6 August 2013
Return to the field Prayer update,
Introduction:
Thank you for your prayers during our home assignment and our return to the field. It was good to see many of our friends and prayer supporters while home and then we met many new friends along the way. We serve an awesome God and have a huge spiritual family.
I apologize for not posting this sooner. I am trying to figure out how to post photos. It has to be simple, but they changed the blogspot and I'm having difficulty navigating through it. We need your prayer support, as that is so crucial to what is happening.
Highlights from Home Assignment:
Touring and Deputation Praises:
We crisscrossed the USA, mostly by air. Every home assignment we vow that we will not schedule a service for the first Sunday back. And we don't unless someone asks. We are so passionate about what we do that it is hard to refuse a service. We arrived in Dallas on Wednesday and our first service was Saturday in Westminster, Maryland. We hit the ground running. The Lord was faithful in meeting our need there.
We toured the following districts or spoke in conventions: NE Indiana, Indianapolis, Upstate New York, Los Angeles, and North West districts (includes Eastern Washington, Idaho panhandle, and few counties in NE Oregon). In addition to the district tours and services mentioned above we had deputation services in Smyrna, Delaware; Woodson Park, OKC; Carnegie, OK; Spencerville, OH; Miami, OK; Everett, WA; and Camp Creek, OK. We shared in a missions class at SNU, Caravan class at Choctaw, OK; and led the Solomon Islands delegation after General Assembly to share in a children's camp on the Dallas District.
Thank you for your prayers. Our schedule was considerably lighter than last time. The Lord knows exactly what is needed as we spent more time than usual visiting doctor's offices.
Family Time:
We don't see our grandchildren too often, so when home on their birthday we like to take them on a date. The way it works is we go wherever the grandchild wishes and spend a sizeable part of the day just hanging out with them. We went out with Raina to the Orange Leaf, a frozen Yogurt place and shopping, took Addie to a science museum, and grandpa took Geoffrey to the toy section in Walmart, where he purchased some of the latest toys that I had never heard of before. We will have a lot of cultural adjustments when we return to the USA to live as the world has really changed since 1989.
We had a week (Monday to Saturday) off while in Upstate New York and so we flew down to Washington DC and met our family (Geoff and Churie and girls; along with Wendy and her 4 children.)
General Assembly was another large family reunion. We saw a lot of people we hadn't seen in years, and there were others there that we so wanted to run into but did not manage. We rode in two vehicles to Indianapolis with Gloria and her two youngest along with Churie and her 4 daughters. Also our son Gary was with us as well as Hannah, our SI 'daughter' who flew into LAX and traveled with us from there to General Assembly. Rex and Ezra, two young men from the Solomon Islands who attended the convention traveled back with us to await our return trip to Solomon's.
Health Concerns:
While on HA necessary things we have to take care of are the medical exams and procedures not available on the field. I (George) was diagnosed with liver cysts in 2012 and as most of you know I needed further evaluation in Australia. But in Australia they felt it nothing serious but advised me to follow up once back in the USA. I had a lot of lab tests to verify there wasn't a pathogen causing the cysts on my liver. All lab tests came back normal or negative except the Iron, Iron Binding Capacity (IBC), and serum Ferritin. These tests were really abnormal and indicated too much iron stored in the liver. The diagnosis of hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) was confirmed by MRI and genetic testing. Some of the tests performed on me I had never heard of before, in my former life as a Medical Technologist.
The treatment for HH is frequent blood donations. The doctor gave me an order to have a therapeutic phlebotomy performed weekly as we travelled. HH has other associated symptoms which I had begun to notice, mainly muscle weakness. In most places in the USA this procedure was a challenge as we travelled. But in the 8 weeks from the diagnosis to our departure I successfully donated 6 times, and my lab tests were almost within the normal range when we departed for the field. I was praying about the monthly donation once back in the Solomon's. Incidentally HH does not disqualify one from being a blood donor as long as one is otherwise an eligible donor. Within days after our return I went into the blood bank and inquired about this and the blood bank director knew exactly what was needed and no trouble at all. I even forgot my doctor's order, but that too was no problem. Tomorrow I am scheduled for the second donation. It looks like I am going to supply the blood bank here and bless a number of people with my iron-enriched blood.
I (George) also had a stress test to check out my heart. The cardiologist that examined me was a quiet/contemplative sort of guy. He carefully and meticulously searched through the cardiogram and sonograms in complete silence and then turned to me after 20 suspenseful minutes going over the graphs and images as with a fine toothed comb while I watched in silence. Then he stated in his stoic manner, "I don't see anything here. It looks completely normal to me." That was good news (no great news) considering my brother died suddenly from a massive MI. I also had a colonoscopy exam that previously I had avoided like the plague. But now at 62 years old I was told by a doctor, friend of mine, "It is time." After the exam the doctor told me there was no significant findings and I didn't need another one for 5 – 10 years. Of course I heard the 10 year part. PTL
Prayer request:
Kenoly Akoeasi – Our pastor's son has a real puzzling illness, that has left him weak. Pray for him. When we returned he was in the hospital, and after I donated my first unit he was given a unit and his blood type is same as mine. We have a medical team visiting the Solomon's now and Kenoly went to see them. They treated him and he shows improvement.
Note: At the time of this posting he is much improved, but does need your prayers.
Pastor Barnabas and the Kwalaitutu Church
Note: Malaita where he is have been having lots of rain. With too much rain it will be difficult for them to go. Honiara has had not rain and our water tank is dry.
Bible College Block Class: Pray for our block courses coming up in Sept 18 – Oct 4. In this block course, two of the classes will be taught by graduates of our Bible College as we are training potential teachers. Pray for our chancellor, Dave Kerr and family as they come and visit in the Solomon's. Dave taught a course to our graduates to train teachers and this is their practical experience. We will have something for his wife Dr. Rosie Kerr to do while here.
Additional Prayer requests for our Solomon Island District:
- · Pray for unity.
- · Pray for the Lord of the Harvest to call people into the ministry.
- · Our churches and members to get the vision to plant churches.
- · Our District Secretary, Brother Alick, as his job is reassigning him to Renell Island. Pray that God will help him there.
- · Our youth and district president, Pastor Revelation, who is touring Vella la vella Island that God will bless his ministry there.
- · Our two Bible College students, Gibson and Kendrick, that will soon be going on practical, and preparing to graduate this year.
- · IBOE (International Board of Education) review process looking at our Bible College.
- · Pray for a Holiness revival to sweep through this nation and region.
As I conclude this prayer letter, I want to thank you for your prayers. This letter has become quite large. I will try to keep the letters shorter in the future.
If you do not want included on this mailing, or you receive duplicate mailing let us know.
Your partners in His Ministry,
George Miller
