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There are many places where we visit and get encouragment, and this past week was one of those very special weeks. I have heard great things about this camp meeting, and for a long time I have been looking forward to going; but I didn’t expect all the blessings we received. The Lord showed up in a very special way and encouraged our hearts through every sermon and every song. We met with good friends we’ve made along the way, but we also made new and special friendships. We really enjoyed the hospitality of Pastor Joey Wampler, and the fellowship with everyone at Fundamental Baptist. Thank you friends for the uplifting week, and thank you for all your kind words of encouragement. Glory to God, He is so good!
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www.facebook.com/share/v/18VFxsL6hP/. It is such a blessing to have Timothy on our team.
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John is heading to the airport today, flying home from a camp meeting in Louisianna. I am excited about him coming home. Last Friday, before John, Amanda, and I returned from Indianapolis, Anna, Marie, Timothy, and David drove to Louisianna. John flew Monday after Amanda's genetic counselling appointment to catch up with them. He flew out of Gainesville, but he is flying back into Jacksonville tonight. We are thankful to a brother and his wife in Georgia who donated some of their frequent flyer miles to cover these flights. Such a blessing and a help!!
I just want to help people know that God loves them so much that his only begotten son Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and rose again the third day to save them from their sins and to purchase their salvation so they can be reconciled to God and have an eternal home in heaven with him. There is only way to come to God is through the blood of Jesus.
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! They agreed to the genetic testing and the samples are already on their way to the lab! Results take eight to twelve weeks.
Tomorrow's appointment in Gainesville is very important for Amanda. We need the doctor to consent to genetic testing and we are praying he will go ahead and get the samples before we leave Gainesville.
We are doing our best to get her home to rest tonight. Just one short flight to go. We sure appreciate all the prayers. They sustain us.
Brinly has been Amanda's friend for the last few years. She just happens to live in Indianapolis. Amanda had a really rough day all day long, barely even able to hold her own cup, but seeing her sweet friend sure put a smile on her face. We are so blessed to have friends everywhere we go! There is nothing else on earth like the family of God!
I just want to thank the Lord for the day Amanda had today. She awoke happy and giggling and had more clarity than any day this week. We have a loooooong way to go but it was a blessing to have a better day.
Based on some intensive labs, Dr. Prather thinks Amanda has a mold that is causing an imbalance in the gut resulting in a couple of mycotoxins in the brain. The symptom can easily resemble MELAS and even trained neurologists could easily be confused. The difference to us is that MELAS is terminal but mycotoxins can be reversed. This was also a consideration of the doctor we saw at Mayo Clinic.
A long time ago someone told us about a ministry thrift store in Indiana where you pay by the bag for items. Does anyone know if it is still there and where it is?
Amanda is having a lot of seizures this morning. They are making her heart pound and it is scary for both of us.
We walked off one plane, through the airport, and right into the next plane. We wish it was always that way.! Amanda had some seizures before we left the airport in Jax and we didn't have any time to get dinner between flights. We should be in Indianapolis in two hours. Pray she manages the flight well and that we can get our luggage and rental quickly.
The captain predicts a choppy ride all the way. Somehow is seems amusingly fitting.
As of now, we fly to Minneapolis in a couple of hours and connect to Indianapolis. As it stands now, we should get in around 11:00 p.m. We liked it better when we were supposed to land by 6:45 p.m., but we are thankful we can go at all. A kind family in Georgia donated the tickets and reserved a rental car. Such a blessing! God is good!
We are taking Amanda to Indianapolis tomorrow to see a holistic doctor on Monday. He just may have some answers. We are praying that he will.
Marie arrived two weeks ago on May 21. We gave her two days to overcome jetlag before we packed her in the car and drove her to Kentucky for a meeting. Here is a little clip of her arrival. What a huge answer to many prayers!
Mayo Clinic regrets to inform us that they cannot do the consultation and they will not be taking Amanda as a patient. They hope we find something that will work out.
