Britton's Having Shoulder Surgery

Keri & I greet you with love. We hope that you are having a great holiday season. May the Lord meet you and bless you as you gather with friends & family during this season of thankfulness and may you rejoice at the salvation of our God and King Jesus.

As many of you may know Keri & I were planning on flying out of the U.S. Nov. 29th, but our plans have changed a bit.

Back in May I started to notice some pain in my right shoulder. After a few weeks the pain shifted to a steady ache. Upon returning home to the U.S. from New Zealand a friend of ours let me get an MRI at one of his medical offices at a very discounted rate. Turns out that I have torn both my "Bicep"(Slap) and my "Rotator Cuff". From there we pondered waiting until we purchased new medical insurance, fly out to the M.E. and then come back later next year for the surgery and recovery and spend the holiday with family. We even considered having the surgery in the M.E. in order to stay on the original schedule and leave Nov. 29th and not have to uproot ourselves from the work we are engaging in in the  M.E.

This is Keri talking now, :)

It was quite the challenge to find affordable international health insurance that would cover such an extensive surgery and the months of rehab that would follow. Quite the challenge is my polite way of saying I was stressed out of my mind, struggling to believe God would take care of us, and struggling to keep my eyes above a dark abyss of self pity. Yuck. Just being honest. 

But... God had different plans! Miracles started to unfold!

In early October I asked for prayer at a ladies bible study I attend. Prayer for the ugly emotions I was battling concerning Britton' need for surgery and our need for good health insurance. Earlier in the year, last May, God had done a deep work of healing in my heart concerning the root of disbelief that God is a good provider, and I knew there was some major spiritual warfare going on trying to  put me back in that terrible place of disbelief and rob me of such a huge victory. The ladies were awesome and really did start to pray for me.

One lady in the bible study emailed me and asked why researching health insurance was so stressful for me, and suggested maybe I should just ask other missionaries what insurance they use. I explained to her the only reason it was stressful was because we literally could not afford it.

The next Sunday at church our Paster suggested to the entire congregation that for every need in the body of Christ, there is someone else in the Body that can supply the need. This triggered a thought in my friends mind, she felt the Lord nudge her that she had connections that would supply Britton and I with what we need. So, the ball began to roll, she asked multiple groups of people if they could help. Another women that attends the same bible study but on a different night works at a local hospital and sent some emails out, one specifically to Dr. George McCluskey telling him who Britton and I are and asking him if he would be willing to do the surgery as a gift to us!

Meanwhile Britton and I were in Florida and had absolutely no idea any of this was happening!! So when we received an email asking us to wait to purchase our airline tickets because a surgeon had offered to repair Britton's shoulder, we were dumbfounded! In utter awe at peoples kindness and Gods faithfulness!

It has been a long process and A LOT of paper work, we had to wait for the hospital to agree to cover the rest of the expenses. But as of today, Britton's surgery has been scheduled for this Friday! We are overjoyed that Britton will someday soonish have full use of his arm again.

Im not gonna lie, the waiting and waiting and waiting to hear back from the hospital has been very stretching. We are eager to be on the Land God put on our hearts,  we are eager to labor with our friends who have already landed, and eager to put down deep roots with these orphaned people who have yet to hear about our faithful beautiful God and become His children.

I am so thankful that when the Lord looks upon me He does not see the ugly yuck that comes out in the midst of being stretched and refined, He sees His perfect plan that I am not able to see, and He sweetly reminds me that everything is going to be ok!

Please pray for miraculous recovery of Britton's shoulder post surgery.  If all goes well Dr. McCluskey has set a goal for Britton and I to fly out with our dear friend D.J. who is leaving for the M.E. on Jan 11th and it would be a tremendous blessing for us to be able to travel with him.