Coming up for air

Like whales that surface now and then to get a lungfull of air before going under again, I'm surfacing tonight with a bit of news and then diving out of sight for a day or so.

Translation work is unpredictable, except that a general rule is that there is no work at all (sometimes for a week or so), then as soon as one job comes in, several others come in one after the other, and there'll be a week or so of work with little time for a break. The current jobs are due Wednesday, so tomorrow and Tuesday are pretty well set aside for translating.

Since my last posting Tuesday, the reports on our principal health concerns in the church are as follows:

Marcia: had her second chemotherapy Thursday. Her husband, Jose Carlos, reported today that her hair has started to fall out. She's still sticking close to home at this stage of her treatment.

Jackie: had a bad day Wednesday or Thursday, but bounced back, and seems to be on a steady, if slow, road to improvement.

Raquel: gave her parents a good scare Thursday night, when she started coughing, then stopped breathing. There were some tense moments until they were able to get her breathing again. The whole family was at services this afternoon.

The church services today, and particularly this evening in Portuguese, were encouraging. We had 5 or 6 first-time visitors, and another family that returned to the church after being out for almost a year. The principal encouragement, though, is not in the number of persons present, but the evident presence of the Lord in the Word and the worship. We are not the same people we were last week, or yesterday. In yet some small way, we stepped closer to the Lord through the ministry of His Spirit today.

If I disappear from the blogosphere for a day or two, be assured I will be resurfacing as soon as possible. Whales can't stay submerged forever, and neither can I.

Up, Down, and Even

UP: Jackie's up, for which we praise God. The doctor extended her antibiotic treatment, and it appears to be having positive results. There were some disagreeable side effects the first few days, but the doctor told her to be patient and stay on the medication. She has another appointment with the doctor this week, but her presence at both services Sunday was evidence of improvement.

DOWN: Little Raquel was diagnosed last week with a relapse of her respiratory problem, but not serious enough to admit her to hospital. The fact her brother, Nataniel, 3, is also sick again with a cold, as is Roberto, makes for a tough situation for the whole family. They weren't able to be at church Sunday.

EVEN: Marcia will be going for her second chemotherapy treatment Thursday, but so far she has reacted well to the medication. The itch still bothers her, and of course, she has to remain close at home for a while longer.

THE CHURCH: The attendance may have been DOWN (a lot of people physically unable to come), but the spirit of the brethren is UP. I reported on last Wednesday night's prayer meeting. Friday night there was another meeting similar to it. Those who came Sunday were blessed. 6-year old, Ionatan, the son of our Romanian members, Daniel and Dorina, stood up and said the books of the Bible (in Portuguese). We are giving a special Bible to all the children who learn the books of the Bible, but before I gave him his Bible, I asked him if he could say the books in Romanian. He said he didn't know them in Romanian, but then neither does anyone else in the church, except his parents (maybe).

LINKS: I have started working on adding links to the blog. I have the HTML code figured out; now I need the time to gather the information and insert it. Like the doctor told Jackie: be patient, stick with it, you'll get well. So I'll stick with it, and eventually get improvements to this blog.

Look up...Lift up your heads...

Our Wednesday night meeting is the most informal of all our regular meetings, and therefore the most unpredictable. Sometimes it's two hours of "wrestling" with difficult passages of the Bible, or difficult issues of the day. There's always time for prayer, of course, but on nights like tonight, it was all about prayer. Actually, it was all prayer. Some requests were made, some testimonies of blessings were given, but mainly it was God's people praying.

As you can tell from recent posts, the church as a whole, and certain members, in particular, have been going through very difficult times. Jesus' words came to my mind: "Lift up your eyes and look on the fields..." (John 4:35)He told His disciples, encouraging them to work; and when He spoke of the trials that would come in the last days, He said, "Look up, lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:28) Discouragement is described as being downcast; if we concentrate our sights on our problems (or even those of our loved ones---brothers in Christ, or physical family)we will become downcast. The solution: lift up our eyes...look up and lift up our heads.

We have needs, but the fields lie before us, full of souls needier than we are. Let us lift our eyes and look on the fields. We are troubled, but when we set our gaze on the horizon before us, we catch a glimpse of the purpose of God, and we know by faith that our present tribulation is light, and works for a greater weight of eternal glory, as Paul wrote. God has allowed it to make us better prepared for His work in the field. Let us lift our heads and see that our redemption is drawing near. God is working in the world, in the church, and in our lives to bring His purpose to pass.

