Hello,

 

I hope all is well as the summer approaches.  I just wanted to give a quick update on an a few items.  I'm currently writing from Mexico City.  I'm in the middle of a month of time with my wife.  I just confirmed dates to return to work at the clinic in Kalamazoo (June 9-27 and July 7-25).  It has been good to be with Areli for an extended time.  Along with spending time with her, I’ve been working on a lot of house projects and many other little tasks.  Areli has been very busy finishing her semester but we have still had some time for fun.

 

We also continue to be very busy in our church.  I've been playing the trumpet and Areli has been playing the drums with the worship team.  This past Friday I was asked to preach and gave a message on tithing.  For Spanish-understanders who are interested, I've placed the message on my website.  Speaking of websites, we have been working on our church website www.iglesiamasai.com.  For obvious reasons, it is all in Spanish.  It is still a work in progress.

 

As far as medical stuff, I have continued to give medical consults primarily to members of the church.  The most interesting case a couple of weeks ago was that of a gunshot wound.  A relative of the pastor was shot in the back with a 38 special while walking down the street.  He initially was brought to one hospital which refused to treat him and then sent to another.  Apparently they did some x-rays, observed him overnight, and sent him home in the morning.  The bullet entered the left side of the back, coursed through the soft tissues avoiding spine, and lodged somewhere in the right side of the back.  He ended up with no organ or spinal damage.  On Sunday, he gave a testimony in front of the church of how God had protected him from a worse outcome.  All I did was to make sure he had the proper antibiotics and wound care, to give some medicine to help with the pain, and to pray for him--but it was still interesting to me as I had only seen one gunshot wound in residency.

 

As far as Areli’s visa situation, the good news is that the initial application was recently approved.  The bad news is that it will still be several months until the process is completed.  Therefore, she will not be able to come to the U.S. this summer.  Due to this, she will likely do her social service for her university program this summer so that she will complete all the requirements of her program in December.

 

Prayer requests remain:

 

1.  Visa issues
2.  Direction for next several months and beyond
3.  Strength and peace for each of us when we are apart

Sherwood and Areli