Thanksgiving '25.
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
Thanksgiving 2025 at Petra Base is in the books! We were super blessed to share the day with some of our dearest fellow missionaries and hear about the amazing things that are happening in this jungle! The variety and types of work and people groups being reached by the good news of Jesus Christ is absolutely extraordinary!
Vann bought a fan for the pavilion, welded up some bracing for it and installed it just in time for Thanksgiving! It is a game changer for events in the tropics! This was the first Thanksgiving ever we weren’t all drenched in sweat. Despite the fact it was a relatively cool and cloudy, 80° day, it was still steamy with the high humidity and very little breeze, but the fan made it just delightful! Along with helping a missionary couple move earlier this month, Vann has been going through, reworking and cleaning out all of the engines attached to the miscellaneous machines on base, fixing electrical issues, extending the slab foundation and roof for the generator, and diligently taking advantage of the few dry days to cut the grass. I am so thankful for all of his hard work keeping up this base!
I had a much slower month than I anticipated. I have now survived my 12th blood clot. This one was special though, since it is a “breakthrough clot,” meaning it was unprovoked while on blood thinners (for FactorV Leiden). Even though it was a surface vein thrombosis, it is still a significant, physically stressful event which (along with Addison’s disease) made me feel very ill for longer than I thought was necessary. I am thankful for knowledgeable doctors, the medication to help, and by God’s grace, I am still in the fight and was better enough in time to host Thanksgiving!
Thank you all who pray for us and support us and this mission! Your notes of encouragement through the mail, emails and messages mean the world and remind us we are not alone. As you pray for us, please also pray for salvation and revival in Pucallpa, and pray for the physical, emotional, and spiritual safety of each of our missionary families we support on base and in this community! May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
“The thing that awakens the deepest fountain of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven his sin.”
― Oswald Chambers