11/05/04: Tribal Update: Medical Team Going in Tomorrow

Hello Folks:

Thanks so very much for your prayers for the Tribal people. Many of you have written and have expressed your weeping with them and praying for them. Thanks so very much!

Yes, they have sure gone through an exceedingly tough trial as they have buried 53 children during the last two months. We praise the Lord though that only one has died since the last report. However, through our colleagues down in Venezuela, we have been working to mobilize a team to go in to help... and that is happening tomorrow. The tentative plan is to fly in on Saturday and return on Wednesday. So please continue to pray. Pray that this epidemic will be stopped!! And pray too that people's hearts will be healed. These dear saints have just gone through probably the worst trial of their lives. Just imagine if in your local church you suddenly had to bury 53 kids. Well, that is pretty much what has gone on over there. Yes, this is incredibly sad. Some doctors feel there might be a whooping cough epidemic going on over there as there are problems in some parts of the country. The one doctor who visited the area earlier seemed to feel it was a virus that had caused all the grief and that it was especially fatal due to the people's poor diet. Anyway, we hope to know more soon.

So just to let you know that medicine has been purchased and plans have all ready come together to fly the medical team in there. Please pray that it will be a very successful trip and that God's Name will be glorified through this all. Pray for wisdom for the medical personnel as they go in. Pray that our dear Tribal brothers and sisters will continue to trust God in the midst of all this heart-ache. Satan will be working overtime to get them to doubt God's faithfulness and turn back to the old ways.

Leaning hard on HIM,
Merrill and Teresa