Dixie Update

We have been updating you on little Dixie for the past year.  You can read more about it HERE.  Recently Chad was able to bring her and her dad out from their community to see the surgeon again.  If you remember, she had another surgery this past April.  The surgeon wanted to see her six months after the surgery to see her progress.  He was pleased with her progress, but she has a LONG way to go.  Please pray with us that her legs would continue to grow straighter.  She is the sweetest little girl who loves to flash her flirty smile any time Chad is around!

Can you tell which one is Dixie?

Please Pray for the Nevins Family

Our dear friends Chris, Janet and Elijah Nevins (the family that came to rebuild the Nate Saint house) were robbed Thursday night by 7 armed men.  They were living a couple hours away from us while working on a building for Compassion Connection.  It's not just that they were robbed of their possessions and the things they were using on the work site - but they were held for three long hours, while almost their entire house was emptied, not knowing what the future would hold.   Please pray for peace and calm to be restored in their souls and for the ability to process it all.   Our hearts are broken for them and sad that such evil exists in this world, buy joyful in the knowledge that our God's love can surpass every type of evil man can devise. 

Just this past month, Chad took a group with the Nevins family into the jungle.  Chris, Janet and Elijah are on the right.

Because I can count on you...

Because I don't think too many crazy people read my blog here in Ecuador....I feel safe to tell you that Chad did not make it home tonight.  He flew out late to a community to pick up a pregnant lady who was bitten by a snake.  By the time he got there, there wasn't enough time to come all the way back.  Imagine my surprise when I got a phone call at 7:00 this evening from him!  (There's not a lot of cell coverage in the jungle!)  He was able to fly to a village that has a military base, and therefore some medical care.  But, he said the patient wasn't doing well and they are wondering if she will make it through the night.  That's why I'm sharing this. 

Could you please pray for this woman and her baby?  I'm not sure if they could give her the anti-venom or not.  The military doctor was mad at Chad for bringing her there - but he didn't have many options.  I'm sure she was just frustrated with the resources she had available to help the patient.

Thanks!  It's so great knowing that I can count on you all to take a minute and pray!

A Bit of Sadness

Yesterday was a hard day in the Irwin house.  We found out that our beloved pet beagle, Lou has cancer.  I haven't lost a pet since I was in high school, so I was shocked at the emotions that the news brought.   The vet did some blood work that revealed the news, but we have decided not to do any more testing.  The weird thing is that she was fine last week and this week, not so much.  We're hoping that some medication will make things a little better for her. 

YEAHHHHHH!!!!!

Thanks for praying!!!  Richard got his visa!!! We are excited and praising God for His help!!!

Asking for Prayer for Richard...again!

Richard has his second visa interview tomorrow morning.
Could you please pray with us!!  You can read more about it here and here.

Please Pray for the Umbles

Please pray for the Umbles.  Here's what I wrote about them in an earlier post....

Randy is a teacher at Nate Saint Memorial School.  He has been the one constant teacher since we've been here.  He's also typically the only male at the school - which is always nice when you need something fixed or a bit of muscle for the job.  Randy is now experiencing kidney failure and is possibly looking at a transplant.  They were in Quito for December and January, so that Randy could be on dialysis and have now moved to the US to investigate what's "next".

Please pray for their family - Randy, Melanie, Jonny (4th grade and Josiah's best friend), Natalie (3rd grade), Erik (1st grade), and Katie (5).   Along with all of this stress they are also dealing with giving up two foster children.

Well, the "next" is happening tomorrow.  Melanie is donating one of her kidneys tomorrow to Randy.  Please pray with us that all would go well and that this would "heal" Randy's body.  Also, pray for the kids as I'm sure this is super stressful to see both of their parents going into surgery.  

 

Dixi Update

Dixi was able to come out of the jungle for another surgery.   If you aren't familiar with her story you can read about it here.   The surgeon at Voz Andes Hospital got opinions on what was the best way to treat Dixi, from some doctors in the US.   The last surgery she had they inserted plates on the outsides of her legs to help the bones grow straight.  After not seeing much improvement the Doctor decided to take those plates out and put them on the inside.  So, this is the surgery that was done last week.  Could you pray with us that in six months the Doctor would see some improvement?  

**Update**

Richard was denied a visa for the US.   It costs $140 just to have an interview at the embassy!  Sometimes we think that they are only allowed a certain number of visas per day - so they arbitrarily tell people yes or no, depending on how they are feeling at the moment!    I guess he will try again and hopefully we can talk to some contacts that MAF has in the embassy to see what he could do differently.   Pray that he won't be too discouraged.    THANKS for praying!

