Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Tammy and I enjoyed meeting with over 100 members in Rotorua, New Zealand, last week. I conveyed international greetings from all our members around the world to them, and I share their warmest greetings to you.
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Pakistan
Rod Matthew writes: The last time I wrote, there had been a disaster in northern Pakistan involving a massive landslide and growing lake on the Hunza River. Since that time, an even greater disaster affecting far more people has brought immense suffering across many provinces of Pakistan. Record-breaking rains have caused flooding affecting most parts of the country.
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The government has been overburdened trying to organize relief efforts across the country while engaged in a military offensive against insurgents and dealing with other political issues. It took some time before the magnitude of the disaster was appreciated inside Pakistan, let alone overseas.
Major relief and humanitarian organizations mobilized in an urgent effort to get food and water to tens of thousands of stranded people and to provide temporary shelter until the floodwaters subsided. Many homes have been totally destroyed by raging waters near rivers. Homes of mud-brick construction are less durable, and the waters have caused many to collapse. Countless thousands of people have nothing to return to, and crops have been destroyed as winter approaches.
In the midst of this, the government has been overstretched by the magnitude of the disaster and aid that has reached the village level is distributed by local officials who generally give first priority to Muslims. The Christian minority is often significantly disadvantaged in such crises, in spite of having protection under the constitution and mandated representatives in the provincial assemblies.
Dr. Muqaddam Zia, director of the Alpha Bible Church in Faisalabad, with whom we have a working relationship, immediately mobilized the personnel and resources at his disposal from his network of congregations and set out to provide a practical example of the love of God by taking relief supplies of food, water, tents, clothing and blankets to displaced people in a number of locations across Pakistan. He provides humanitarian assistance under the name Pak Care, which gives him much easier access to areas and all the people in need than would be possible using the name of a Christian church. While his goal is to help anyone in need, he pays special attention to those who have missed out, been disadvantaged or neglected in the general distribution of aid.
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In response to this crisis, we have sent him two amounts totaling $5,700 to go towards the purchase of supplies to help the neediest, to be distributed through his relief teams. Muqaddam has sent many photographs showing what his team is doing, and all the photos here are from his people. Your prayers and concern are deeply appreciated by the recipients and the aid workers.
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Prayer Requests and Updates
Update from Jerry Ortiguero:
Greetings from my family here in Dubai! We arrived here Sept. 11 after my third stroke which rendered me unable to speak. But thank God in his mercy and kindness I am well on my way to recovering my speech. We are here on a three-month visa; I hope and pray that at the end of our stay here in Dubai my speaking faculties have returned to normal.
I also am pursuing with fervency my R.E.D. program — Rest, Exercise, and Diet — and I lost 10 lbs. after almost three weeks. I learned late in life that when you’re putting on weight, a good thing to exercise is restraint.
David Husmann
Pastor Dave Husmann of our Sioux City, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska, churches sends his thanks for everyone’s prayers and cards during his slow recovery. The orthopedic doctor wants him to keep weight off his knee and pressure off his shoulder for another three weeks before serious therapy can get under way.
Lorraine Pelley
Retired pastor Dennis Pelley sent this update on his wife’s condition:
Lorraine has had difficulty for some time now with pain from chronic piriformis (the muscle in the buttocks) and extremely low energy levels. She has seen several doctors, has had a couple of different treatments and injections for the pain, but nothing had worked. It has been very painful for her to sit or walk. The eventual diagnosis was hyperparathyroidism, and surgery was scheduled to remove one (or more) parathyroid glands.
After a four-hour surgery in which the doctors removed her thyroid gland on September 20, and a difficult week in the hospital, Lorraine was released to go home on September 28. She is very tired and weak. Since she has had extreme fatigue since March, her recovery time will probably be slow, but we hope and pray that the surgery will allow her energy to return. We’ll probably know in a month or so. We are grateful for your prayers and many expressions of love. We are so blessed to have the best family and friends that anyone could ask for. Thank you!
Cards may be sent to:
8056 Old Exchange Dr
Colorado Springs, CO 80920-4807
Shelby Bragg
Pastor Thomas Friedrich sent this prayer request in for the family of Shelby Bragg.
With great sadness I must inform you that Shelby Bragg, loving wife of retired pastor Robert (Bob) Bragg, passed away Friday evening, September 24, following a lengthy illness. Shelby leaves behind her husband of 53 years as well as three sons, Scott, Stuart and Reginald. There was a graveside service for her on Tuesday at the VA Cemetery in Boscowen, NH. For those who would like to send a note to Bob and his family, his address is:
24 McDuffee Street
Rochester, NH 03867-1107
Remember that prayer is the battleground where we fight the good fight of faith. Let’s encourage everyone to join together in prayer, for we belong to Christ, and by the Spirit it is in Christ that we pray. Prayer and other spiritual activities help keep our hearts in tune with God and remind us of who we are in Christ. He is our all in all, and in him we are eternally beloved of the Father and blessed to share his good news with others.
Love from my family to yours,
Joseph Tkach
