Pray for Gary

Please join us in prayer for Gary - a fellow Foursquare Missionary here in Thailand. We just received notice from his wife, Paula, that he has been hospitalized. Here is what she wrote:

Please pray for Gary. About 8 hours ago, I took him to the hospital after he developed cold chills, extreme nausea, internal pain, weakness, and fever. His doctor looked at him, then sent him to the Emergency Room, where they did some tests, then checked him into the hospital. I just spoke to 2 of his doctors; one is an Infectious Disease specialist. They are not sure what is wrong with him, but think he may have an "e coli" infection or perhaps another type of blood infection. They have to wait a couple of days for the lab tests to confirm it. His doctor told me it could be a serious situation. Right now, Gary is in the hospital on mega doses of 2 different IV antibiotics. He was a bit delirious earlier, but when I talked to him about 30 minutes ago, he was trying to joke with me, though he was weak and in pain.

Tags:

• prayer
• Foursquare
• missionaries

Pray for Esther's Family

Remember our language / house / baby helper Esther? Well she continues to be a wonderful friend and it has been a joy to have her with us these last four months. She is doing great in life, and we frequently have discussions about her future, spirituality and the world in general.

Esther had to quit school and work at the age of 16. Since her older brother is finishing tech school and her older sister was married very young, she was the oldest child who could work to help support her parents. Her first job was with a Thai woman and her foreign "Boyfriend / Husband". This is a tremendous problem in Thailand as foreign men flood into the country looking for Thai "wives". She was subjected to some awful stuff working for them and ran away back home. Finally she heard about us and called us up to ask if she could work for us.

As wonderful as it has been to have her around, it would be a tragedy if she worked as a house helper for her entire life. She is incredibly bright and we have helped her get into Thai "adult education" for a GED-type equivalent. We are looking forward to what God has for her in the future.

As well as she is doing, her sister really needs your prayers. She married a Thai man who is an alcoholic, violent and abusive. They have a 3-year old daughter and Esther's sister is pregnant with their second child. The husband keeps threatening to kidnap and run away with the 3 year old. Last weekend the husband declared that he was divorcing the wife, but he keeps showing up (probably to take money for alcohol).

Esther's sister is despondent. She is not taking care of her daughter and has been talking about killing her unborn child as well as herself. Yesterday she asked Esther to take her daughter back to the village to live with their parents.

We, of course, are glad to let Esther take care of this family emergency and she will go back to Maesai sometime today and will stay there as long as is needed to make arrangements for the little girl, as Esther's sister refuses to go back to her parents.

Please pray for Esther's sister, for safety from her husband and for protection for the unborn child.
Please Pray for the entire family that they will have wisdom to intervene as necessary for the protection of all people involved
Please Pray for Esther who loves her sister and her niece and is caught in the middle of all of this

Tags:

• Akha
• helper
• prayer