[Beens Prayer Partners] They're home

Dear friends,

 

Just wanted to let you know that Dan and Karunia finally made it home yesterday (Sunday) evening about 8 pm!  Thanks for your prayers on that.

 

Also, I realize I failed to update you regarding the case of shingles which I had around my eye.  That has completely cleared up and I'm feeling much better now (looking it too as for a while it was rather dark and looked like I'd been punched in the eye).

 

We appreciate each of you so much.

 

Blessings,

Robin

[Beens Prayer Partners] update

Dear friends,

 

Thanks for your prayers on behalf of Dan and Karunia and their travel and her eye appointment, etc.  You can keep praying for their travel; they were supposed to arrive home yesterday (Fri) evening around 8pm.  Well the plane was having problems in Maputo.  They finally boarded around 7:15pm only to wait on the plane 30 minutes and then be unloaded.  After waiting around for a while and being told the time was still undeterminable Dan and Karunia just got their bags and decided to wait until today as the earliest they could have gotten into Nampula at that point would have been 11pm and that was questionable (their tickets should be transferred over).  Well there was only 1 flight today and it was early, early this morning so they couldn't get on it.  They currently are on a waiting list to head home tomorrow (Sunday) but it's not a guarantee they'll get on.

 

Now as for Karunia's appointment.  The eye doctor was extremely pleased with how the patching has helped her recover some lost vision in her eye and has said she can go back to the partial patching (3 hrs per day).  She does not need to have bi-focals as the doctor is now convinced the double vision is due solely to her eye crossing and therefore bi-focals will not help.  These two things are very big praises!!  There does remain the fact that her eye muscle is unable to hold her eye straight and therefore she needs to have surgery to fix this problem.  There's no immediate rush, says the doctor, though he would like it done sometime this year.  Dan got the pricing list so we'll begin to plan and save for this surgery to happen later this year.

 

Another prayer request has come up during this trip.  Based on some information we'd received from the pediatrician back in November, Dan went ahead and squeezed in a visit for Karunia with an orthopedic surgeon.  She has a very tight neck muscle which the doctor felt was a certain condition easily correctible.  The orthopedic surgeon does think she has this condition, a little bit, but doesn't feel it's anything major as she has great mobility in light of this.  It was discovered however that she has scoliosis.  We haven't yet gotten in to see a doctor as the earliest available appointment was for March 29th.  We'll see what he has to say.  At this point it doesn't seem things are too severe.  Her curvature is 13% and apparently they don't do anything other than observation unless it is at least 20%.  The only questionable element we see is that she'd been x-rayed for scoliosis in Aug. 2004 before we left for Portugal and it was determined she didn't have it, so is this rate of curvature in 2.5 years something to be concerned about?  We'll see and are trusting the Lord on this.

 

In short - praise God with us for the good results of Karunia's eye appointment and join with us in prayer as we prepare to see the doctor in late March regarding her scoliosis and for eye surgery later this year.

 

Thanks so much!

 

Blessings,

Robin

[Beens Prayer Partners] Feb. prayer letter

Dear friends,                                                                                         January 31st, 2007

 

What a crazy, busy month it has been!  We’ve enjoyed working to get back into the routine of life and ministry after our trip to S. Africa and are looking forward to the months ahead (though I’m not sure they’ll prove to be any less busy or crazy)! 

 

Dan started back to work with his one-on-one discipleship times with people at the center as well as beginning his 2 day per month class again.  Gito had one more lesson to finish in Netia on his own so he did that this past Wednesday and Dan will return out there in February.  Weekend classes were set to begin on the 13^th of January but only a couple people showed up and he and Shawn decided to postpone things until the 10/11^th of February as they feel most people had simply forgotten.  The first Sunday of each month is a city-wide church conference for the Christian churches so they can remind people on the 4^th and get set up for things that weekend.  Dan and Asher made a short trip to visit teammates who work in Lichinga, Mozambique (15+hrs away by car but only 50 minutes by plane); they have several development projects running and Dan wanted to check them out first hand as we, along with the Gardners, would like to implement teaching some of these things to the Mozambicans.  These things would definitely incorporate well into the new internship project which is to start in June of this year but we also see it being much broader in nature than simply those few in the internship program and it will make our ministry more holistic in nature.  We haven’t decided for certain what projects we’ll do but possibilities include raising soybeans, composting projects, raising rabbits possibly combined with a fish pond and garden, drilling wells, various types of fuel efficient pots and/or stoves, layer and/or broiler chickens, etc).    Dan enjoyed his trip very much (our Asher enjoyed playing with our teammates son, Asher as well) and we’re excited to see how things will develop in the months ahead.

