Dear Praying Friends:

The Holy Spirit prays for us: Romans 8:26-27 clearly teaches that when we don't know how
to pray, the Holy Spirit can pray for us. Last week I mentioned that I thought that God did not
answer my prayer. We had a day set aside to clean the area of the new church building for Sunny
Point. I had prayed that it would not rain. It started out as a beautiful day, and with three brush
cutters, they had cleared about 1/3 of the area in nearly three hours. Then a downpour came that
we call a "sibi boesi".... the rain sweeps the bush. That is when I wrote - but did not know the
end of the story until the following day. After some hours of rain, when the weather began to
clear, Br. Mejo decided to try to cut a bit more of the area. He found that the rain had so softened
the grass that it cut easily. In about 30 minutes, three men completely cleared the rest of the
property. So God heard. The Holy Spirit, who knew that we wanted to clear the area, knew that
rain would help rather than hinder the work. And it rained, and the work was finished. They
also were able to bring the culverts to the sight, and those who brought three 6 foot lengths also
moved them into position, which saved us hiring another machine to place them properly in the
gutter.

A tragic accident: About 2:30 AM Saturday morning, the telephone woke us. Kalow Palata,
our new senior pastor of the main church, called that his 20 year old son had been seriously
injured in a vehicle accident about 2 hours earlier. He had been driving a pickup with a right
sided steering wheel (standard here where we drive on the left side). He was barely sideswiped
by a passing government vehicle, and swerved left off the road. The other vehicle which caused
the accident kept going without stopping, a typical happening here. When he attempted to come
back on the road, he lost control, and the pickup hit a telephone pole on the right side of the road.
But he had driven with his arm out the window, which was caught between the pickup and the
pole. His lower arm was completely smashed with multiple fractures and bones poking through
the skin. Blood poured out of the wound.

He had pulled over to the side of the road while injured, and several cars rode by without
realizing the accident had occurred. Then a lady passed and felt something was wrong. She
asked her sister, who was driving, to circle back. His son was semi-conscious and told her he
had called his father but she realized that was not possible. She called the police, who
immediately sent an ambulance. When he arrived at the hospital, he had lost a huge amount of
blood, and required 4 pints transfusion. It was quite apparent that his hand was useless. There
was no feeling or movement, and it was cold and lifeless.

When I arrived at the hospital about 3 A.M., I didn't know what to say. This boy was his only
son. Kalow is a skilled furniture maker, and had already planned for his boy to take over the
entire operation in the future. Kalow had been severely injured when he was in the Army in his
early 20's, and experiences constant pain. Now his right hand man was going to lose his right
hand. But he told his son as we left to get clothing and wait for surgery: "Jesus is with you. I
have had constant pain for over 20 years, and Jesus has given me the power to endure it and
continue to support my family. Jesus will always be with you." The boy answered: "Ja (yes),
pa."

Then Kalow prayed, thanking the Lord for the accident, although he didn't know what God's
purposes were. He prayed that the Lord would work through this in his son's life. He prayed
that the Lord would somehow enable him to continue to care for his family, and to work in his
son's life for His glory. I was so impressed. I came to comfort Kalow, and instead, he
ministered to me.

The operation was done later in the morning after three pints of blood had been given. As
expected, they had to amputate just below the elbow. They also had to put in a fixation device to
the humerus (bone of the upper arm), which was also broken. When we saw him in the
afternoon, the son was alert and looked himself except for the missing lower right arm. Kalow
was thanking the Lord for preserving his son's life, who could have easily bled to death had
someone not stopped to see what happened. We would cherish your prayers for the entire family
at this time, as well as the entire church. Our churches give only a small stipend to their pastors,
who work full-time in addition to support themselves. We pray also that some form of prosthesis
will be found to enable the young man to resume work.

On a happier note:

Last Sunday morning, Ro Talea presented the statutes to Efraimzegen, the church where they
were not clearly presented. When they understood, they approved directly. Now the door is open
for all four churches to apply to the government for independent status. When that is completed,
we will be able to give them the church properties, and to set up an association of the churches so
that they will be able to handle several items which do not fall under an individual church: the
bible institutes, radio and TV work, the Bible translations, and commentaries and other
publications.

The men of Sunny Point hope to dig the foundation of the church this coming weekend. They
worked this week filling the necessary areas with fill-dirt so that it is possible to drive onto our
property. We have had a few contributions, and would welcome others. They could be directed
to:

Baptist World Missions
Box 2149
Decatur, Al. 35602
Attn. Pattons: Sunny Point Building Project

Prayer requests:

1. Strength and health for the work
2. Our own spiritual growth
3. Safety ourselves while driving. This is another example of the higher risk of driving
here in Suriname - five times higher than in Holland
4. Family Palata with the injury of their son
5. Church independence
6. Sunny Point church building project
7. Souls saved and discipled