Thanksgiving Report Oct / Nov 2010
It has been a frightening, exciting and yet joyful year for LeeOra and I and now just before Thanksgiving it is appropriate that we look back and say thanks. We began the year at our home church in Santa Fe, Texas waiting for the warm weather so we could resume deputation outside of Texas and wound up the year in Humble, Texas waiting for spring so that we can finally get to Flagstaff and begin the church planting work God has called us to. Along the way we have experienced setbacks and at times wondered if we were going to be able to continue the quest to plant a church but just when it seems that we must retreat God sends his angels in the form of pastors, family, friends and even strangers to keep us moving toward the fulfillment of the First Vision Baptist Church.
In February after a visit with my physician and one of God's blessings in my life, Dr. Smith, I was sent to the ER with shortness of breath, dizziness and pain in my head and neck. After 24 hours spent in the hospital I was told I would need an aortic heart valve replacement. Open heart surgery was not the plan I thought the Lord had for me. At 52 years old, I felt my health was nearly irreparable and that God should have given the vision of starting a church to a younger, more fit man.
After many appointments with the county health services we were told we did not qualify for help with the $50,000 operation. Now I truly prayed about our future as missionaries. Then another of our angels, Dr. Vincent from UTMB Galveston said he would see what he could do. I didn't know exactly what that meant or where the funds came from but I did know that now I was scheduled for open heart surgery in June. After a call from the hospital I was told the new cost of the surgery would be only about $5000 which the angels in God's churches sent our way. With the funds raised we were able to pay off the ER and prepay the surgery.
The biggest surprise God waited until the last moment to reveal. Coming out of sedation I was amazed to find no scars on my chest, no bandages, no tube down my throat and no monitors by my bedside. I had feared the recovery more than the surgery since I would be conscious to suffer through it but now I awoke to find had not undergone the operation. The surgery team found that my valve was not that bad but instead one side of my heart was beating too fast and had made that side larger than the other. The blood flow from one side to the other was being restricted by the overdeveloped muscle not the valve. I was released, told to lose weight, take some medications and check back in a few weeks.
We are so grateful to the Lord, His churches, His pastors, His people and my family for all the prayers and gifts that have brought both of us through this. I have gone from writing “just in case” goodbye letters to my family and friends to writing this letter of thanksgiving instead. What a change a year has made.
We have picked up over 8 churches this year and we now stand at just over $2000.00 a year support. That will still necessitate one or both of us working when we arrive in Flagstaff, of course we were never opposed to working but were setting our goals and hopes high. We still are. We have logged close to 30,000 miles this year in spite of the delay caused by the surgery.
On a personal note we praise God for the safe arrival of our grandson Calvin on September 1st and his growth and health since. Following the doctors advice LeeOra and I got serious about our weight and we are now both over 30 pounds lighter than at the beginning of this year. We also have continued preaching and deputation while being near our grandchild in Humble. I am teaching a Romans Study on Sunday nights and working on a Bible study via Skype to a couple in the Austin area. Please pray for this as our wi-fi access is not consistent.
We plan to finish the winter in the Texas area and then pull the travel trailer to Flagstaff once it is safe to drive in the higher, snowier altitudes. Please pray as we will continue some deputation out West and that we can find those souls God in his providence has waiting for us to win and then form them into a team that He can use to launch First Vision Baptist in the near future.
In His Service,
Kris and LeeOra Minefee
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