jeff and pilar prus tothailand jeff, pilar, caleb, and dillon P.O. Box 239 Chiang Mai 50000 Thailand Phone: 011-66-53-276-781 E-mail: [email protected] CMF INTERNATIONAL Prayer Newsletter August 1999 Dear Friends, The past twelve months have been a period of growth for us in several areas of our lives. The Lord has revealed many things to us through some unexpected experiences. Some of the experiences were painful, and some left us in awe. I wish that I had enough paper and time to tell you about all of the great things that the Lord has done, but I will just highlight the major events. First and foremost was the arrival of Caleb Austin and Dillon Spencer on August 8, 1998. They came almost two months early, and though we knew the possibility was high for premature twins, we were just not prepared. Dillon spent six weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care unit, and several times we were not sure if God would spare our second-son. We learned firsthand about Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Ventricular Hemorrhage, bleeding in the eyes, life-threatening intestinal diseases, staff infections, IV leaks (which created permanent scars), and much more. We are thankful for our dear friend Karen Schmidt and Jeff's mom who came out to help us in the middle of this difficult time. Through shed tears and countless prayers, the Lord taught us more than we could have foreseen. He taught us about waiting and trusting in Him, especiallyconcerning Dillon's health. He showed us how much He is there in the midst of our sorrow and pain, and also how deeply he loves and cares for us. He showed us how the church can function as His Body/His Hands joining us in prayer for Caleb and Dillon, lifting us before His throne, and encouraging us in our time of trials, not to mention bringingus dinners for the first two weeks. Jeff and I both agree that this was the hardest thing that we have ever had to endure in our lives so far. By mid-September both twins were home, then it was sleepless nights that seemed to go on forever. Obviously sleepless nights don't go on forever, but in the midst of sleep deprivation nothing is too clear. At one point, Jeff and I would thank the Lord for just an hour and a half of sleep. Caleb was the first to sleep through the night at three months. Then Jeff and I would take turns every other night waking up and feeding Dillon so that at least one of us would get a fiill night's sleep. Throughout all of this, Jeff began studying Thai full-time again in order to take the govemment language exam on December 6, which he passed with high scores. On December 19, we received a call that several of Jeff's students were involved in a truck accident, and two of his students were killed. They were coming down the mountain from doing an evangelistic Christmas trip when the brakes on their truck went out. The accident happened outside of Pua, a small town in northeastern Thailand. Both Jeff and I felt that he should go and help out our missionary friend who was up there with the students when it happened. Jeff and another friend drove to Pua, six hours away, and began traveling between two different hospitals-te-visit with-the injured students and help out in any way they could. It was a very sad thing to happen right before Christmas, but the Lord showered the families with grace and mercy during what should have been a joyful time of year. In March, we attended the FCBC Ceil Church Conference in Singapore. We had a really great time. It was great to experience the excitement that the FCBC Church has for church planting, and also to get away and see Singapore. It got us both very excited about the possibilities of church planting in Chiang Mai. They have all kinds of great ideas for reaching out to our local community that were very inspiring. We came away from that trip somewhat exhausted because the twins came with us, but also energized from the worship and fellowship we received. Jeff began teaching again at the Center for Biblical Studies in May. He is teaching two classes this semester (May-September). One class is "Christian Living" and the other is "English." He has really enjoyed teaching this semester. He taught the "Christian Living" class last year to the freshman, and this year he gets to teach it again to a new class of freshman. Jeff is a wonderful teacher who really cares for his students and wants to make sure that they really grasp what they are learning. For many of the students, the concepts that they learn about Christianity and Jesus Christ are all new, so it takes some time to think through these new thoughts. It is