The requests made by the various members in their prayers are signs that God is indeed working: "give me more boldness to witness for You"; "strengthen my faith"; "we place ourselves in Your hands--use us". Those are the kinds of requests God will never fail to honor. We have much to look forward to.

Update on Marcia: She continues to feel well, except for the severe itching that is a symptom of the disease, which in turn makes it difficult for her to sleep at night. Her next chemotherapy treatment is the 23rd.

Update on Jackie: Due to the seriousness of her kidney infection, the doctor has extended her antiobiotic treatment until Sunday, at least. The medication has caused her some discomfort, but she seems to have begun to feel better.

All Are Home---One, at Least, Will Stay There

As I reported earlier in the week, both Raquel and Marcia are at home after their stays in the hospital. Raquel went home on Saturday a week ago, but her parents thought it was wise for her not to get out last Sunday. We saw her tonight (picture at left taken with cell phone in low light) and she may get out of the house tomorrow. She still has to go for therapy to loosen the remnants of her lung congestion.

Marcia is at home, too, but the doctor told her to stay at home as much as possible for the next month, and to especially avoid closed environments with a lot of people. Her immune system is vulnerable, so she is also to peel all fruits and vegetables she eats to avoid the possibility of any chemicals that might be on the peeling. Her spirit is good, and she's looking forward to giving her testimony at the church, as well as exorting the rest of the church regarding the importance of being zealous for the Lord. It looks like it will be a month or so before she gets to do that in person.

Jackie, who has not been hospitalized lately, has not been well this week.

As for us, Abbie and I can blame our aches, pains, and physical discomforts on work. We've made an early foray into spring cleaning, and will likely be cleaning until spring has long since passed. The first task was moving the piano to the other side of the house, then putting up shelves in the living room (drilling into iron-hard stone walls), and taking advantage of a break in the rainy weather to get up on the room and patched the cracked tiles that were allowing water to come into the kitchen in torrents when the rains come from the south and southwest. After lifting the piano, and straining muscles to maintain my position on the steep tile roof, I have a continual reminder that I have done some physical work.

Abbie has begun going through boxes of things that have been stored for years in the attic and the garage, vestiges of the various moves and phases of construction we've gone through in the past 29 years. A lot of stuff is getting thrown out...and probably one half, at least, of what isn't, should be. But it isn't easy when she comes across things that belonged to the kids, for example...at the end of the day, she feels like she's picked up the piano or been sitting precariously on the roof.

Marcia Comes Home Friday

The official diagnosis is Hodgkins 2B (which I knew nothing about until I did some research on the web) and the initial chemotherapy treatment is scheduled for every two weeks. Marcia's first session was Thursday (yesterday now). We saw her as she was returning from her treatment, and the side effects from it remain to be seen. Tonight she was very upbeat and looking forward to being home. Unless God intervenes in a miraculous way, difficult days lie ahead, so your continued prayers are very important. As I mentioned in earlier posts, our prayers are not only for what God might do in her body, but what He desires to work in her spirit...and in ours.

Marcia: The word is Hodgkins

Marcia was transferred to the main hospital in Funchal for more complete exams, including CAT scan and bone marrow tests. Although the biopsy report is still not back, which will confirm whether her lymphoma is Hodgkins, or not, the symptoms all point to its being a Hodgkins lymphoma. The further tests being done are to determine how far the disease has advanced, but the doctor said his first impression is that it is in the early stages, in which case the cure rate is over 80%. She will have a combination of radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Her spirits remain high, and before she left the hospital where she spent last week, she distributed 15 Gideon Bibles. Her husband, José Carlos, and daughter, Susana, are also in need of our prayers, of course. We are confident that God has allowed this for the furtherance of His glory and work here.

On Sunday night, a good number of the church members met after the regular services for a time of prayer, not only for Marcia, but for others who are going through trials. The church as a whole is made stronger through these testings.

Raquel: Good news--she came home Saturday after almost two weeks in the hospital. The doctor told Roberto and Militina that they were "fortunate" because they were almost at the hospital when Raquel had that attack that cut off her breathing. She was given immediate medical attention that saved her life. Had the attack come at home during the night, she would have died before they could do anything for her.

