Answered Prayer.
"Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." Isaiah 65:24
Thank you all who prayed for me, beat on Heaven’s door for me, and lifted me up to the throne room of God my Healer after our last update. God answers prayers! I am much stronger. My body needs so much sodium; I am taking several grams of salt tablets every day with my steroid cocktail and it is helping tremendously. Now someone needs to invent a sodium monitor for Addison’s disease like the glucose monitors for diabetes; that would be a total game changer for me! God is glorified in all things, and he answers our prayers any way He chooses; either way, in healing and in suffering, His name is greatly to be praised!
We had the honor of hosting a work team from First Baptist Church of Ellijay, Georgia that was led by Vann’s great-uncle! It was so special to have family here, and the rest of the guys are now part of our extended family too. They came with such cheerful hearts to serve and worked so hard doing anything and everything that was needed. They left a beautiful testimony for our national workers to see how they joyfully tackled any task set before them. They split into groups and worked on the insulation and drywall in the Little house, trimmed up the base with the weed-eater in 95°+ weather, cleaned our solar panels, fixed fences and installed the water filter system for Sam academy. Along with another very dear and generous donor, this church helped fund the water filter projects for Sam Academy, Petra Base, a house at SamAIR, and brought some of the components with them in their luggage. The filter system for Sam academy was the biggest one of the three projects and will hopefully be life changing for the missionaries that live there. Previously, they had to buy water jugs for everything - especially showers - and for anyone light haired, the water would cause bright orange hair as well as ruined laundry. To our knowledge, it has been this way for over the last two decades.
We had the great privilege of hosting the ladies retreat for our own church, Mil Palmeras, here at Petra Camp! It’s still a bit rustic for a ladies retreat. One whole cabin of ladies walked to the bathroom as a group in the middle of the night with a lady in the lead tapping the ground with a stick in an attempt to scare away the snakes! We look forward to having a kitchen, dining hall, and sidewalks to make their stay better in the future, but this was a great beginning. We are so thankful for these facilities and the ways it is already serving our local churches!
Jesus is coming soon! Are you ready to meet Him? He is the Only way, He is the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father God but through Jesus. He died a brutal death, was buried, and rose again to life on the third day to take away the sins of all who repent, confess Him as Lord, and believe He is God. This is why we do what we do and live the way we live. Nothing else matters more than knowing God and making Him known in all the earth.
This life certainly has its unique difficulties; sickness and the loneliness that comes with that, the frustrations of keeping everything working in the jungle of a third world country, and missing our kids. The body of Christ makes it all so much sweeter, and we feel immensely blessed to be here and do this work God has called us to do. We would not rather be anywhere else in this big, beautiful world! We thank God for all of you who pray for us, support us, and care for us in so many ways: by coming to visit, sending an encouraging note, and taking care of our kids State-side.
Jesus is coming soon! What are you doing about it?
“The purpose of the prayers being answered is not our benefit but is God’s glory - that you may ask whatever you would choose to ask in order that the Father might be glorified.” - Alistair Begg