Prayer Requests

 Please pray for the specific needs from Langham scholars.

September 2008

I went home, my elder son Rami was not well but when I went home nobody had prepared  me for what I saw. Sometime last month he developed some kind of rash in the body; a friend of ours took him to the hospital and he was given amoxycillin. That was a huge mistake as he is allergic to penicillin, and after the second dose he started sweating and vomiting. By then my husband had come back so he was able to take him to the emergency. The doctor realised that the nurse had given him amoxycillin, even though his clinic card is written in bold ALLERGIC TO PENICILLIN. By then the damage was done, and his skin started peeling. He is pink, it is as if he was burnt by hot water especially in the face and buttocks. I  stayed home for almost two weeks. He is beginning to heal, around the neck the skin is dry and therefore it cracks. Doctors have assured me that he is still a baby and the skin will grow back.  I believe they and God will take care of my little boy. It could have been worse…he could have died, but God spared him.

Rosinah Gabaitse

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Last Thursday I brought my son Clement to Children’s Memorial Hospital to do an echo examination of his heart. On April 30th 2008, a genetic professor Dr. Angle diagnosed that Clement probably has Ehler-Danlos Syndrome Type III which affects his collagen synthesis in his body. Therefore he arranged an echo of heart for Clement to find out whether he has the typical problem of heart, dilation of the root of aorta. I got a chance to discuss the result with the assistant of the professor on the next day after the echo has been done, and she told me that the result showed that Clement has mild dilation of the root of aorta. Since this was the first time for Clement to do the heart echo, they would like to follow up his condition half a year later with an echo and genetic professor appointment on the same day. They need to make sure that Clement’s heart problem is a non-progressive issue as it is shown in most of the cases of this type of the syndrome. If it were a progressive problem, the dilation of the root of aorta will cause the valve of aorta leaking then finally would result in heart failure.

Frankly speaking, my emotion has been affected at that moment as Clement’s mom. However, God has prepared me through a message delivered on the Moody Radio on that day when we were on the way to the hospital. The speaker, Nancy, shared a message from Exodus 2, and she mentioned that even though Moses’ parents faced a tough time when his mom gave birth to Moses. She still raised Moses by faith and committed his life into God’s hand. Furthermore, this sermon was followed by a touched testimony shared by a brother. He shared that four years ago when his son was two years old, his son was diagnosed with Diabetes Type I, and he needed to start insulin injection aix times and check his blood sugar 10 times everyday for the rest of his life. He and his wife have gone through all this difficult time together by trusting God. This sermon and the testimony really became the wonderful way God used to prepare my heart to accept Clement’s echo result. Please continue to pray for Clement, no matter what situation he will face in the future, may God’s grace and peace be with him and everyone in our family.

Yesterday morning I also received a phone call from my cousin in Denver. She cried and shared with me the situation of her mom, my aunt, who has been diagnosed with the final stage of colon cancer last year. She has gone through surgery, 1st and 2nd cycle of chemotherapy, however, the examination done last week showed that the cancer cells were out of control. They spread out very fast to liver, bone, lung, and the lymph nodes near by her womb. My aunt is 53 years old. She is an ordained female pastor, however, since she left the church she served several years ago, she can hardly find another church which will accept a female ordained pastor to serve in USA. In my father’s side, they don’t have any relatives here in USA except us. Besides my grandparents who were devoted Christians, this aunt and I are the only two devoted Christian in our generations respectively in my whole paternal family clan. Sometimes she felt lonely and only can share with me because both of us are full time ministers in the church ministry. Her doctor predicted that she has only 3-6 months life. Please pray for my aunt and her family and also pray God for granting me wisdom to be a comforter at the right moment.

During this summer break my kids and I visited my 86-year-old grandmother, who was also diagnosed with colon cancer in May, in Los Angeles for four days in June. Our trip to California was wonderful except the reschedule of our flight and waiting at the L.A. airport for almost 24 hours with two young kids due to our scheduled flight has been canceled. Praise the LORD, I finally got a chance to share Gospel with my grandmother one hour before we left my aunt’s house to the LA airport, and she prayed after me aloud to receive Jesus Christ to be her Savior after she struggled for about 20 mins to make that decision. The spiritual warfare was so real especially when we shared Gospel with those who were under the bondage of the pagan religions. Please pray for her continuing growth in her faith, and finally giving up all her Buddhist everyday practices and becoming a true follower of Christ.

I am now preparing for my 2nd stage comprehensive exam (I have scheduled it on Dec 2-4, three days exam). There are a lot of things going on, so please also pray for my concentration on my study, so that I can go back to Singapore Bible College to teach on time. Thank you for letting me share with you my recent burden in my heart. May God bless you, your family and your ministry.

Love in Christ,
Cynthia Chang
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Praise for Langham scholar Yacouba Sanon’s baby girl Jedidiah born on August 5, 2008!

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I landed in SAIACS, Bangalore on the 5th of August to make the corrections on my Ph.D. dissertation and at the same time, write the commentary sections on Colossians and Philemon for the South Asia Bible Commentary project in association with Langham.

I have taken leave from my teaching engagements in Shalom Bible Seminary for five months and have my work cut out for the next few months before December. I will appreciate your prayers for this crucial time.
Thank you for the support of Langham that has enabled me to be here again in SAIACS.

Sincerely,

Sanyu Iralu

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We’re  deeply saddened by what is going on now in our country. The government raised the gas price by 27.8% recently about few days ago, a policy that they could have avoided by cutting their own unnecessary budgets and fighting corruptions a bit harder. As a result, strikes are everywhere throughout the country. The poor inevitably and consequently become the first victim of the government decision. Inflation is out of control; it may reach 10% just within a month. The poor become poorer and poorer, Christians and non-Christian alike. The wealthy can still do some adjustment to this, tightening their belt a little bit, but the poor can only bite their tongues and rub their empty tummies. The government attempts to shut their mouths by offering some financial help, giving them some cash that they could retrieve in local post offices. It may resemble the tax rebate that the US government gave away a while ago, but it has a totally different political motivation. We can only sigh and wait how things will turn out here in Indonesia. There are so many things that are out of our hands. We can only wait and pray.

We will always welcome your prayers for us and our ministries (and maybe for Indonesia too).

Yuzo  Adhinarta

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Please pray for Philip Tachin and his wife Nguavese. He writes: “While I was teaching Bible Study at union League this afternoon, I got a phone call from my wife telling me that she had a motor accident and she sustained some injuries. She was hit at the driver’s side by a reckless driver but thankfully she was miraculously protected by the Lord from what could have been tragic. The car was damaged. She was in the hospital but she came home and will be receiving treatment there. The condition is not very critical though. She has our youngest son who is 1 year old and so she could not be in the hospital for so long. Please pray for her healing. It is also hard for me now to concentrate on anything as I am far apart from her at this moment. Thanks. “