jeff and pilar prustothailand

jeff, pilar, caleb, and dillon

P.O. Box 239

Chiang Mai 50000Thailand

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 ofgrowth for us in several areas of our lives. The Lordhas revealed many things to us through someunexpected experiences. Some of the experienceswere painful, and some left us in awe. I wish that Ihad enough paper and time to tell you about all ofthe great things that the Lord has done, but I willjust highlight the major events.

First and foremost was the arrival of Caleb Austin

and Dillon Spencer on August 8, 1998. They camealmost two months early, and though we knew thepossibility was high for premature twins, we werejust not prepared. Dillon spent six weeks in theNeonatal Intensive Care unit, and several times wewere not sure if God would spare our second-son.We learned firsthand about Respiratory DistressSyndrome, Ventricular Hemorrhage, bleeding in theeyes, life-threatening intestinal diseases, staffinfections, IV leaks (which created permanentscars), and much more. We are thankful for ourdear friend Karen Schmidt and Jeff's mom whocame out to help us in the middle of this difficulttime.

Through shed tears and countless prayers, the Lordtaught us more than we could have foreseen. Hetaught us about waiting and trusting in Him,especially concerning Dillon's health. He showedus how much He is there in the midst of our sorrowand pain, and also how deeply he loves and caresfor us. He showed us how the church can functionas His Body/His Hands joining us in prayer forCaleb and Dillon, lifting us before His throne, andencouraging us in our time of trials, not to mentionbringingus dinners for the first two weeks. Jeff andI both agree that this was the hardest thing that wehave ever had to endure in our lives so far.

By mid-September both twins were home, then itwas sleepless nights that seemed to go on forever.Obviously sleepless nights don't go on forever, butin the midst of sleep deprivation nothing is tooclear. At one point, Jeff and I would thank the Lordfor just an hour and a half of sleep. Caleb was thefirst to sleep through the night at three months.Then Jeff and I would take turns every other nightwaking up and feeding Dillon so that at least one ofus would get a fiill night's sleep. Throughout all ofthis, Jeff began studying Thai full-time again in

order to take the govemment language exam onDecember 6, which he passed with high scores.

On December 19, we received a call that several ofJeff's students were involved in a truck accident, andtwo of his students were killed. They were comingdown the mountain from doing an evangelisticChristmas trip when the brakes on their truck wentout. The accident happened outside of Pua, a smalltown in northeastern Thailand.

Both Jeff and I felt that he should go and help outour missionary friend who was up there with thestudents when it happened. Jeff and another frienddrove to Pua, six hours away, and began travelingbetween two different hospitals-te-visit with-theinjured students and help out in any way they could.It was a very sad thing to happen right beforeChristmas, but the Lord showered the families withgrace and mercy during what should have been ajoyful time of year.

In March, we attended the FCBC Ceil ChurchConference in Singapore. We had a really great time.It was great to experience the excitement that theFCBC Church has for church planting, and also toget away and see Singapore. It got us both veryexcited about the possibilities of church planting inChiang Mai. They have all kinds of great ideas forreaching out to our local community that were veryinspiring. We came away from that trip somewhatexhausted because the twins came with us, but also

energized from the worship and fellowship wereceived.

Jeff began teaching again at the Center for BiblicalStudies in May. He is teaching two classes thissemester (May-September). One class is "ChristianLiving" and the other is "English." He has reallyenjoyed 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 classof freshman.

Jeff is a wonderful teacher who really cares for hisstudents and wants to make sure that they reallygrasp what they are learning. For many of thestudents, the concepts that they learn aboutChristianity and Jesus Christ are all new, so it takessome time to think through these new thoughts. It is

a great experienceto watch these • —

students grow in i^ini — ' ^their faith and _ jprepare themselves

Caleb and Dillon « ^ JTare ayear old. They ^ ^have come such a

long way since their Fv \rough beginning, ^and the Lord has ^ ibeen with us all the

whole time. Jeff » v ^and Iwould like to Jr m \ 'Jjjjfthank all of you Wwho have prayedfaithfully for usover the past year.Your prayers are soimportant to us. There have been lots of ups anddowns, but we have confidence in our Lord that Hewill sustain us in all situations and will also teachus during those tough times. Some good friends ofours told us while we were going through thosehard times to not pray that God would just get usthrough this, but also ask what He can teach usthrough this. Those words have stuck with us andhelped us grow in our faith and to trust God.

We praise the Lord for a great year of spiritual andpersona! growth. I believe that it is through yearslike this one that we become more like the peopleGod wants us to be. Because of the things we wentthrough with the boys, we have been able to help"another family in Chiang Mai go through the birthof their premature twins.

One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 29:11-13 --'"For I know the plans I have foryou,' declares the

Left The boys at five weeks.

Above: Ths boys at ten months.

Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you,plans to giveyou hope and a future. Then you willcall upon me and come and pray to me, and I willlisten to you. You willseek me and find me whenyou seek me with all your heart.How wonderful toknow that God has plans for us and when we cometo God He listens!

1 I

Pilar Prus

P-S. One year later, the boys are thriving, happy, -dlthy, playful babies. THE LORD IS GREAT AND

WORTHY TO BE PRAISED!

nio-oc6z.t Ml 3tiiaxon:>i

ituixoaoci

S33MHS NOISSIM

Xd3Q TWHOiiaa

{<U 'siiodcucrpul

iL6Z ON

aivd

aSBisod s n

Sjo lijojduoivj

pd^sanbay aojAjas UJOiay

OOlZ-SlS-llZ

0209-0SS9fr Ni 'SnOdVNVIQNI020 LOS XOa "O'd

nvNoiivNuaiNi dwo

emd jeijd pue^f

Pru^Prayer Update

On Saturday, September 11, Pilar was taken to the hospital in ChiangMai for emergency surgery. She had been having abdominal pain, andthe doctors felt that immediate surgery was necessary.

The surgery was quite extensive with correction of a bowel problem, aswell as removal of her gallbladder and appendix. Pilar will remain inthe hospital for a few days, but sheIs doing quite well.

Please keep the Pruses in prayer as Pilar recovers from surgery, and asthey determine what special measures are needed for care of the boysduring her recovery.

i

Naomi Kouns

Director of Church Development and Communication 9/14/99

CMF International, P.O. Box 501020, Indianapolis, IN 46250-6020Phone: 317-578-2700, E-mail: [email protected]

-n-oo