Friday, September 21, 2018

AL & MICKEY WILLIAMS: PRAYER & PRAISE BULLETIN, SEPTEMBER 2018

PRAISE ITEMS:
1. FAMILY – We praise God for our family. We don’t get to see them often enough, so when we DO get together, the time is precious to us. Because Justin lives several hours away, it was special having him visit us on August 19 and even “jam” a bit with his grandpa Shertzer, too.

On September 3, when my sister Margie and I visited with Dad, we had a special treat: James, one of the residents at Dad’s retirement home, joined us for a game of Scrabble. So what’s so special about that? James is 100 years old!

On September 8, one of my longtime wishes came true – I got to have one-on-one time with Jeremy’s
daughter, Everlee (9 years old). We had fun talking, making things out of Playdough, and playing with a paper doll house. On the evening of September 18, Justin was riding his motorcycle on a highway in western PA when a deer ran out in front of him. He hit the deer, but miraculously managed to keep the cycle on both wheels! We praise God for His protection over Justin.

2. WORKING VIA THE INTERNET - The past several weeks have been quite full. I’m thankful for good internet service and the ability to interact with our many colleagues across Asia. As you will read in our Prayer Items, I have been depending on this service a great deal. Last week I attended the Risk Management Network meetings. In addition to the general topics, I was able to discuss with others the increasing risk issues in some Asian countries and gain information from those who are dealing with similar issues. This was very helpful. Next week is the next round of risk assessment and contingency planning meetings for Wycliffe USA and a new information distribution initiative. I will be at home in Pennsylvania while most of the team is gathered in Orlando for those meetings. I’ll be joining them via internet video conferencing for the three days of meetings. I’m thankful to be able to participate in these discussions.

PRAYER ITEMS:
1. TYPHOON MANGKHUT – As hurricane Florence battered North Carolina on September 14, typhoon Mangkhut was causing a path of destruction across the northern Philippines. Pray that God would use these disasters to draw people to Himself.

2. MICKEY’S HEALTH – On August 27, I saw the “electrical” cardiologist. The good news is he didn’t feel the results of my 7-day heart monitor were abnormal. The bad news is we still don’t know why I sometimes get short of breath with little exertion. I’m watching my blood pressure to see if there’s a correlation. Pray we can get this figured out. In the meantime, rejoice with us in the news that the urologist found no signs of bladder cancer during my check-up on September 7! My next follow-up is in March 2019.

3. ASSISTING COLLEAGUES IN CRISIS – Some of our colleagues serve in countries that are not favorable to the Gospel. One such country’s government has recently taken an aggressive stance. Al has been providing council to our colleagues who serve there. Pray for wisdom for him and our colleagues. And pray for God’s protection and endurance for them in the face of opposition.

4. AL’S TRIP TO THAILAND IN OCTOBER – Soon I’ll be back in the air on my way to Bangkok, Thailand to join the security team watching over a gathering of about 250 people at a leaders’ conference. There are always interesting opportunities to both assist in caring for the conference participants and often to join in their conversations. I greatly appreciate your prayers for safety in travel and a problem-free conference.

5. OUR TRIP TO MICHIGAN IN OCTOBER – One of our supporting churches near Detroit is having their annual missions conference in late October and asked us to be part of it. Pray for us as we prepare for the meetings and as we travel there and back.

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