Monday 10 April 2017

April2017



                                                April 8, 2017
Dear Praying Friends,

May our Lord Jesus fulfil all your petitions.  The past three months has not gone exactly as we’d thought.  The ministry we’d planned to do in Singapore, Philippines and India started out exceedingly well, it seemed.  But once we’d gotten to India as scheduled in late January, Ruth went for an MRI which revealed a large tumor growing in her neck.  Turns out this was the cause of the hearing loss in her right ear that we’d mentioned in our last newsletter.  Due to this, we had to cut our first overseas trip of 2017 in half, to four weeks.

My father, Edward Schaefer, fell in his apartment in Naples, Florida, at the end of February, and had to be taken to the emergency room.  Because we were in Miami seeking treatment for Ruth’s neck around this time, it was possible for us to rush over to see him immediately.  In our Lord’s kind and wise will, my dad went to heaven directly from the hospital on March 4th. 

As a result of the above, Ruth and I have spent the past six weeks or more dealing with my dad and his things, as well as keeping appointments with doctors and clinics leading up to Ruth’s surgery to remove the tumor.  This surgery took place the other day, on April 4th, and everything seems to have gone as well as it could go.  She had the best of doctors. And though this was expected to be a tricky and tedious procedure, and though the tumor turned out to be “the size of an Idaho potato”, the surgeon said there were no real complications.  All through your prayers to our Father, dear friends.

Please Pray:
·         That our Lord Jesus Christ would be glorified in our lives in all things forever.
·         That Ruth would recover and heal very nicely from the trauma of the surgical procedure, and that when the final biopsy report comes it would definitively exclude any malignancy.
·         For the Holy Spirit to give us all the strength and courage we need for every day.


Chit-chat:          It was great to see our friends in the Gospel during our trip to Singapore and India in January and February.  May the Lord give them all the encouragement and faith they need to keep on keeping on for Him.                My dear dad was 89 when he went to the hospital.  He knew our Lord Jesus and had a very hearty faith in Him.  Once he knew the doctors were advising him they couldn’t help him get better, Dad really started rejoicing and saying, “Lord, come and get me!”  Thank God for such grace that enables us poor sinners to know how to die.                Ruth has been home from the hospital for a few days now, and I’m very encouraged that she is showing some improvement.  I don’t know how long it will be before she can resume all our previous travels and activities, but there’s no pressure.  I just want my Ruthie back to normal.                God is love.



 “Serving with the International Gospel Missions” 

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