Richard's Visa

We have known Richard since we moved to Shell.  He volunteered for MAF and was our neighbor.  It's been Richard's dream to fly with MAF since he was little.  He is now getting that chance.  Part of the process involves him going to Nampa, Idaho to our headquarters to go through a month long training course.  It is pretty tough for an Ecuadorian to get a visa to enter the US.  Would you please pray for Richard this morning as he goes for his visa interview?   Also pray that Richard do well on his technical evaluation that Chad is giving him.  It's our dream for him to go too, but it's Chad's job to make sure he's ready.

Please Pray for Gloria

Yesterday during chapel at the kid's school, a fellow missionary shared about having faith and believing God is going to answer your prayers.  What a great message!   How many times do I pray and hope that God will answer, but not really believe?  It's like playing the lottery.  Who would ever honestly believe they are going to win? 

So, right after chapel I was talking with my friend Gloria.  I have known Gloria for 7 years.  She has experienced a lot of heartache during that time and yesterday was no different.  She is having some serious family problems that may come to a head today.  I shared with her about what was said during chapel and reminded her about how big God is and how she doesn't have to do anything but pray.  I know that's hard to believe sometimes when it seems like nothing ever works out the way you would like.  But, wouldn't it be awesome if it did today?!  Would you pray with me this morning for Gloria?  She would be blown away if God answered her prayers.

Goodbyes Aren't Getting Any Easier

A couple of weeks ago we had to say goodbye - for now - to some fellow missionaries - the Umbles.

Randy is a teacher at Nate Saint Memorial School.  He has been the one constant teacher since we've been here.  He's also typically the only male at the school - which is always nice when you need something fixed or a bit of muscle for the job.  Randy is now experiencing kidney failure and is possibly looking at a transplant.  They were in Quito for December and January, so that Randy could be on dialysis and have now moved to the US to investigate what's "next".

Please pray for their family - Randy, Melanie, Jonny (4th grade and Josiah's best friend), Natalie (3rd grade), Erik (1st grade), and Katie (5).   Along with all of this stress they are also dealing with giving up two foster children.

Here are some pictures from the boy's "last" sleepover.

Prayer Update

As many of you have let us know you are praying about our Ops. permit issue, we wanted to let you know the latest. David and Dan met with several DAC officials today and made some headway.  They are drafting a letter that lays out our transitions plan and where we are in the process.  The officials seemed at least open to hearing us out on our transition plan and somewhat positive that we could work something out for at least these next two years.  We are optimistically waiting for word sometime late tomorrow or Friday.  Please keep praying that things would work out as He would have them.  Pray also for the people in the jungle who really do need our services. 

Please Pray

Yesterday  DAC (the FAA equivalent here) issued Alas (MAF's name here) their new operating permit.  They gave us an extension on it in December and acted as if everything was ok, and they were just waiting for the paperwork to be complete. So when we received the final copy we were excited and continued flying all day Monday.  Then Monday afternoon we found out that in the fine print the DAC had changed one important detail in our permit.  They added one small line to our old permit that said only Ecuadorian pilots could fly.  So as Chad arrived back from a medical transfer to Quito, he found out that he and the other "foreigners" had been flying illegally all day.  So, we spent a lot of hours talking, praying and discussing what our next steps should be.  Today our two Ecuadorian pilots flew all day trying to complete what five of us were originally going to do.  Then, at the end of the day today we received a fax from the DAC.  They informed us that none of our pilots could fly until we filed new papers that did not list any of our foreign pilots on our ops permit.  This means that even our Ecuadorians can't fly, which means no air ambulance, no jungle teachers going back after their vacation, no flying at all.   If we file the new papers we're worried that we might never get the "gringos" back on them. 

Tomorrow morning (Wednesday) our Ecuadorian director and our Program manager will head to Quito for meetings with DAC.  PLEASE PRAY.  We know that God is in control and we feel that the transition to an Ecuadorian run company/ministry is going well.  We don't feel that right now is the time for all the foreigners to stop flying.  If we do, more than half of the Ecuadorian employees will probably lose their jobs, as we won't be able to complete our contracts and fly enough hours to pay expenses.  This will also seriously limit what subsidized flying we will be able to do for the national church and national pastors that don't have the money to pay for flights.  Last, but not least, this will obviously affect our future in a big way.  We are praying that God's will be done, but struggling with just what that might turn out to be.

