In mid-May I went to the states to be with our eldest daughter, Stephanie, who was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s. It is not in either of our families and it should not be environmental, but nonetheless, she has it. She is a single full-time working mom of Saige, her active 7.5 year old daughter.

While on my way from Congo (I received a negative test before departure), I contracted Covid so I remained in Indianapolis 10 days just to make sure I did not carry it to her family. Parkinson’s is a life sentence. Currently, she is on two medications and has to watch her diet because some foods can neutralize her meds. She is disciplined and daily does 45 minutes of strenuous exercise which replaces the dopamine lacking in her brain. She listens to all kinds of podcasts and has read several books so she is up to date on information. She sees a neurologist who is a Movement Disorder Specialist. Her Physical Therapist specializes only in Parkinson’s patients. By early evening she is exhausted.

We are asking you to lift her up to our Father whenever you think of her and her daughter.  It is difficult for us to be so far from her during this time yet the Lord sustains us all.

Paul joined me in the states the last of July when we had our children and family get-together. We traveled almost 2,000 miles in 5 states visiting friends and seeing many that we had not seen in years and some decades. It was an absolutely delightful time.

We are back in our beloved Congo and have again engaged the work. We started the Children’s Ministry Classes in mid-September. It is a joy to be a part of this ministry. Children are the future!

It has become impossible to get either the boats coming upriver or the cargo planes to carry our water holding tanks that are used for water storage for our water wells because of their volume. Back at the beginning of the year, Paul ordered a machine that makes the tanks. The machine arrived from South Africa and it became obvious pretty quickly that this very expensive machine had never been assembled. It had no instructions and parts were missing. The company sent a video of it running before they shipped it yet comparing the machine and engine in the video, we see it is not the same one.

Paul is pretty mechanically minded and so he worked and worked on the machine before he left for the states and even brought back missing parts. He and our mechanics have worked on the machine ever since we’ve returned and thus far to no avail. We NEED Divine intervention!

Ezekial 22:30 (NIV) – “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.”

We need someone to stand in the gap for us prayer-wise. You know missionaries can be called and gifted in many areas yet we need folks who are willing to pray for us on a regular basis. It is not enough to see our pictures on Facebook and enjoy them but we need Divine intervention in our work and church. We beseech your prayers.