Please forgive our lapse in communication. We’ve had a lot on our plates in the last couple of months. Thank you for faithfully remembering us in prayer – we have certainly needed your prayer support.
August started off with a bang – literally!
On the first Monday of August, Eida was in a car accident! As she was driving to the store, a lady in the lane to the left of her decided that she needed to make a sharp right turn into a strip mall, right in front of Eida!
As Eida slammed on the brakes, her left front fender and the right side of that car came together, and the offending vehicle bounced into a third car coming out of the shopping area. It all happened instantly — the result of one very bad decision.
A bystander heard the sound of the impact and called 911, so the police and firefighters showed up very quickly. Eida called me at the office and I drove down right away. Fortunately, nobody had external injuries. Ironically, both Eida’s car and the third vehicle needed to be towed, but the lady was able to drive away after the police got all the information and determined that she was at fault.
Eida was stunned and dazed, but she wasn’t cut or bleeding, praise the Lord. The left front of our SUV, however, was mangled. The Lord had just provided this very nice vehicle for us in January.
On the advice of friends and family, we engaged a personal injury lawyer. As you know, Eida has suffered from spinal and hip issues and has been in one kind of therapy or another for a few years, so we anticipated that this major jolt may exacerbate her condition. We wanted to be sure that she got the follow-up care that she needed.
Since then, she has been under the care of a doctor who has referred her to specialists and therapists, resulting in several medical appointments every week. We were told that symptoms may not show up till weeks after the accident and that has proven to be the case.
The SUV was back in good shape by the end of the month, but the same cannot be said for Eida. She is experiencing a great deal of discomfort in her back, legs, neck, right shoulder and thumb. Please pray that the medical service providers diagnose her accurately and prescribe the most effective treatment.
Besides this, we received news last week that Steve’s dad, Glenn Irwin, has been diagnosed with liver cancer. Dad and Mom are 90 years old and still managing to live independently, but they both suffer from a variety of other medical issues. Thank you for praying for them.
And on top of all that, our son-in-law, Curtis Bergman, had a chainsaw accident last week while cutting firewood, which they use to heat their home in winter. The spinning saw blade kicked up and cut into his shoulder. Thank the Lord that it didn’t come near his face! He was cut down to the bone, but the doctors at the hospital closed up the wound with three layers of stitches and assured him that he should heal alright and be able to have full use of his arm.
In the meanwhile, we continue to carry on with our Spanish Language Resources ministry. I’ve been working with our Training Coordinating Team for Latin America for a year now, interpreting for weekly two-hour meetings online. Our Missionary Institute leaders are carrying out a guided evaluation and restructuring of our five training programs in the region to achieve greater effectiveness. I’ll also be helping with a week-long virtual Global Forum next month.
Last month, I got inspired to take on the challenge of amplifying the distribution of our News and Prayer Bulletin in Spanish by using WhatsApp in addition to MailChimp (old dog learning a new trick). We expect to reach a lot more readers by connecting via text in addition to email. The Bulletin is a valuable tool for educating Latin American Christians about missions and challenging them to get involved in fulfilling the Great Commission.
Well, this has gotten long. Congrats to you if you’re still reading! Thank you so much for your faithful partnership in prayer and financial support. Let’s all keep working while we still can; sometimes it seems that the darkness is pressing in around us, but greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world!
Steve & Eida Irwin
Ethnos360.org
Spanish Language Resources
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