Special prayermail

Dear Friends,

Thanks so much for your prayers for me this past week. The surgery took a little longer than planned but went well and I have made a steady recovery every day. I was released from the hospital on Friday – a day or two sooner than we at first thought possible. So now I can finally get some sleep. It was impossible in the hospital! Both the doctors and lab reports indicated the urgency of the surgery. Jason and I have been saying over and over again what a blessing it was that the surgery was able to take place in spite of the doctor’s strike. Not only that, the change of doctors and hospital seem to have been a gift from God. The hospital was much smaller than the huge university hospital in Cologne making it more personal and I felt like I got top quality medical care. Pray that I will be patient in this recovery period and not do too much too quickly.

Roy called me early on Monday morning before the surgery and the first of his huge AP Biology and Chemistry exams (4 hours long!). It was a precious time of sharing our burdens and praying together on the phone. He called again after the last Chemistry exam on Wednesday and the relief and lightness in his voice were almost tangible. Thanks for supporting him with your prayers. Continue to pray that he would finish well. He has three weeks of classes left and a week of tests before graduation on June 9.

Please continue to pray for the church-planting project in Hennef, which is now temporarily on hold. The tension was too intense for the last remaining participants and they have now all left the group. Wolfgang and Petra stand alone with us and the vision of a new church in Hennef. They refuse to let go of their calling to do this and remain confident and full of faith that God is working. Please pray for them. In spite of their positive attitude, this has been very hard for them and they are trying to learn from the experience. Jason is also prayerfully trying to understand what mistakes he may have made as their coach. Pray for wisdom and God’s leading as to what the next steps should be.

Yesterday Jason presented SPARK at a regional meeting of the Baptists in Kaiserslautern. About 100 people were in attendance. Please pray that God would SPARK the vision of church planting into a flame in many of their hearts and churches. Pray for these upcoming SPARK dates: 28 May – Ev. Free Church in Oldenburg, 30 May – National Baptist Committee for Missions in Berlin, 4 June – 2 Workshops at the national Ev. Free Convention in Bochum, 6 June – several of the National Ev. Free leaders and staff in Witten. Also pray for him as he preaches in our former church plants in Bergisch Gladbach (today) and in Porz (next week). We want to continue to be an encouragement to both of these churches.

Thank you for standing with us. We depend so much on your prayer and support as we face illness and hardship but also exciting ministry opportunities in Germany.

Sue (for Jason)