 

I have resumed homeschooling with Karunia and it is going well.  Josiah is getting a bit of a break and I’m planning to re-adjust his schedule and curriculum to be more on his age level (and therefore hopefully more enjoyable for him).   His friends will start back to their school in February so we’ll commence with reading and math lessons at that point.  Of course spending time with Asher and Esperansa, household tasks, etc. also have kept me busy.

 

Other activities around our house this month included:  having leaky faucets replaced, dealing with electricity that was spiking super high (300+) and falling super low (90) for 3-4 days, putting awnings on some windows so the rain wouldn’t come inside our house, and having a dropped ceiling put in the 2 rooms which didn’t have it already (to stop the termite dust in the beams from falling on the floor, computer, and other furniture).

 

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for us over the next several days!  Asher & Esperansa both have colds and mild fevers.  Robin woke up this morning with her eye almost swollen shut and we’ve learned it’s a case of shingles in her eye; needless to say she’s not feeling the greatest.  The medicine to treat the shingles isn’t good for Esperansa so the slow process of weaning her from nursing has suddenly become cold turkey which we’re sure won’t make her happy.  Josiah is also, reluctantly, trying to stop sucking his thumb and isn’t too happy with that either.  Anyway, we could use your prayers.
• Dan and Karunia have not yet made the trip to S. Africa for her follow up eye visit but will be doing that on the 6^th through 9^th of February. They’ll fly to Maputo on Tuesday, ride with teammates over the border to Nelspruit, see the doctor on Thursday morning and travel back to Maputo that day to fly home on Friday.  We’ve had her take her patch off for the last couple days to see if the double vision occurs again.  Please pray that the patching would have helped so the double vision wouldn’t be a problem and that she wouldn’t need bi-focals.  Pray for their travel.
• Pray for the weekend classes which will start Feb. 10^th and 11^th, that attendance would be good and that those who begin the classes would be faithful to complete them. 
• Pray for the internship program which is slated to begin this June.  The two single, city candidates have already been chosen and we’re very excited about that.  Pray for wisdom as Shawn, Dan and the association pick the two rural families who will move to the city to study. 
• Patty Maddux, an intern will be arriving on Feb. 28th for a month long internship with GNFA.  Continue to pray for us as we try and lay out plans for her and pray for her preparation and travel to Mozambique.
• Asher has done perhaps a bit better this month in venting his frustration or anger, however it’s still an area in need of prayer.  Please pray for us as we try to teach and guide him in this area and that we would be wise in our discipline of the inappropriate actions.  Pray for him – that he would learn more appropriate ways to deal with his anger and frustration.
• It was discovered that one of the leading men on the association and among the churches here inappropriately kept (and shared) a large sum of “discovered” money and jewels.  To this point he is completely unrepentant but only sorry of the consequences he’s about to endure (charges will be administered on Friday if he hasn’t recouped the spent money).  Please pray his heart would be softened and that he might be genuinely repentant.

 

Praises:

• Praise God that the good rains have continued very regularly.
• Praise God that aside from our printer, nothing was damaged by the crazy electricity.
• Praise God that when our neighbors mud house fell apart one night during the rains (onto our house) that no one in their house was hurt (they were apparently using it for a storage area rather than living quarters) and that the only damage to our house was a broken fence and one of our new awnings falling down!
• Dan and Asher’s successful trip to Lichinga.
• Praise God for wonderful teammates in Maputo who are willing to drive Dan and Karunia across the border to S.A.

Thanks so much for your prayers and support.  Blessings on you all!

Robin & Dan