Recently, we had a mother come to us requesting help for her daughter, Nerla. She has had a growth on her upper arm since birth, and it has grown in size over the years. Nerla is now 18 years old, and has a job as a house-helper, working in Manila. She had seen a doctor in Manila who, without access to any testing equipment, told her that the growth needed to be removed, and the surgery alone would cost about $1,000 (about two years wages, at a decent salary). The daughter is planning on returning to our village in December, and they were requesting that we, as a team, pay for her surgery.
Rather than make any decisions on our own, we are blessed to have a team to consult. We contacted both of our partners via email, asking them to pray with us, and give us their input. We also asked the Stroud-Lusks, who are living in Manila, to see if they could find Nerla and learn more.
At a tremendous sacrifice of her time (including finding substitute teachers for her school classes), Stella Stroud-Lusk took the girl to see a missionary doctor. This doctor was able to do an ultrasound of the growth, and determine it was just fatty tissue, and did not need to be removed. Praise the Lord! This time the decision was made easy for us, the growth does not need to be removed.
We are so thankful for God’s servants, all over the world, who are using their time, knowledge, and helping hands to reach others for Christ. We are thankful for the doctor, who agreed to fit Stella in “in between” other patients. And we are again thankful for each of our partners who are still serving the Agutaynens, even though the Lord has temporarily located them outside of the village.