Isaiah 43
Fear not, for I have redeemed you, O Israel;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
you are precious in my eyes, and honored,
and I love you.

Dixi Update - Post Surgery

If you remember from previous entries we were trying to help a young Achuar girl with severely bowed legs.  Dixi was able to have surgery at the HCJB hospital while we were in the US.  We thought that we would be back in time to see her recovering before she was flown back into the jungle.  But, the surgeon was able to do a less invasive surgery and she was gone before we were back.  The Dr. inserted a rod in one of her legs to help stop the growth  (sorry for the terribly technical explanation!).  We were sad not to get to see her, but glad that she was doing so well.   So, this past week Chad stopped in a community near where Dixi lives.  As he was getting into the plane to leave he noticed a lady standing among the people watching the airplane.  He couldn't shake the thought that he knew the lady somehow, and then it dawned on him.  It was Dixi's mom.  So, he got back out of the plane and asked if Dixi was there.  Sure enough, she was in the back of the group of people and Chad hadn't seen her.    It was such a blessing that Chad was able to catch up on her progress and figure out when she needed to see the Dr. again.    She will need to come back out in October for evaluation and possibly more surgery.  As Chad flew away from the village he couldn't get over the thought of how much God loves that little girl.    Please keep her on you prayer list, we know God has something great planned for her.    It's amazing how God orchestrates these "coincidences".

Prayer Update

Thanks for your prayers for my leg.   I've now been to see a physical therapist and she thinks that I have torn fibers in my calf muscle.  I'm still in a lot of pain....but I've seen some improvement.  Although it has hurt so bad that at times I thought it would never get better!  I am so thankful for the great medical care we are blessed with here.   Saturday should be quite an interesting travel day!  Please continue to pray for fast healing, comfort on the plane and good behaving kids.  We're doing the overnight flight - which could be good....or not!  Thanks for praying!

Prayer Request

It's much easier for me to ask for prayer for others - but when it comes to myself that's another thing.  Well, for the past 3 weeks I've been having pain in my left calf.  It's gotten worse this week and after several tests the Dr. can't figure out what is causing it.  I probably wouldn't ask for prayer except the kids and I are planning to travel home on the 12th.  The last couple of days have been a struggle for me to walk.  Could you please pray that God would heal me or He would lead my Dr. in the right direction? 

Also, we are in need of a car to drive while we are home.  The kids and I will be in Ohio from the 13th of June until the 19th of July.  Chad will join us on the 2nd of July.  We will not be making any out of town trips, we just need something to use to run to Wal-Mart and our favorite restaurants!

Dixi Update

God is GOOD!  We have the cost of the flight for Dixi covered by some generous people!  If you are still interested in helping, I'm sure the hospital would love to have some donations to cover the surgery as well.  Thanks for your prayers and your generosity!!!

News about Dixi

Well, Dixi and her mom were able to see the Dr. on Tuesday.   The prognosis is that she definitely needs surgery and the surgeon will be cutting some of both femurs off to straighten the legs.  Dr. Wolff will be gone for a few months, but would like to do the surgery the first part of July.  Our main concern at first was that the mother would decide against the surgery, simply because it's all so scary and foreign.  Imagine coming from the jungle and being put into an x-ray machine - that in itself is scary!  It's hard to understand that an Ecuadorian could experience culture-shock in their very own country.  But, it's the reality.

Chad was able to fly Dixi and her mom back into the jungle on Wednesday and was told that yes they were going to do the surgery!  I'm so excited for what God has in store!  They also know of at least 3 others who have the same condition.  Dr. Wolff has agreed to treat all of these people if MAF can take care of the flight costs.  Chad says that the flight to her community costs $600+ - so that means a round trip is $1200+.  If you are interested in helping with this expense please contact us.  

Thanks for your prayers!  God is awesome!

Update on Dixi

Dixi and her mom were able to come out from the jungle on an MAF flight this afternoon!!  Chad just drove them over to the hospital.  He was able to call another missionary to go with them so that the Mom wouldn't be nervous.  This missionary speaks Achuar which is a huge blessing, as the mother doesn't speak Spanish, but only her tribal language.  And, as it turns out, the missionary is good friends with the mom's sister - so they knew each other already!  Isn't God good!  Keep praying.....we'll keep you posted.