Dear Christian Friend,
Sharon and I have tried to spend lots of time with Freddy and Sandra these days. God is so loving and good and is wonderfully able to comfort those who fear Him and hope in his mercy. Freddy and I have been making doorway moldings and installing “floating floors” in the upstairs bedrooms of their new house. I can see that Freddy misses their son Joshie terribly and I frequently hear him sighing or groaning …reminding me to pray. Whenever he has a question or doubt I try to give a kind, thoughtful answer, but please pray God will give me wisdom to be able to truly help our son and his family during this super difficult time. Also, please pray that Sharon will have words to share with Sandra to bring her comfort as well.
Br. Onelio Gonzales our 74 yr old Cuban Evangelist has recently been diagnosed and is receiving treatment for a very serious form of cancer. Although he is not able now to go to the jungle with the Gospel as he used to, it looks like God has been busy preparing his replacement to carry on the work. One night Bro. Ramón Rodriguez showed up at our house, sent to us by Hermano Onelio. Ramón, a pastor and also from Cuba, is “bound and determined” to go live in the jungle with his wife Caridad. Even though missionaries haven’t done that for years….They just may be the couple to revive the practice!! Let’s hope so. Those Christian Cubans are a special bunch of people to be sure! The Rodriquez’ live in Miami, and only speak Spanish, but the people from their sending church iemontedesion@yahoo.es speak English and would gladly hook you up should the Lord lead you to give to these new missionary’s support. It’s been our personal experience that even a small faithful monthly offering really encourages new missionary candidates.
The ministry in the park is going great, but please continue to pray for the airplane engine overhaul at AAE in Tulsa . Once that work is done, the next hurdles will be getting it back to Ecuador and out of customs. The final and undoubtedly the most difficult step will be getting DAC permission to start flying again.
Please pray.
Love like Jesus,
Rick and Sharon |