Prayer Letter January 2009

Dear Friends and Family, Today I held hands with my son. As my fingers gently brushed across his smooth skin the sensation was interrupted by a heart monitor, thermometer, and other tubes and patches of tape. A small blood pressure band was attached to his upper left arm and an I.V. tube to his left foot. Breathing tubes came snaking down past his little button nose and he was wearing a little black mask which reminded me of Zorro. As I reached out to touch him it broke my heart. In four days, Joshua has taught me more about faith and prayer than any other event in my life. It brings tears to my eyes to think about it even now. Speaking softly to him as he slept I reminded him that he was safe in the arms of Jesus – the best doctor he could ever have. Needless to say, 2008 was quite the eventful year for our family. On January 5th we were married and traveled around Florida and New Jersey visiting family and supporters. In February we returned to Peru to begin another school year with LMCS – Eric teaching 4th grade for the first time while Casandra supervised the elementary department. In March Eric began teaching the adult Sunday school class as Casandra worked with the 5-6 year old group at our church in Musa. In May we were elated to discover that Casandra was expecting our first child, and the demolition and construction of our new church building began. June, July and August passed quickly as we worked, prayed, and waited for the morning sickness combined with diabetes to pass! By September life seemed to calm down and construction on the church was moving along swiftly. In October Casandra began working half days as her growing belly did not permit her to be on her feet all day long. By the time Thanksgiving came along, we were an old married couple ready for a break! We joyfully moved from a cramped storefront into our new church building and praised God for His provision of our needs. Along the way, God provided many opportunities to work with our church family and to participate in discipleship training, home Bible studies, preaching and teaching of God’s Word. As we “calmly” entered December we ended the school year, packed up the classrooms, moved to a new home, celebrated Christmas, and breathed a sigh of relief…only to be surprised by the early arrival of our son, Joshua Michael, on the 29th, exactly 30 days ahead of schedule! We could not begin to explain God’s faithfulness and His mercy when we learned that Joshua needed emergency surgery to connect two parts of his esophagus. From an original estimate of more than $7,000, God provided a hospital within reason, a parent from LMCS whose son had undergone the same surgery who put us in contact with an expert pediatric surgeon, a network of fellow believers who tirelessly worked to make everything come together within the 48 hour window we had to transport Joshua and have the surgery completed. Joshua is currently recovering from a successful surgical intervention and we are praying that all his other little organs are intact and working correctly. Though we have yet to hold our son, Jesus has never let him go, and all we can do is praise Him. “Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.” – excerpts from Psalm 147 Looking for that BLESSED hope, Eric, Casandra, & Joshua Pardine I Timohy 1:12 Global Faith Mission Agency, Inc. P.O. Box 3326 Chattanooga, TN 37404 423-493-4159