7.Dec - The Fun Starts Again!

Life at times, can be like a merry-go-round that never truly stops - you can get on and get off, but it's constantly spinning and moving.  Well, our 'merry-go-round' life is spinning a lot faster now and it's making me a bit dizzy!  Not quite puke-dizzy, but gettin' there!  ;-)  As you know from a few posts ago (click here to read that post), the kidney donation process has been started up again.  The surgeons are willing to go ahead with the surgery, despite the heart defect / condition that they found with my heart and despite the potential of heart surgery for me in the next 15 years.

Now, they had originally told us that it looks like the transplant surgery would be in Jan or Feb 2012.  But just over a week ago, I got a call from the Renal Coordinator and she said the surgery date has been set for 7.Dec.  That's only 11 days from today!  Ahhh!  That date was totally out of the blue - we were really expecting Jan or Feb!  In any case, they have fast-tracked me to go through the last few exams and blood-tests and cross-match - so it's been a busy time!

So now it's just a matter of getting things organized here at home and at work / church before I go into surgery.  So we would really appreciate your prayers for us during this time leading up to the surgery, during the surgery itself and of course, the recovery afterwards.  For me the recipient, they said the recovery typically takes about 6 weeks before you are back to 'normal', but I have heard from people who have donated that it can take longer for the fatigue to fade, even up to several months!

So please pray!  Pray for all the tests still remaining - that they don't find anything else wrong with me!  ;-) (I know some of you could probably give the doctors a long list of what's wrong with me!)   Pray also for Becky and the Phamily as they will take up the slack for a while.  At lease it will be mostly over the summer here, so the kids are out of school - no taxiing them around all day long with their various activities!  So thanks for supporting us on this journey.

 

12km Run For Relief

On 26.Nov, I will be running 12 km to raise money to help the internally displaced peoples (IDP) of Burma.  Did you know that there are about a million people in Burma who are on the run from their own government's military?!  And it's been going on for 40 years!  There are thousands and thousands of KIDS on the run for their lives - many whose parents have been murdered by the Burmese military.  They and thousands of refugees are hiding in the jungles of Burma - trying to simply survive.  Some don't.

So I am CHOOSING to use my feet and to run for those who have NO CHOICE but to run!  Please support them by sponsoring me on this run.  Every $50 that I raise can provide food, clothes and emergency relief for a month, for 5 people who are on the run and in hiding in the jungles of Burma.  Please go to my sponsorship webpage (click this link - David's sponsorship page) and click on the 'donate here' button at the bottom to donate whatever you can - every little bit helps!

This Run For Relief is put on by Partners, an organization that I have had personal contact with through my home church - Calvary Chapel Murrieta.  In fact, my pastor and his wife are good friends with Steve and Oddny Gumaer, founders of Partners.  This organization assists by making people aware of the atrocious conditions in Burma and also with practical relief by sending in teams with emergency relief and supplies.  My pastor and several from our home church have also gone with these teams into the jungles of Burma to serve these IDP.  You can read more and watch videos and testimonies of IDP at the Partners NZ website (www.partnersworld.org.nz) or the main Partners website at (www.partnersworld.org).

So join me on this run - you might not be able to run 12 km, but you can still help by donating!   Or if you CAN run 12 km, then join me on the run - it's not too late to register!  Make a difference either way.

EDIT: there are 2 other options if you want to physically participate.  They have a 7km run and a 7km walk.  The 12km run is basically 2 loops of the 7km run, minus a bit at the start and finish.  So if you want to join me, sign up!  We can do the first loop together and then I can finish the 12km alone.

Jesus said - 'if you have done this for the least of My brothers, then you have done it for me'  (my loose paraphrase of Matt 25.40.  ;-)

PS - When you click on the 'donate' button, you will be taken to the Partners donation page and then to Paypal to donate (but you DON'T need a Paypal account to donate - you can use your debit or credit card).

[caption id="attachment_1225" align="alignleft" width="594" caption="Photo from Partners' Website"][/caption]

Shining and Sharing

I don't know if you all know this - I am sure you kiwis know this - but most of us foreigners don't (or didn't before coming to New Zealand)!  Prostitution and brothel operation and any type of sex work is legal in New Zealand as of 2003.  Here is a quote from the Wikipedia article (click link to go to that Wiki article) for this topic - "Prostitution (sex work), brothel keeping, living off the proceeds of someone else's prostitution and street solicitation are legal and regulated in New Zealand....These laws were changed by the Prostitution Reform Act, passed in June 2003. The decriminalisation of brothels, escort agencies and soliciting and substitution of a minimal regulatory model created worldwide interest; New Zealand prostitution laws are now some of the most liberal in the world."  Most of us would be saying 'wow' about now.  I did.

In any case, all that to say, that I just found out that there is a brothel less than 200m /635 ft (as the crow flies) from our house.  It is basically on the next street over from ours, and down a bit (see foto).  WOW, I did not know that.

Last week, I met with another pastor from the other side of the valley who ministers to girls working in brothels.  He and his wife are currently ministering to a few Asian girls near his church who are operating a brothel.  He shared with me that often, girls from Asia are brought to New Zealand under student visas, but they NEVER study.  They end up in the brothels!  And when their visas are up, they are either rotated out and fresh girls brought in or are 'discarded'.

Now, the 'legal' age for prostitution and 'sex work' is 18, but I have read that police have raided some brothels and found girls in their early teens 'working'.  Just imagine that - 13, 14, 15 year old girls!  How many of you have daughters that age?  Sickening, isn't it.

My heart is broken knowing that so close to where we live there are young ladies selling their bodies like this!  I have been told that the 'operator' of this particular brothel near us is a single woman with a teenage daughter (did you know anyone can get an Operators License to run a brothel?!?).  Whether the daughter is involved in the 'business' or not we don't know, but imagine what she sees and hears and experiences.  Imagine the home situation she grows up in!  Oh, my heart aches!

So pray with me - I am at a loss as to how to help and minister to them.  Do we just walk up and knock on the door?  Do I call first?  What do we do?  I jog right by the house every now and then - there is a footpath a couple houses down that is on my running route.  Do I stop by and see?  I will do nothing for now except pray, and invite you to pray with and for us.  Pray that God will open a natural door for us to minister to these ladies (and child).  Pray that God will begin even now to prepare them. Pray that there will be others who will go with me to minister - I definitely will not be doing anything alone.  We are all called to shine the light of Jesus and share the love and truth of God with all people - so pray that we will be shining and sharing!