The year has gone by so fast! We have been on the road a lot during our time here in the states but we are planning to slow down a little in the next month or so. We are looking forward to spending the holidays with our family just before we return to Bolivia. As missionaries, we don’t get to spend a lot of holidays with family so we want to enjoy it while we can.
In our last letter, and also in an extra email we sent out, we asked everyone to pray for some medical issues with our daughter. At the beginning of November we had her evaluated by a specialist. She has officially been diagnosed with autism and a sensory processing disorder. We are still trying to figure out what this means for us. We would appreciate your continued prayers. Autism is a difficult thing for families here in the states but can be even more challenging because of our missionary lifestyle. We are just now learning what we need to do and what will be the best way to help her. We are also trying to figure out how to help her while in Bolivia. The doctor said she would be ok to return if we can find the right support for her but we have some things we need to do first. As of now, we are scheduled to return the 5th of January. We are prepared to go back as planned but there are a lot of appointments and doctor visits that are being scheduled for Ellie. I have always promised my family that they would come before ministry. Ellie’s health must come before our ministry. While we are planning to return to Bolivia in January it will largely depend on if she is ready or not. We would appreciate your prayers and understanding as we seek God’s will and help for Ellie.
This furlough has been productive. We have traveled a lot of miles. We have had months where we did over 5,000 miles within a single month. We have visited many of our supporting churches and also been in many new churches. The Lord has allowed us to raise some new support and we have some other churches that we think might add us too. We have also raised some finances for our 2 projects.
The Prison Bible College is still going well. The men are doing one class at a time. They have finished their first class and should be about finished with their next class. Thankfully, I have been promised everything we need to pay for all 15 to go through all 4 years of classes. Praise the Lord for that! Thanks to the generosity of many people and churches, they will be able to have a college education. That excites me! I am excited about what the future holds for these men.
We are still working on raising money for the church land. So far, we have been able to raise over 80%. We lack less than $5,000 to have the land fully paid for. We would appreciate it if you would continue to help us pray over this and to consider helping us in this project.
We are preparing to print another 2 loads of John and Romans there in Bolivia. There is an interesting story to this load of Bibles. Some of the money to print, was provided by some men in a prison located in the USA. They worked hard for very little and gave $500 to help print Bibles in Bolivia. That was a lot of money for these men. When we print these Bibles, I am going to take them to the Bolivian prison and let the Bible college men give them out. So the prisoners in the states are helping supply bibles to the Bolivian prison bible college for them to give out to other prisoners. God sure is good! and He let us have a small part in this!
Again, we ask that you continue to pray for us. It has been a difficult few months and we need them. God bless you all and have a happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas!