We just want to thank the Lord for a lady named Anna at UF who just fought through the system to get Amanda a genetics counselling appointment for June 16! Pray the counselor will consent to testing and take samples right away.
The short version is Mayo does not take patients without an outside diagnosis but because we were so misinformed, that are going to see if we can get a free consultation to get referrals for care. We have some other steps we can take, about seven, which may or may not help. Mayo will do a review of how this all went so wrong and send us a letter in thirty days. If we can get an outside diagnosis and a doctor to refer us to Mayo they will see if she can get in. They suggested we try to get genetic testing as soon as possible.
We just got back from a week in Kentucky and a couple of days in Atlanta. It was a well-prayed-over decision to take Amanda, but we had prayed for God to give us a new vehicle for the trip and He did. And ultimately He gave us peace that it was better for her if we were all together. The seizures continue but they likely would have if we had been at home. On the trip we gave her plenty of time to rest and we didn't push her at all. She was happy to see friends.
Well that didn't take long...
Last night while we were heading off to bed, Marie was boarding a flight from Australia to Dallas. Now she is on a plane from Dallas to Jacksonville, and should arrive around 11 tonight. Please join us in welcoming Marie to the United States of America! 🇺🇸
Marie Hopkins is flying now from Melbourne, Australia to Jacksonville, Florida. She will be working with our team full time. Pray for her safe trip.
Amanda woke me a few minutes ago, saying "I feel a little afraid." I took her hand, and she immediately fell limp; a prolonged seizure. We have had numerous minor seizures in recent days. The pattern of seizures often resembles earthquakes, with minor tremors increasing in frequency before a significant event, followed by aftershocks.
What a difference a day makes! We are praising the Lord for a beautiful turn around for Amanda yesterday. In the morning, even though she looked and felt miserable I took her out to the pool for a swim, and then we sat together in the sun for about an hour. I have been reading about a condition the Mayo doctor mentioned, where lactic acid builds up in the blood and causes a myriad of health issues, including seizures and almost all of the symptoms Amanda has experienced over the last year. We have to do tests in order to get a diagnosis, but several articles I read said plenty of water and mild exercise can flush lactic acid out of the body and alleviate symptoms. On a whim, yesterday morning, I asked Amanda to go for a swim with me. I questioned the sanity of it because she was so sick, but she wanted to go. She only had the energy to swim about thirty strokes so we got out and sat in the sun an hour to dry. She took a little nap while I rocked her chair. By late afternoon, she was smiling and laughing a little, and when we asked if she wanted to go to get the new car, she did. By the time we got to the dealership, Amanda had bright eyes and big smiles. We picked up our new van in Gainesville and on the way home, stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner. We ordered three scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes for Amanda, and she ate it all! She also had half of my mashed potatoes, some of my dumplings, some of my mushy green beans, and some of the doughy part of a biscuit drowned in butter. She has not eaten like that for days! She was alert and talking up a storm. Last night she slept well, and there was no choking. The doctors thought we might be putting Amanda on a feeding tube this week, and had told us she was unlikely to improve. We praise God for His goodness and for His help in time of need. With one touch, at His will, He can heal her completely, but if not, He is still God and He is still good. We bless His name.
Amanda had a good night. She was able to eat dinner last night and a little breakfast this morning, but at a late lunch this afternoon, she was unable to swallow. At a friend's suggestion, we bought a recliner for her today, and she is quite pleased with it. We hope it is going to help her rest better. It scares me to think that the seizures have impaired an auto function as important as swallowing. The potential for her condition to change rapidly is also heavy on my heart. We are just asking the Lord for strength and wisdom and that He will touch Amanda's body and make her well. We know He is able and we are praying that He will.
It's amazing how quickly time passes; it feels like only yesterday that I was nervous about teaching this beginner ASL course, but all of my students made it so easy for me to teach every week, and tonight was the last class of our initial 9-week module. I thank the Lord for each and every one of my students, their efforts, as well as advancement over the past nine weeks. I'd like to highlight the time my Internet went down for a few minutes, and despite my absence, my class carried on singing the song I taught them.