Jackie: Since I'm giving health reports, I will mention Jackie. She has had a new round of tests and took the results to a new doctor today. He has ruled out cancer, but he told her she's a very sick woman. He's confident that will proper treatment he can get her back to normal, but she shouldn't expect quick results. Diagnosis: For a woman her age, her kidneys are functioning at 38% and her level of anemia is 50%. (That last figure is the way she reported it...maybe it means her hemoglobin level is at 50%.) He is starting her tomorrow on a series of injections to combat the kidney infection and is sending her to a nutritionist, as well.

Several have written to say you are praying for these cases. We all appreciate that very much. I'm confident that health problems will not long be the main subject of my reports from here.

Portuguese Version of Blog

The Portuguese version of this blog can be accessed by clicking the link in the header. The blog was set up last year, but I have not had (or taken) the time to post to it. My intention is to keep it as up to date as possible for our Portuguese-speaker readers.

The Dreaded "C-" Word

Cancer.
It's a one-word sentence. It evokes some of our greatest fears. We fear because of what we know about cancer and its effects. We fear even more because of what we don't know about it. We heard the "c-" word today.

Marcia (left), José Carlos´s wife, has been to various doctors over the past year or so. Thyroid problems, for one thing. Then she developed other problems: extreme tiredness (possibly due to the thyroid problem)and an itch that she couldn't get rid of. Allergic reaction to medication was suggested as a possibility; tests showed she has a reaction to the chemicals in the hair dye she was using. But changes in medication, and giving up the hair dye didn't seem to help the itch much.

Last week, she noticed a lump on the lower left side of her neck. When the doctor saw the initial blood test results, she told Marcia to be at the hospital Monday morning. Marcia went prepared to stay, as she told the doctor she didn't want to leave the hospital until they found out the cause of her itch. More tests, blood, urine...today a biopsy and an immediate diagnosis: the "c-" word --- cancer in the blood.

At the moment there are more unknowns than knowns. What she has been told already is that next week she will start chemotherapy. An oncologist will be coming to Funchal this weekend to determine the exact nature of the cancer and the dosage of the treatment. We are all in a state of shock, of course. José Carlos says he starts thinking and then realizes he doesn´t want to think any more. Too many fears loom on the horizon.

At the beginning of the year, I felt the Lord leading me to take on José Carlos as a "special project" to pray for and work with. He is the member most capable of helping in the teaching ministry of the church; his spiritual insight has been very valuable to me. As an architect, he designed our new church building, which all who see praise for its beauty and marvelous use of space. I believe God has a place for him in the building of the spiritual house, too. The other day I told him God brought to my mind Christ's words to Peter, when He warned the apostle of the testing he was to go through, after which he was "to strengthen the brethren." I told José Carlos that I sensed he would be going through a time of testing and that Satan would try to sift him as wheat, "but I'm praying for you," I said. That was before the "c-" word was pronounced. How much more earnestly he and Marcia need our prayers now!


Report on baby Raquel

Roberto and Militina, another key couple who are pillars in the church, have been going through their own period of testing. Raquel, who was a month old this week, will have been in the hospital two weeks on Sunday. We went by the hospital today to see Mili and Raquel. Yesterday there was slight hope that the x-rays would show they could go home, but the doctors say there is still congestion in Raquel's upper right lung, and are still not talking about a possible date for her release. Because Mili has to stay in the hospital with the baby, Roberto is left to take care of Nataniel, their 3-yr. old son, while working full time at his regular job. Roberto is almost to the end of his rope, too. He is physically and emotionally stretched to the limit. Another family to pray for.

Jackie's health

Jackie and Jaime are the third couple in the church who are pillars, and they, too, have been going through severe testing. Part of that is Jackie's health problem, and for those of you who have been following her case, there is nothing more to report. There was some talk of going to Lisbon for tests to rule out or confirm Gaucher's disease, a very rare condition that has been suggested as a possible cause of her problems. She has good days and bad...and the last few days have been bad. Another family to pray for.

And pray for us, of course. Abbie, too, has had more pains recently, making her wonder if it's her heart (arrhythmia acting up), blood pressure (which seems to be under control), or her gall bladder. I know that Isaiah 43 was directed specifically to Israel, but verses 1 and 2 are especially comforting right now, "...when thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee...when thou walkest through the fire..."