This year our newly formed young couples group hosted our “calendar festival”. In a few hours we put together hundreds of Bible calendars to give out to around Umbria.
Pray for open doors to the Gospel!
The Whitmans
Calendar night!
Posted in Life in Italy
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Seven Praises and Seven Prayer Requests
As we get into our fall activities here, I give you a few items to praise God for and prayer requests for you to print out and share with your family, friends and church.
Praise:
1. No known cancer for two years.
2. Ten years in Italy as missionaries
3. Gospel opportunities coming our way.
4. New Young Couples group
5. Vacation Bible School
6. God’s continued provision.
7. More men being equipped for ministry.
Prayer:
1. Preaching
2. Training men in the church, especially pastors and deacons
3. Health for our family
4. Furlough plans
5. New Young Couples Ministry and pastoral care
6. Evangelism and church planting
7. Salvation of our children and personal/ministry growth.
Thank you for praying!!
Earthquake!
[1] God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
[2] Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
(Psalm 46:1-2 ESV)
This morning, around three A.M.we woke up suddenly from a deep sleep.
It wasn’t from the earthquake…it was from a phone call. My pastor friend Giorgio, from L’Aquila called to see if we were safe. You may remember the devastating 2009 earthquake that killed over 300 people in L’Aquila and left people homeless for months.
I’m embarrassed to admit, much like Jonah during the storm, we slept right through an earthquake that was so strong that it was felt through much of the Italian peninsula, and whose epicenter was less than fifty miles from our house. At least thirteen people have died, according to what I am seeing now on the news.
Norcia, a city that is reached by our radio and that you may remember for one of the cities I have reached through my music playing, was one of the most affected.
Amatrice, the city known for Spaghetti all’Amatriciana, one Italy’s quintessential dishes, was left in ruins.
So where does this leave us? It leaves us desperately needing your prayers. Italians need to hear the only news that can comfort them and give them solid ground, when all around them their foundations are crumbling.
Please pray that we can make the most of every opportunity!
Posted in Special Prayer Request
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Thank you for praying for our 2016 Vacation Bible School!!!
You prayed, God answered!
We had an exceptional week of Vacation Bible School thanks to the hard work of many members of Centro Evangelico Battista, Calvary Baptist Church in Grand Rapids (our sending church) and Partners in Discipleship International.
Our theme was “God Always Wins!”, which is courtesy of Children Desiring God Ministries.
In my last note I asked a specific prayer request for one child with a difficult family background. Unfortunately, that child was not able to come to the Sunday event, but please keep praying for him!
I am thankful for Daniel and Elizabeth Ransom, my exceptionally gifted co-workers, for this wonderful video!
Enjoy!
Birthday presents: early, on time or belated?
We all love birthday presents.
Personally, I don’t even care if they are early, on time or belated. I just love a good surprise!
Most people like to celebrate their birthday, one way or another.
(I say most because I have discovered that there are a few out there that really don’t love birthdays…I can’t say I can relate!)
I have had many memorable birthdays, but there are two that are related to my adventures as a cancer patient.
One was a belated present. A second one was a day early.
I remember my birthday in 2010 like it was yesterday.
I was still healing from my first tongue surgery. It was a perfect day for grilling. As I savored my steak with family I just had this feeling…there was something wrong in my tongue.
The next day I got the call we had not hoped for. The lesion that they had taken out of my tongue was squamous cell carcinoma. Classic tongue cancer.
They scheduled me on the spot for another surgery because they were afraid it could have spread to other parts of my tongue, or worse, to my lymph nodes.
This time they took out more tongue and most of the lymph nodes on that side of my neck, leaving the rather conspicuous scar that I admire when I shave.
God allowed that call to come one day after my birthday. You could call it a belated birthday present. I was able to enjoy my birthday without considering all the ramifications of life after cancer diagnosis.
Six years later here I was, waiting for more news.
How ironic… another birthday diagnosis! This time it was the day before my birthday.
Dr. Riccio is a hard man to read. He knows how to joke around, but when it’s time for the important stuff, you couldn’t find a more serious person.
He felt around my mouth and neck silently, then re-read the ultrasound report, went over six years of charts. Now we awaited the conclusion.
He finally spoke up after a few seconds of eternity. Here goes… *Gulp*
“Six years have passed since your first diagnosis. Only the first tumor was invasive. The other three tumors were “in situ” tumors , therefore non-invasive by definition.
Since it’s been over five years since your first and only case of invasive cancer, you are considered statistically and clinically in remission!
Your lymph nodes were a concern, but both the ultrasound and the checkup confirm that they are just reacting to a less than perfectly functioning system. After all, we can try to fix you up, but your tongue, salivary glands and lymph nodes work poorly. Only God creates things to work the right way!”
I am not sure what excited me more: hearing that the odds of a recurrence are slimmer every day, or that he acknowledged our Creator as the only one that truly can do things the right way!
So what now?
We will continue regular checkups. But now only twice a year. My job is to always be on the lookout for what is going on in my tongue and neck for any suspicious changes.
One last blessing from the day. Probably the most important one.
I thank God for good health news. It seems that for the time being, death is less imminent. Unfortunately, sooner or later, unless Jesus returns, death will take us. As the common saying goes: “it’s like shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic”.
But oh, that God would use us to bring souls into eternity with Christ!
There is more celebration in heaven for one sinner who repents than for ninety-nine good health reports!
Please…don’t stop praying for us! We pray that we can make the most of every opportunity.
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