Amanda was discharged from the emergency room in the wee hours this morning. I wrote a post with an update but this morning it is not there.
We are taking Amanda to the emergency room. She woke up after nearly 20 hours of sleep not well at all. Pray we get a doctor who knows how to help.
We were so encouraged to see Amanda doing so much better over the last several weeks but once again we find ourselves on a downward trend. Today she has had a flushed face and almost no affect. She is slow and seems confused. She also seems to have difficulty swallowing but is not choking. She does not want me to leave her side, and that's okay; I don't want to anyway. I will sleep with her tonight to make sure everything is alright. We are not certain but it looks like these are effects from a medication we recently introduced. Unfortunately, we were not aware until after I gave her another dose tonight. This poor girl can hardly get a break in the medical world. She does not seem to tolerate medicine of any kind. We took her for a urinalysis today, and there were a couple of small abnormalities. Maybe it will lead us in the direction of a solution. After all this time, we still have more questions than answers. We praise the Lord for the recent good days and trust Him with these difficult ones. He knows what is best for us and He knows what we need. He is always good and always on time.
We rejoice over what happened this evening (Australia time in the morning). Marie went into the American consulate in Melbourne, Australia to have her interview for the approval of a visa to enter the US. It was granted. We thank you all for praying. Now, please pray for her to finish the details in Australia, to get her visa in the next few days, to purchase a ticket, and for a safe trip to the US. It has been at least five years of working online with a couple mission trips together and eight months last year in Australia. God has been faithful and He will continue to be faithful in the months to come.
Update: APPROVED!!!
We are praising God for answered prayer! Today John got some results from some biopsies he had three weeks ago and everything they tested was benign. We were still thanking God for it when John checked the total of our support for the month. He was over in the passenger seat repeating, "Woah, woaaaah, woaaaah!” Then he said, "Wait a minute, is that right?" There was a total of $60,000 in our work fund designated toward a new car!!! We have been praying over two years for a vehicle and God used some wonderful people named "Anonymous" to make it possible! Now we just need to figure out what the best vehicle is for our team. We are so blessed! Whoever you are, we thank God for your blessing!
Last Thursday, I had my second hernia surgery. It was a smaller hernia but in the core area. It hurts more than the two bigger hernia surgeries I had last February. Now, six days later, I feel better, but still have more recuperating. I want to thank all of you for your prayers. It means so much to our family that you prayed, and also for Amanda who had two doctors appointments today. Still seeking answers.
Please pray for my upcoming visa interview on May 8th and for other preparation I need to do before moving to the US. Thankful to God for His help all along the way!
UPDATE: Praise the Lord! Everything went well; we are home and John is resting.
Happy Resurrection Day!!
One of our supporting churches asked us to make a short video update they could share in their missions conference last week. We thought maybe some other churches would be interested in having it as well. If you need access to the file for your church , send us a private message and we will get it to you. We will also send a link to our prayer letter address list. If you are not on the list and would like to be, please send us your email address so we can add you.
My Beginning Interpreting course has been keeping me on my toes, but my five students and I are getting along quite well. With four more weeks left, we are honing structuring skills and memory skills, and practicing thinking beyond words to communicate pictures. I have seen lots of improvements in all of them and I am excited for their accomplishments.
Thank you for praying for me. I am feeling a lot better since I asked for prayer for jetlag. A couple more days and I should be back to normal.
I have booked my visa interview with the US consulate in early May - please pray that it will go smoothly! The move to the US is getting closer. ☺️
Tonight, at church, a speaker said that every Christian is to go into all the world. What country have you gone for a mission trip? Was it with hearing or deaf? There is much work for us to take the gospel into all the world.
I just realized, a few minutes ago, that this will be my first spring in the States. In the spring of 2024, we went on a mission trip to Grand Cayman, just two weeks after my first arrival in America. We arrived in Melbourne, Australia, in the spring of last year and stayed for nearly three whole seasons. But now I can enjoy spring here in Florida. Last week, we drove down to Orlando to pick up Anna and her mom from the airport, and while we were there, I got the opportunity to photograph some marvelous blossoming flowers.
