October Amazon Update

We had an “encounter with God” weekend retreat for the men and women on two separate weekends.  The retreat is a time of teaching biblical principles and allowing the participant to spend devoted time to gain more of an intimate relationship with God.  During the weekend, there are a series of teachings that are presented to help the individual establish or deepen their relationship with God, help lead them through times of forgiveness and healing, and let God take their hurts, fears, doubts, and burdens and bring them to a place of freedom and restoration.

 

The teachings are also focused on God and what He can and wants to do in your life. Time is provided so that each person can interact with God on an individual basis.   During these encounters with God, God was healing people, and delivering them from their pain, fears, and strongholds.  One of the more powerful things during the retreat was when we write down our sins on a piece of paper and then burn it at the cross.  It was great and a great reminder that if we confess our sins and bring them to the Lord, He will forgive and forget!

I also had the opportunity to share at the retreat to all the married couples about our roles as men in our marriage. 

Not to be outdone by Mom and Dad, the children also had a weekend retreat and Camilly and Alyssa participated.  They had such a great time at the retreat with over 80 children participating.  They had some teachings about Jesus, played a lot of games, saw some skits, dressed up, danced, and Camilly said that she was touched by the Holy Spirit.  That’s awesome.  When they got to the church after the weekend retreat, Camilly and Alyssa participated in the worship band and sang a song.  It was a great weekend all around for them and us. 

Elba is starting to feel better and it appears that the infection is going away.  Praise the Lord!  We are so appreciative that we can come to our brother and sister and they are there to intercede for us to God.  Thank you so much!

Please pray for a complete healing for Elba, as well as our whole family.  Thanks in advance. 

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Tax deductible donations can be written and sent to:

The Xingu Mission

P.O Box 340785

Columbus, Ohio  43215

Or On-line donations at:

http://www.xingu.org/6_giving.html

Dear large Lizard,

PLEASE get out of my house!!!!

Elba Update

Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers for Elba and our family.  Elba arrived home last night from Marabá and we were really glad to have her home.  Below is a small update of what happened last week. 

Thankfully, the doctor did not feel it was necessary for Elba to stay in the hospital.  He did the surgical procedure on an outpatient basis and she went and stayed at the Bergen’s house during her stay in Marabá.  The doctor drained several cyst and did some biopsy work.  The preliminary results of the biopsy show there is no sign of cancer.  Praise the Lord!  However, they are still unable to determine what type of infection that Elba has that is causing the lumps in her breast.  After the first surgery, the lumps began to fill up again, and so Elba returned to the doctors and he drained them again.  They would like to take another larger sample but they felt that Elba needed to heal from the first and second surgery, and to give it some time to see if the second draining would resolve the problem.

Elba is now resting like any good Type A personality would rest.  ;-)

Thanks for your continued prayers! 

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Tax deductible donations can be written and sent to:

The Xingu Mission

P.O Box 340785

Columbus, Ohio  43215

Or On-line donations at:

http://www.xingu.org/14d_dolan_donation.html

Elba

Thank you for your continued prayers and support for Elba and us.  We got Elba’s lab results on one of the lumps in her breast and they identified it as an abscess called mastitis.  The normal treatment is antibiotics but she has already been through many cycles with no effect.  Elba left this morning to Marabá to have a specialist examine the abscess with the possibility of them surgically removing.  Also, the specialist would like to get a biopsy of another lump deeper within her breast.  If they decide to remove the abscess Elba would need to stay in the hospital for 7 days to receive antibiotics via IV. 

Considering our remoteness, it was good for her to go to a larger city as the medical services are more advanced.  The problem is that we will not be able to go with her to support her in person.  The girls are in school and cannot miss this amount of days.  If they do, they will be held back for a year.  We are somewhat OK with this because we realize that this is the reality of our situation. 

The procedures will be performed at a private hospital which is somewhat unknown for us because the doctors and hospital will not give us an estimate of how much it will cost to perform the procedures.  We are not sure if Elba has to pay before getting the procedure as they do not accept health insurance from the States.   When Elba had an emergency C-section to have Camilly they would not let us in the hospital until we paid for the room and services upfront.   Will they do the same?  Lots of unknowns on many levels, but thankfully, the Lord is in control and we feel His presence upon us. 

Please pray for Elba and for a successful surgery if that is the route they choose, and all the other details will go very well.  We will keep you posted as we hear more. 

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Tax deductible donations can be written and sent to:

The Xingu Mission

P.O Box 340785

Columbus, Ohio  43215

Or On-line donations at:

http://www.xingu.org/14d_dolan_donation.html