October 15, 2009
Buenos Dias de Lima
Well, it has been a really long time since my last letter and a lot has happened, so I will try to catch you up. It was great to see some of you while I was in the states in late September, sorry that I missed so many of you, maybe next time. I missed many of you because it has been a rough year and I just needed time to rest and relax. It was a great break to be with family and work outside riding a tractor, something I don´t get to do in Lima.
First a quick update on the ministry center, we have been working out of the ministry center now for about nine months. Our office space is very confortable and we are enjoying our new space. Somewhere around the end of June we finished the demolition of the unusable part of the building and now have a very large outdoor space, which we will be putting in plants and grass to create a safe fun place for the small kids to play in. We hope to have that done before our Celebrations Christmas party in December. By the time that you receive this letter we will have all the floors in on the bottom floor. A team is also coming at the end of October to help with painting and putting in cabinets in the kitchen area. We still have a lot to do with painting and purchasing different thing to get the first floor finished, but we are making a lot of progress. We have also had some setbacks at different points in the remodeling. We had to change contractors at the beginging of the year and later had a problem with the roof and had to have a major roof repair that was unexpected, so we are still in need of funds to finish out the first floor. Thank you so much to those who have given to the ministry center fund.
The past few months have been very difficult for the staff here. We have faced every kind of emotion from great joy to complete saddness. Two of our great joys have been the engagement of North American staff member Sarah and Peruvian staff member Sebastian. Also in October, staff member Erick was married to Rachel. We as a community have also experienced great saddness. In July Sarah was diagnosed with Colon Cancer. She had an emergency surgery to remove a blocked bowel, which is when the doctors found a small tumor in her colon. About 10 days later she went back to the states to get treatment for the cancer. She is now in her fourth round of chimo theropy and should be done in late January. Everything looks very positive at this point in her treatment. Sebastian is working on getting his visa, so he can move to the states and they can be married sometime next year. To say that these last few months have been stressful is a major understatement, so here are a few ways you can pray for our staff.
Please pray for
– Sarah as she continues to get treatment, for her family as they walk with her through this difficult time. That she would feel God love and presence.
– For Sebastian as he prepares to start a life in a foreign country with Sarah and also for his family as they say goodbye.
– For the rest of the staff as we say goodbye and look for ways to fill the voids left by Sarah and Sebastian.
– For Erick and Rachel as they start a new life together.
– We also have a family that is applying for staff, the Ingrams, Jeff and Rachel and their four kids. Also for Amy Lahey as she is also in the process of coming on staff. The process can be overwhelming at times as you prepare to leave the comfort of home to serve in a forgien country.
– And for me as I go through the process of deciding if I will sign another contract. My contract ends next July and I have to make my decision by April. It has been a very difficult process so far and at this point I have no idea what I will do.
Thanks so much for all of you prayers and concern for me and for this ministry.
Love,
David Smith