the US and we are hoping to arrange for him to visit with pastors of Filipino churches here in the Portland area in October. Pray especially for Dave as he works on this and seeks other opportunities to meet with and mobilize Filipinos churches to get involved in cross-cultural missions.
Dave and I are having to deal with more aches and pains than is pleasant just now. We both have tendonitis in our left shoulders (probably from too much lifting and reaching) and bursitis in one hip (normal ageing, I guess) and I’m also dealing with a lot more pain from lymphedema (swelling in my right arm caused by the fact that the lymph nodes were removed as part of my surgery in Singapore). There is no simple cure for this and regular exercises and massage don’t bring quick results. Since I’m right handed, there isn’t much I can do when my right arm is aching! Please pray for patience and endurance.
Thank YOU for your patience and endurance in praying for us over many months and years. God hears and answers. Please let us know how we can be praying for you too.
Our love in Jesus, Dave and Karen
Posted by David at 3:21 AM