2006 Continues to Fill Up

Just a quick up-date... Thank you so much for your prayers... John continues to do well health-wise, and we are so thankful. He has been asked to do a Bible study at the D.O.T. in Ames, and he is excited. We are not sure of the starting date, but are thankful to the Lord for this opportunity--especially since some who study may not be believers--a great chance to reach out to the unsaved. Our schedule for 2006 continues to fill up, and we praise God that our furlough plans will be able to continue. We are anxious to visit many of our supporting churches in the up-coming days. This Friday evening, we have invited "Heyder," a Brazilian young man who has been attending our church (Saylorville Baptist), and his family over for dessert. They are believers, but we want to try to have fellowship with them to encourage them in their walk with the Lord. We heard that his wife is missing Brazil, so we will do our best to speak Portuguese the entire evening, plus serve them Brazilian coffee (we have a good supply!...etc.) We remember how it is to be in a "foreign" country and be missing our homeland. Please pray with us that we will be a blessing and encouragement to them.

Josh is doing well--got a good report from the doctor for both his hip and also his tumor. We were especially encouraged by the MRI for his tumor, since we have been doing the tests every 4 months and now they are saying we can wait until June (six months). The doctor said that there is a good chance that the tumor will not grow back at all. We were thrilled to hear this, since no one had ever said that to us before. Because of his hip surgery, Josh was not able to stay at the school of the Blind the beginning of this month as planned, but is busy learning braille here at home, which will "hurry up" his course there. A lady comes out from the school once a week to teach him. It looks as if he will only be able to attend FBBC in January, 2007 rather than August of this year, though. Continue to remember Josh in prayer.

Jerrod, Jonna, and Jeanne are back "in the grind" at school. Jerrod will begin to take the kids to school tomorrow since he now has his official license. He is very happy, and John and I are pretty nervous about the whole thing. It will help us out having him drive, since he can run errands for us...etc., but we have stressed to him the importance of driving carefully. He is saying that he is going out tomorrow to look for a job, so please pray with us for Jerrod and especially for his and the girls' safety. Josiah, our nephew, just left to go back to FBBC tonight since his classes begin tomorrow morning. We have enjoyed having him here during his Christmas break.

Thank you for lifting us up before the Lord!

With grateful hearts,
John and Bev Leonard