Please be in prayer for me as my body is getting used to living in the Western Hemisphere again. I'm having a headache and an upset stomach this week.
Mom and I arrived safely back in Orlando yesterday at 2pm. Thank you for your prayers!
Our classes are being taught every week. We are thankful for the students learning the sign language. We have students from Australia, Peru, Dominica and America. Pray for these students.
Mom and I are on the plane for the first of three flights coming home! It has been a wonderful mission trip in Cambodia.
It is Sunday morning. It is not even 8:00, and Amanda is up and dressed , ready to leave for church. We thank God for this victorious milestone! Thank you for all your prayers for us. We love you!
It has been a few years since I have been home to see my flowers bloom. A number of years back we needed to pull out some shrubs that were failing to thrive. We didn't have funds to spend on gardening so I prayed God would help me and send me flowers for my garden. One day looking on Craigslist I found a guy who was giving away some agapanthus, one of my favorite flowers! The catch was that they had to be dug out. I called our friend Jeremy Breland who worked at the zoo as a gardner and he was glad to help John go dig up the plants. The guy offered them a few amaryllis, if they wanted them, and a sago palm! Jeremy was not only willing to dig them up, he designed a landscape for me and helped me plant them all, too. He helped me add ginger, plumbago, oleander, and some ornamental grass to the mix for a yard that blooms all summer long. Every spring, when my flowers start to bloom, I am reminded that God fulfilled my heart's desire and gave me more gorgeous flowers for my yard than I ever would have spent the money to buy. Through the years, I have gathered the seeds in the fall and used them to seed other beds. I love them! It is wonderful to be home this year as God put them out on display! ~Tricia
For eight years straight we have been mostly on the road raising support, reporting back to churches and frequently out of the country on missions trips. Even while the world shut down for covid, we continued to travel. Most of those years, we have been at home a total of two months or less. The two months are usually not consecutive; even when we are home, on weekends, we visit and update churches within driving distance. We use our house almost like an Air BnB where we stop in for a week or two and then go on our way again. I just wish it had a cleaning service!
I love teaching the class that God has given me!
This Saturday was the first time in three years I had the excited anticipation that Amanda is on the path to full recovery. Then, last night at church, we talked with a family whose daughter has remarkably similar symptoms to Amanda. They have been fighting this for eight years and they still do not have any answers either. Eight years!
This is my first time teaching a class on interpreting. We have only had two class meetings so far, and I am already having fun. I am still figuring out how to teach interpreting, and I am doing the first three lessons from Cambodia. At eleven hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, my class starts at 6am here. Not too bad, considering. Last week Tricia called to help me with ideas. I am looking forward to using her suggestions this week. I never imagined I would teach interpreting. Sometimes I sit back and just think about all the things God has allowed me to do and to learn in my life. I think about how much I would have missed if I had chosen not to follow Him. I think about all the evil in the world and realize I would likely be involved in or trapped in something wicked if not for the Lord saving my soul when I was young. I think about how blessed I am to have family, church, and friends, and to have the chance to do a ministry that few people have even imagined. I look back on my life and see how God orchestrated every step. How He placed me in the right places at the right times to meet the right people to be where I am today, serving God in deaf ministry, and not alone but with friends. I used to worry that my life would be boring, that I would never go anywhere interesting, and that I would never do anything special. I thought I would be born, live, and die in the same little town and only ever read about other places and see the photos other people took. Well, I was wrong. God had more plans in store. I thank God for all that He has done, and I have learned that life is never boring when one is serving the Lord. Every year it seems I find myself doing something I have never done before! I absolutely love it.
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Pray for our classes...There are approximately 57 students who are in classes, learning sign language. We are excited to see what the Lord can do with those students.
