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April 23, 2006
Spring Update
The pace of life seems to have increased since our last update. I had to read back through my journal to remember what has happened since I last wrote. Spring arrived! We’ve had a number of sunny, warm days that beckoned us outside. We’ve felt like homesteaders as we’ve worked on clearing a very overgrown corner of our lot. All the seeds planted April 3 have sprouted (the impatiens were the last to surface) and we’ve had to replant the beans into larger individual pots since it still is too early to put them into the ground. The greenhouse is now chock full, with everything waiting for flower and vegetable beds to be prepared. And I’ve enjoyed getting to know more of our neighbors as I’ve asked their advice on how best to grow different things.
Wil surprised us one day by announcing that he was starting a Bible study among his classmates and asking us what book of the Bible we thought they should study! I’m not sure that he puts in as much time preparing for a Bible study as we would, but we’re delighted that this is something he wanted to do and that others are attending. Wil’s plan for the summer is to caddy at a golf course. He’s done two training sessions and went a third time to caddy, but was rained out. He’ll have time to do more after his play is over (performances are 27-29 in the evenings, with a matinee on the 29th as well.
In addition to preparing Bible studies, Dave has been helping a friend with his business, as well as contacting Filipinos. We’ve been asked to lead and host the monthly Portland OMF prayer meeting the second Tuesday of each month. We’re happy to do so, and those attending are willing to come to our house for it. So we’re hoping some from our home church might want to attend. It meets at two in the afternoon. We need to get organized in getting prayer requests from OMFers from Oregon.
Over the Easter weekend we were able to spend time with Jody’s husband Dave and with Aunt Mabel’s daughter Laurel and her family. After so many years in the Philippines, we appreciate the opportunity to spend special occasions with family. Dave’s sister Gail is coming on Friday, so we’re trying to get cousins and their families together for a visit on Saturday, with some going to the matinee of Wil’s play, “How the West was Dun.”
A year ago on Easter Monday, I flew to Singapore to have a biopsy of the lump I’d found. Last year Easter was in March, so it means that the Lord has given me more than a year of relatively good health since that trip and the diagnosis of cancer. This year on Easter Monday Dave and I drove to Arlington, WA, to the bed and breakfast where we’d been for a Sonscape retreat last September. We enjoyed visiting with Bob and Lisa who run the River Rock Inn, as well as Larry and Barb, who had returned to lead another retreat. Two of the couples attending this time are friends we encouraged to attend, so we got to visit with them too, then left when their retreat officially started. Lots of stimulating conversation and time for contemplation.
Right now we have Marilyn staying with us. She is from Minnesota and is visiting relatives in the area as well as us. Our connection goes back to All Nations Christian College, even though we weren’t students there at the same time. Yesterday we went to see the rhododendrons at Crystal Springs Gardens. The timing was perfect to see scores of varieties of azaleas and rhododendrons.
Last night I got a call from my cousin Jean to say that Uncle Owen had just died. He was the last of Mom’s immediate family, and the last of all the Hussa cousins of his generation. I’m waiting to hear plans for the funeral. I want to be with family just now, but need to juggle other commitments I’ve made for the coming week as well. Please pray for Owen’s children and grandchildren, and his wife Helen, who will feel the lost the most.
Posted by David at 8:44 PM
April 10, 2006
Busy and fun days with visitor from England
Our friend Mike Baldwin was with us from last Wed. evening until this morning. We packed in as much sight-seeing and exposure to the culture of Northwestern America as we could in his short visit, including climbing to the top of Multnomah Falls, visiting the Oregon Coast, hiking along a river coming down from Mt. Hood, attending an Oregon Symphony concert, and meals at three very different but picturesque restaurants. He joined us for Bible studies and church services as well. We loved having him here.
Wil enjoyed the high school Spring Fling on Saturday evening. It was a ‘Sadie Hawkins’ event where the girls invite the guys, so he didn’t have to ask someone to go. I’m not sure how well he knows the girl who invited him, but he seemed to enjoy the event, as well as all of the socializing before and after. He did well at getting his lines memorized for the school play during spring break, but still has rehearsals every day after school and most Saturdays between now and opening night April 27th.
