October 28, 2004

Missionaries Face Trials

Below are some portions of the latest prayer letter from the Leonard family in Brazil. Please be in prayer for them during this time.

On Wednesday evening, Jim came home announcing that his surgery has been scheduled for this coming Saturday morning. He had spent over four hours at the hospital waiting, talking to surgeons, and getting prep instructions. He will need to spend two days in the hospital and then come home for some more down time. The Lord's timing is perfect, allowing him a few "less busy" weeks before the end-of-the- year rush really begins at the Seminary. The doctor gave him a cortizone shot, orders for blood exams (done this morning), and put him on a preventive anti-biotic. Please pray that the surgery would go well and that it would be successful. He can't wait to breathe normally again! On Monday morning, we were able to have a phone consultation with Dr. Colin Driscoll, the Mayo surgeon who will be doing my surgery. PTL, he agreed that the treatment could wait until December. This will allow us to finish out the year at the Seminary and also the first semester with home schooling. We have reserved airplane tickets to leave Juazeiro on Sunday, December 12th. Lord willing we should arrive in Minneapolis on the 13th. We will be on stand-by from São Paulo, but there will be two flights instead of the usual one because of holiday travel. Pray that there will be no delays. We praise the Lord for providing courtesy tickets for the São Paulo - Atlanta trip. He knew that we needed them more now than when I went back in June, when they weren't available. The type of surgery that has been recommend is done through the ear canal. Obviously that will make me completely deaf in the left ear, but this procedure has greater success in leaving the facial nerve intact. The hearing loss doesn't seem to perturb me, but the risk of facial paralysis has become a harsh reality in the past few days through some more research. Please pray that I will be able to completely trust the Lord in this situation. He has a purpose for all this and we want to learn to trust even more.

God is doing a great work in Brazil, but the trials are great as well. Here is another portion of their letter:

Please let me share another urgent prayer request for Fábio, a young man from Juazeiro. Fábio was in the youth group when we were leaders at the First Baptist Church, soon after we arrived here in 1994. He is the architect for the Source of Light Baptist Church construction project and has worked closely with Jim over the past two years. A few months ago, Fábio became very ill with a disease generally common in dogs but that can be transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. The medication he was taking had some very adverse side affects. He was beginning to feel better a few weeks ago, was able to finish the blueprints for the Source of Light sanctuary project and delivered them on Monday evening. On Wednesday morning, Fábio was driving his motorcycle to pick up some exams at the laboratory. As he turned a corner, a bus cut him off and he took a bad fall. He was thrown under the bus but managed to get out except for one of his legs, which was pinned under his motorcycle. The bus didn't stop, but ran over his leg, which was crushed and literally splintered between the motorcycle and the pavement. Doctors worked all day to try and save the leg, but had to amputate just below the knee sometime yesterday afternoon. Fábio has been through so much, please pray for him. Fabio's in his late 20's, and recently married. He still has much to give to the Lord. Obviously, the Lord still has something very special for him.

Posted by Andrew on October 28, 2004 2:33 PM.