May Meanderings

In this psalm of Praise, the Lord is given praise for many wonderful things. In this eighth verse, even these seemingly terrifying actions of creation, which can cause devastating destruction, are said to Praise the Lord. Sometimes these are cleansing agents in the fact that hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones help clean the air we live and breathe in. Other times, in Scripture, both in history and prophecy, these are used in righteous judgement for the wickedness of men’s actions and rejection of the true and living God. Although we may not know, understand or be able to explain why these disasters occur, we can be confident that they are “fulfilling His Word”. Let us therefore, like the psalmist, give praise to the Lord for all things. Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say rejoice!

The beginning of May included the last of the 10 day extended spring vacation that includes schools, government businesses and hospitals. Many blue collar companies also take advantage of this time. The only thing that picks up to a very high degree is tourism. Many of us missionaries know it is best to take our vacations at other times because tourist spots will all be filled and overflowing. So we were able to have 3 other missionary couples come visit us briefly during this time which was a great blessing! One couple hadn’t been able to get away and see us on this upper end of the island for 9 years so we truly appreciated their effort and enjoyed wonderful fellowship together. This is also the time of year for Ken to get to know all his new teachers in each of the schools where he team teaches. Vicki is involved in five different town groups and this is the fiscal time of year for business meetings for each of these groups. We figure we have the town pretty much covered in our presence in one way or another and always just desire to be a light unto these people.

With the elections which took place in April finished, Ken was able to go visit and introduce himself to the new mayor. While we do not know him very well, yet, he told Ken that his kids were the same age as our three and that his kids had come to our place several times when they were all young. So now we pray that there will be an open door to witnessing to Mayor Sasaki and he might be willing to attend a church service here as his previous counterparts did for Christmas programs.

Ken had a two day session for visiting three different hospitals and clinics for some special testing. His kidney stones situation has not changed for better or worse, so we will continue to pray for that need. In the blood work for that though, there was another number that was not very good so appreciate prayer as he follows up with another test concerning that number at the end of June. He went to an ophthalmologist due to some change in his eyesight and found out it was because cataracts have started to form. The Dr. said that when he can’t tell the difference in the traffic signal lights and their color, then he needs to have surgery, but also would like to see him in September or October to see if the situation has changed. The final check was deeper testing in his back (xrays and MRI) to see if the pain he experiences, more or less all the time, could be helped in any way and what exactly was going on. He has two discs in his lower back where the cushioning is very thin so certain angles can cause some rubbing. This cannot be helped at this time. Maybe not answers we would have liked, but at least know what is going on, to make it easier to keep going. Thank you for your continued prayers for our health!