Thank you so much for praying over this last week and a half on behalf of both Liz and myself. As you may know, Liz is a chronic kidney stone former and has passed many in the stones over the years. They usually caused a little pain and bleeding, and then passed spontaneously. A week ago Tuesday, she started to have problems which became much worse on that Thursday afternoon. She developed a high fever and was admitted to the hospital. She was treated with high dose antibiotics for two days, improved, and was discharged. The following Monday, she had a CAT scan which showed two sizable stones on the right and obstruction of the right kidney. Early Tuesday morning, she developed severe chills and fever despite being on two antibiotics. She was readmitted, and in the afternoon she had a nephrostomy tube inserted under ECHO control. An x-ray with dye through the nephrostomy showed that the right kidney was totally obstructed, and the drainage system was dilated. She was placed on a new intravenous antibiotic for five days. She was discharged with the tube in place, after she was feeling some better and the nephrostomy tube was functioning well. She was fever-free for 3 days and cultures were now negative.

During our time in the hospital, it was possible to witness for Jesus Christ. My wife passed up numerous tracks in Sranantongo and Dutch, and some tracks also in Hindustani. We were able to give a Bible to one of her roommates, who was saved. Liz, Kim, and I were able to witness to her Hindustani roommate. This lady had numerous problems, and was unable to sleep. After prayer, the Lord graciously granted her sleep. After that, she requested prayer and number of occasions, especially from Kim. We prayed that her eyes would be opened, and not just try to include Jesus Christ in the list along with her Hindu gods. We were also pleased to see that many persons mentioned that they had seen me on television. Some also mentioned hearing me on the radio. It is always difficult to assess how effective working through the media is, and whether the investment in time, effort, and money is really worthwhile. It is. We pray that others might come to the Lord through Liz's witness in the hospital. Kim also came up with additional idea. She found some cookies in our freezer, and prepared two sacks with cookies and New Testaments for the afternoon and evening shift. Then she baked up a batch of brownies for the first shift, along with more New Testaments. Fortunately, a few brownies managed to be left over. :)

We are delighted to have Liz home. She is able to sleep better and eat better, and we hope that she will regain her strength soon. The doctor felt that she had received a severe shock to her system through this infection, and he wanted her to regain strength before beginning her lithotripsy treatments. At present, he wishes to wait a month. We are praying this can be done sooner. Of course, it will allow Liz to return back to normal sooner. But also, Kim and her family are planning to go to the United States on the 15th of next month. They would like to see this problem resolved before they need to leave. So would we. Please pray much that Liz will get back on her feet very quickly, and that the doctor would believe that it would be safe to proceed a bit earlier. Kim will be going back to Moengo later this week, and our granddaughter Abigail will be taking her place.
We cannot thank Kim and Ethan enough for their love and care for us during this time. But it is not just Kim and Ethan, but the entire missionary team, who worked together. We want to thank the many hundreds of people have been praying for my wife in the United States, Hungary, and also here in Suriname. Our churches had a special prayer service on Wednesday night. The leadership of the main church in the senior pastors of the other three churches came to our house and prayed with me especially for her on Thursday. We pray the Lord will use this time of trial to help unify the church, so that the church can move forward. We cherish your prayers will continue at this time.

Prayer requests:

1. Liz's health - for her to regain her strength, for the infection to stay cleared, for the nephrostomy tube to remain functional, and for the schedule for lithotripsy (crushing by sound waves) of the two stones in the right ureters.
2. Our general health and strength for the work here
3. Our spiritual growth
4. The Ethan Champlin family as they not only help us but prepare to go to the USA for a seven month furlough on June 15th.
5. Independence of the churches
6. Elections in Suriname - for those leaders whom the Lord would have for the next 5 years (May 25th is election day)
7. Souls saved and discipled
8. Outreach in the church
9. Safety on the road
10. The young man who lost his right arm, Gwatoes Palata, is now home. The family is trying to make arrangements for him to eventually go to Holland for a prosthesis so that he will be able to work. Pray that they may find the necessary funds for the prostethis. Kalow Palata will be having a government hearing next Tuesday to determine what sort of compensation he should receive for injuries received in the Army. It was very sad - a number of fellow-soldiers attacked him then and injured his back - probably out of jealousy. He has had problems for the last 20 years, but has been able to support himself with difficulty. We were able to see him declared 80% disabled recently, and his son is currently 100% disabled. I am praying that he will receive some sort of long-term payment that will permit his family to receive continued finances without requiring him to physically work as a furniture maker, which he has done for nearly 30 years.