Our First Official "Furlough Meeting"

We are praising the Lord for the way that He continues to use John in His service. This past Sunday morning, he "spoke" via telephone to our friends at Faith Baptist Church in Perry, OH. The Lord also gave us the opportunity today to do our first official "furlough meeting" since John's incident in Brazil on July 3rd. Yes, we got up a little early (good thing we had an extra hour of sleep last night!!) and headed over to Omaha, NE where we had a wonderful time with Pastor and Mrs. Knudson and friends at Park Lane Baptist Church. It made a pretty big day for John, but he did amazingly well, and we are thankful that we are back at home in Ankeny safe and sound. Thank you, dear ones for your prayers for us. Never did we imagine that John would be able to continue on with this ministry so soon...once again...a DIRECT answer to your prayers.

We are thankful that the Lord has enabled us to be connected via SKYPE to Pastor Lelo in Brazil. He is the pastor that is "heading up" the work down there, and we praise God that John has been able to speak with him regarding the work and various situations that have come up. It is pretty weird to hear them talking about "gearing up" for summer activities which include camps, VBS's...etc. With the temperatures dropping here in Iowa, it is hard for us to even think about this season coming on (although it is nice to at least "dream!"), but we are praying that many would be reached with the Gospel of Christ during this time.

John's mother is doing well. She went to the doctor this past week and found out that her medicine needed to be increased, and that her calcium count was a little low. However, that has not stopped her activities...this weekend, her sister and she headed up to Wisconsin to visit some family members that they had not seen for a long time. The Lord willing, she will be back with us tomorrow sometime. Continue to pray for "Mom's" health situation and also thank the Lord for allowing her to be with us during this time.

It will also be our pleasure to receive the Dan Anderson family here in our home tomorrow evening. Many of you remember that it was Dan who spent long hours with John in the hospital in Brazil after the shooting, and we are forever grateful to him for all that he did for John and also for our family.

It looks as if Josh will be able to begin studying at the Iowa School for the Blind at least in January. The Lord willing, he will spend six months there training and then will be able to start his college education in the fall of next year. Tomorrow, he should be getting his pair of shoes that have the right shoe "built up" 7/8 inch. Because of the hip surgery he had, one leg is now shorter than the other (this is not all that uncommon, really), so it will be necessary for him to always have these. We are thankful that he is now walking without a cane, too! Continue to remember Josh in prayer.

Parent-Teacher conferences were held this past week, so it was great to be able to meet most of the kids' teachers. For the most part, we got good reports, and we truly thank the Lord that Jerrod, Jonna, and Jeanne are adapting pretty well to life in the Ankeny Public School system. It was our pleasure to meet several teachers who were Christians, and seemed to have a real personal interest in the kids. Thank you for your prayers, and once again, we ask that you pray for our "teenagers."

We appreciate you, Prayer Team. Where would we be without you?!!

Love,
John and Bev Leonard