I have four interpreters in my class and I am thrilled to be working with them. I am excited to see what the Lord will do! I really love working with interpreters to bring them to the next level, but especially when it will result in more deaf effectively hearing that God loves them so much he sent Jesus to die for their sins so they can be with him through all eternity. What a unique and special way to be able to glorify Him! How good it is that we can serve him. ~ Tricia
Even though we feel a little "grounded" right now, the Go Team always has one in the hopper. All last year, even from Australia we continued ground school, studying for pilot's licenses. We are gearing up for test prep and are hoping to make arrangements for in- flight training soon. Thank you Flight Training 101 in Winter Haven for all you have done to help make this happen for us! It is a blessing!
Thank you all for your prayers and support. Here is my latest prayer letter for January - February 2025.
Yesterday, Hannah, Mom and I cooked an American meal for the missionaries' dinner, we ate jackfruit (first time for Mom and me!), and finally we had our first official Khmer lesson. We learned the first five consonants of Khmer, and learned that there are a lot of sounds that vary so slightly, we are still trying to understand the difference between them. It is a challenge to pronounce them! But we had fun and we have good teacher. I figured at this pace, I can learn the entire alphabet in only 16 weeks of study! 😂
Last week, I met with Tom, Bruce and Fred. Fred was our deaf Sunday School teacher and van driver who had a big influence on the three of us for the Lord. I thank the Lord for the friendship and love for over 47 years.
Hannah Grace Holmquist , Carol Wilcox Gilkey , and I have arrived safely in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and all our bags arrived with us. Hannah had no trouble getting her visa upon arrival. It is crazy to think the airport employees at home almost didn't let her come because they thought it couldn't be done that way. We are thanking the Lord for being with us and getting us clearance to come. We're thankful for the Olsons being ready to turn around and pick us up again, and we are so thankful they didn't need to. We are also very thankful for the missionaries, the Miraflors, coming to pick us up with our 13 big bags! It's been a very long trip and we are going to bed. Thank you all so much for your prayers through all of this and your continued prayers for the duration of our stay. We can't wait to be part of what God wants to do here this month.
We want to praise the Lord for Marie's visa application being approved! The next steps are submitting a form to request a formal interview at the US Embassy in Melbourne and completing a medical exam by a USCIS approved doctor. This is exciting! Pray Marie passes with flying colors!
Anna said they made it on the plane for the next flight. This one is fifteen hours in the air. One more after this one gets them to Cambodia.
The airline almost refused letting our ladies board the flight to Cambodia due to the agents lack of understanding of Hannah's visa type but at the last second a supervisor made the call to let them go. They made it to their gate with two minutes to spare but they are boarded and ready to go. Pray they are on time and make their connection with no difficulty.
Praise the Lord! While Delta says they ended their humanitarian aid program in 2020, when the ladies checked in online for their flight this morning they were able to pay for all the bags. Instead of the $400 they were told to expect, the bags were $200 each, closer to what the Delta website had originally estimated. They fly at 5:30 Saturday morning. Pray for a great trip! ~Tricia
We could use some prayer help with a little issue. Anna and her mom are traveling with a fellow missionary to the Deaf, Hannah Holmquist, to help her move to Cambodia. We were so glad to book with Delta because they are great about coming bags for humanitarian aid. They fly out Saturday morning at 5:30 EST. Tonight, talking to Delta, the agent is telling them they are going to have to pay $400 per extra bag for a total of $2400. We just want to pray that God will help the agent find a way to comp the extra bags.
And just like that, she's 21! Happy Birthday Amanda! We celebrated early because we have an all-day outing planned for tomorrow. Today was the best day she has had in over a year! She had a great day all day long! We praise the Lord for all he is doing in her life. We love her so much!
We still have a long way to go but we are seeing improvements in Amanda. Sunday was an exceptionally good day for her, as she was looking forward to seeing a friend, which gave her extra motivation to get up and go. She is much happier on a daily basis and little by little seems to be able to recall more. She still struggles immensely to remember what she wanted to say or to carry on a conversation. We make a consorted effort to know what she is trying to say. The many prayers are such a blessing. We hear from people every day and have never felt so loved.
