Pray for Juan and his Doctor

Juan Alvarez is the key leader in our Jefferson church.  Almost two years ago he was diagnosed with leukemia.  Not very many years ago his type of leukemia was fatal within 4 years.  Some 15 or so years ago new medicines were developed that gave hope.  Juan started taking one of these medicines in January of 2015 and it seemed to be working well for him.  At the time the doctor said that this medicine helped about 80% of all patients taking it and as long as he took one pill a day for the rest of his life he should be fine.

A little over two months ago the doctor was unsatisfied with some of the blood numbers and he changed Juan’s medicine to something different.  After two months on the new drug the doctor decided that the new drug was damaging Juan’s digestive tract in some way.  He asked Juan to stop taking the medicine for three weeks.  At the end of the three weeks the doctor will decide whether to start Juan on the original medicine or resume the second medicine.  I don’t know if there are any other options.  We are half way through those three weeks.  Juan has an appointment with the doctor in a week and a half and we will learn what the doctor’s decision is. 

Through this whole experience Juan has been a model of peace and confidence in God.  He has said that no matter what happens, God is in control.  The worst that could happen is that he will go to be with Jesus a lot sooner than he originally thought. 

Please pray for the following:

• Wisdom for the doctor,
• Continued peace and confidence in God for Juan and his family,
• For God to glorify his name and continue to use Juan in the lives of many people to draw them to Jesus.

Celebrating a Milestone

A couple of weeks ago Jerilyn and I attended a retreat for missionaries serving with InFaith.  While we were there we were presented with a plaque acknowledging 30 years of service as missionaries with InFaith.

Jon served as missionary pastor of Westwood Community church from 1986 to 1993.  Since mid-1993 we have been serving as missionaries to Spanish speaking people in the mid-Willamette Valley of Oregon. 

Jon is pastoring two churches, one in Jefferson and the other in Salem.  Jerilyn teaches children’s church in both.  We also are lead evangelistic home Bible studies and have had various outreaches during the year.

One of our main goals in our remaining years of ministry is to see some of those within our ministry actively leading ministries of their own.  We will be sharing more about that in the coming months.

The plaque commemorates our faithfulness, but we know that our faithfulness would not be possible without the faithfulness of many who are praying for us and supporting us in this ministry.  We thank you.  Please continue to hold us up in your prayers.