Tomorrow I’ll have chemo again, neutrophils permitting. I enjoyed visiting with my oncologist last week. He was just back from a visit to Belarus, his home country, and it was great to hear about his trip and more about his Christian background. He reported that the last test on my heart shows that the Herceptin I’m taking doesn’t appear to be damaging my heart, so that’s good news. But I discovered on our hike to the top of Multnomah Falls that the chemo has weakened my lungs, and lack of aerobic exercise coupled with low hemoglobin meant I had to stop frequently on the climb to let my heart rate slow down. Walking in the area around our home doesn’t involve such steep climbs!
Just before Mike arrived we started a lot of different seeds in the greenhouse Dave built. The broccoli and lupines are coming up already! Hopefully the area behind our house will be dry enough to plow, rake, and seed very soon so that we can have a flower garden and lawn there. Azaleas and early rhododendron are blooming already and we’ve discovered that one of the bushes at the front is a white lilac.
Our warmest greetings to all of you as we look forward to celebrating Jesus’ resurrection this coming weekend. He is risen indeed.
Posted by David at 8:33 PM
April 2, 2006
Lampinen Prayer Letter for April
Dear Team,
We returned on April 1st from our trip to Canada where we were able to enjoy laughter, sunshine, and good catching-up time with a number of OMF colleagues, other friends from the Philippines, and even some we’ve known for more than 30 years. Wil got to see how it feels to be one of five boys as we stayed with friends who have four sons who were buddies of his at Faith Academy.
During the trip Wil worked on memorizing his part in “How the West was Dun” a Western melodrama their school is putting on April 25-27. As narrator, he interacts with the audience throughout the play and also has the part of Reverend Right! Before we left for Canada, we had conferences with his teachers. He’s doing well and most teachers enjoy having him in their classes, even if he does talk too much sometimes! This Saturday is the Spring Banquet, so the next social event on his horizon.
For us the next is a visit from Mike Baldwin, a British friend who will be with us from April 5-10. Later in the month we’ll have two more welcome visitors: Marilyn Menninga from Minnesota and Dave’s sister Gail from Rochester, New York. The Lenten season is also helping us to focus our attention on Jesus’ Resurrection. We are so grateful for all the hope, joy, and peace we can know because He rose from the grave and is alive today. All of the budding trees and flowering plum trees, plus daffodils, hyacinths, and other spring flowers also speak of new life. And we are thrilled to have two new babies in our extended family: Dave’s niece Tonja had a daughter Katja in March in Finland and my nephew Bill brought home a four month old son Matthew from Guatemala!
I see Dr. Panutich on Tuesday but everything seems to be going well at present. I’m not sure when he will order another CAT scan. My arms give me trouble from time to time, but usually there isn’t too much pain and it’s more inconvenience at not being able to reach things or have the strength I’d like to do more. Hopefully I’ll eventually see the results of the exercises I keep doing.
Our Beth Moore study hasn’t met too regularly this past month, so we probably won’t complete the study until the end of April. Another couple’s study Dave is leading has helped us to get more excited about what God is doing in our lives and deepen relationships. You may remember us telling about the Sonscape retreat we attended in September. The next one in the Seattle area will be the week after Easter and two of the couples attending are good friends of ours. Please pray it will be as enriching for them as it was for us.
We mentioned in our last letter that we were going to Ohio to visit my uncle. That was a very good visit, and despite his deafness, we were able to communicate well on one of our visits. I was so grateful to be able to talk to him about the Lord. Just yesterday we learned that Dave’s Aunt Mabel, who was living in the Portland area, died last Thursday. Her funeral will be back in Michigan where most of her family and friends are based. We will miss her, but are grateful that after a number of months of poor health, she is now in heaven. Her daughter Laurel has cared for her these past few years and may feel the loss the most. On the other end
Pray on for closer relationships with Filipino pastors in our area. Most are working at least part time in other jobs as well as pastoring churches, so it isn’t easy for Dave to arrange time with them beyond the monthly prayer meetings. He has given out brochures about the Missions Involvement Seminar he would like to do in their churches, but so far none have asked to have on at their church. We’ve met with some other involved in reaching Asians and International students, but the relationship-building is slow.
Yours because He lives,
Dave and Karen
Posted by David at 7:41 PM