April 26, 2014
Dear friends,
Thanks to all of you who are praying and giving for our ministry, supporting our team in Ukraine with finances and prayers.
As you know, Joel broached the idea of our combining our trips to Europe and going by ship — the cost is the same or less than flying. We are now due to depart from Ft Lauderdale (April 27), but per a CAT scan, Joel has a “moderate” case of appendicitis. He started on an antibiotic today and must decide tomorrow if he will go or stay in Fl and have his appendix removed. If he remains for the operation, he may join me in Europe and we will visit some friends and relatives together until I need to be in Poland May 22 for the European Leadership Forum. Pray for wisdom for him. We would have had two weeks of sharing a cabin and shipboard life together. It is a great disappointment if he does not go, but we do not want him to risk needing an operation while out to sea.
LaVerne continues to do well with her shoulder, but her ankle makes it hard for her to walk sometimes. But she perseveres.
I had a first occurrence of something that sent me for a CAT scan April 18. I suddenly lost half of my vision – everything in the right half of my field of vision was swirling and blurry. Since it did not matter which eye I closed to test the other eye, I thought the problem was not in my eyes by somewhere else in my head. With my leaving for Europe, and by sea, I thought it best to rule out strange things in my head. The scan indicated that ‘nothing was there’ … but this does not prove right those who have at various times in my life said that I lost my mind. I do not know what it was, but one possibility is an ocular migraine (not the headache variety of migraine).
Thank you for your prayers for my family, for Andrei (who is still with us, waiting to hear if he will be able to study at Milligan College, TN), for our team in Simferopol, for those who are relocating (Golovins, Ustinoviches), and those who want to stay in Crimea but do not know if they will be able to without becoming a Russian citizen.
During a stopover on May 30, I hope to send out our monthly newsletter about the ministry and an update on the travel and emergency fund.
In Him,
Georges (and LaVerne)