Updates
Grown and Flown.
We are so very happy to be home in Peru again! God has worked such a miracle for me through the proper medication - steroids help my cells transfer energy, nutrients, electrolytes, and oxygen like they should but cannot do on their own – better life through chemistry! At the end of the summer, I was able to pack our bags and help get us home – incredible. I am now at around a solid 50% from my “normal” energy. I can be up and participate in an event (bible study, a visit with neighbors or friends, grocery shopping, etc.) one day, but then I must be very careful to plan one or two days of recovery after any exertion. It can be a bit frustrating to be so limited still, but anything is better than being bed-bound, unable to hardly speak or swallow, and in pain for months on end. I am so very grateful for all of your prayers and for each of you that so thoughtfully reached out to me with no expectation of a response during that time!
Corynn is happy and excelling in her studies! She has taken to life at Cedarville University like a fish in the sea! She is in the honors program and even though she is a first-year student, she is already at a Junior level in her classes – we are proud, to say the least! She could use your prayers for health and safety as she is under a heavy class schedule and working to pay her tuition.
Ethan is a Senior in high school this year! He is working hard on his dual enrollment college classes to graduate with the equivalent of his Associates degree (like Corynn did), but he is on an accelerated math course. I’m not sure how he does it, but he makes it all look so easy! He is having a bit of a hard time though since he lost his closest buddies that lived on our rural road as they moved back to Switzerland this summer, he is lonely.
Clara just turned fifteen this month and she is a freshman in high school this year! She is diligently working on her Bob Jones University home school classes and is not only loving them but is also excelling in them – no surprises there! She also lost her closest friend this summer when the same family as Ethan’s friends moved across the globe. The life of a missionary kid is just plain tough sometimes, but we pray that God uses these losses in their lives to draw their hearts closer to His and that they would grow in their love for Him every day!
Vann wouldn’t share this, but he desperately needs your prayers too. It’s probably due to a combination of all the things – Long Covid, a year of extreme stress and a double workload for so long while I’ve been down, his mono flaring, the Covid vaccine – have all hit him like a ton of bricks. He was struggling even before we left for the States, then he worked nearly the whole time we were there, but it hit him especially after his shots and coming home to all of the stress – he just can’t seem to catch his breath or wake up feeling well or make it halfway through a workday without losing his strength and feeling completely spent. This is not my normal Vann Brock. Unfortunately, the only way for him to heal is to rest, but he doesn’t see that as an option – there’s just WAY too much to be done! There are three missionary houses being built right now, further construction on the camp, the base to maintain and run, bible studies and youth group to lead, and the myriad of things that he does every day to help people which is his joy. He has reached the burnout point and needs help and rest. We trust that the same God who called us to this work will enable us to continue in it! Thank you all for your prayers and care for us. We give thanks in all things and bless the name of our Good God, Almighty!
“No normal, healthy saint ever chooses suffering, he simply chooses God’s will, just as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not.”-Oswald Chambers