I’ve been thankful for the time of preparation before heading to the States, with time to meet with friends and family to share a farewell, and to spend time in prayer and meditating on God’s character and faithfulness. Please continue to pray for the visa process - the next step should be an interview, and for all the other preparation needed.
Well, I don't even know if this is good news or bad news but Amanda's 96 hour EEG showed absolutely NOTHING. We are now questioning whether subjecting her to surgery for an MRI is really warranted. I made another plea for genetic testing on the basis that a less invasive process would trump the invasive process because there is no risk factor. The MRI has not been scheduled yet anyway, and if they call they probably won't plan it for several weeks. If they call, I may go ahead and make an appointment but I have been very unsettled since they said she would need surgery. "Exasperated" does not even begin to describe the human side of this, but we serve a great God who has answers after all the doctors, wise men and even magicians have been stymied. Someone recently mentioned the woman with the issue of blood who wasted all of her substance on doctors but received no help until Jesus came. If we could just touch the hem of his garment....
We are so thankful for churches that still have missions conferences. The conference at Bible Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Arkansas was such a blessing! Not only did they put us in a nice hotel, they gave us money for gas, money for food, a basket of snacks, presents for the kids, gift cards for each of us and two offerings. They also hosted a beautiful international banquet and had a very thoughtful question and answer time. I think the best part about missions conferences though, is the opportunity to meet other missionaries and see what God is doing in other places. In the Sunday morning service they had Sunday School kids parade through the service with flags representing each country where the church supports a missionary. It was beautiful! What a great way to train their kids to believe missions is important.
UPDATE: All went well. We should be heading home in about an hour. We praise the Lord for his goodness to us!
The Go Team is in Jacksonville, Arkansas for a missions conference at Bible Baptist Church. I will be speaking to the Deaf Sunday School class at 9:30 am, and Pastor Randy Dignan (CODA) will be preaching in both signs and voice in the 10:40 am service. If you (deaf or signers) live close, come and join us tomorrow.
Drove all night. Just entered Arkansas. Only 1 hour and 45 minutes to go...
Today, I met with the surgeon. He informed me that I have three hernias, and I am scheduled for surgery to be done for two hernias on February 11th. The third hernia will be done later. I thank you all for praying for my health. Please continue to pray.
Not a day goes by without someone telling us they are earnestly praying for our family, especially for Amanda's health and for David's eyes. We are so grateful and we believe those prayers carry us from day to day. We do not claim to understand what God is doing, and we have no idea how all this will end. All I know is we thought David would be blind but he can see. We feared Amanda would die but she lives. These are hard days, the hardest ever, but in our weakness, God is made strong. The Lord IS a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is safe. This has all been hard, very hard, but in Christ, we are SAFE.
First night at Tabernacle's camp meeting. I'm excited and looking forward to what the Lord will do this week
Several years ago, when we were hurt beyond words, and more discouraged than we could describe, we were invited to a preacher's fellowship at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Lake City, Florida. At the meeting, the singing was alive, the people were full of joy, and the preaching was encouraging. We were so well spiritually fed. God used the meeting to help us resolve to trust God and move forward. The preachers and many others who attended loved us and became our friends. Many of them support our ministry and many more pray for us daily. We have been at the meeting almost every year since. Even though travel is difficult for Amanda, we determined that we all needed to be in Lake City again this year. We just need the sweet fellowship and the spiritual charge. We went to great lengths to prepare Amanda for the trip and we are asking the Lord to help her settled in and not be overwhelmed. She wanted to bring all of her stuffed animals but we convinced her to bring a few and take pictures of the rest. She went out with John to buy some snacks. While she is out, Anna and I made up her bed. We are praying she has a great week and continues to recover. Thank you, Tabernacle Baptist Church, for booking us adjoining rooms in a great hotel. Amanda is excited about having her own bed!
I am thankful for the reminder that is impossible as God’s child, to be separated from Him. Not only are we not separated from Him, but He offers us love and life that is undeserved and overflowing in its abundance.
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