Waffle-y Good News

Calling All Prayer Warriors

Dear Friends,

One of the hardest things for us about being missionaries abroad is having to be away from our families. This is especially the case in a crisis.

We regularly pray for those in our families who don't walk with the Lord, or who have wandered from Him. Some of those we pray for the most are those who are young and whose faith, even if it has the chance to begin to flower, is often pulled at by the cares and concerns of this world.

One of these we pray for often is Carrie's cousin Ethan.

Ethan is 18, a senior in high school. Last Friday, after his last scheduled day of classes and exams, he invited many friends over to a pool party. He was going to dive into the pool, but at the last moment his foot slipped and, instead of taking a normal dive, entered the water awkwardly and at the wrong angle. His hit his head on the bottom, shattering a neck vertebra and severing part of the spinal cord, which left him paralyzed at the bottom of the pool. After he didn't come up for some time, his girlfriend dove in and pulled his head above water. He couldn't feel anything. They quickly called 911, and he was life-flighted to one of Pittsburgh's finest hospitals.

When he arrived at the hospital, the doctors were hopeful that they would be able to return use to his arms and hands, but upon surgery discovered that the damage was far more extensive than they had hoped. Only a miracle could restore movement in his upper torso now. Fortunately for us, we serve a God of miracles!

Ethan's prognosis looks very grim: he has already come to terms with never walking again. But if he could gain use of his hands and arms again he can still become a pharmacist, which has been his dream for years now. We are rallying all of our prayer supporters to EARNESTLY PRAY for the following:

1. Ethan would remain strong through all of this and come to the Lord in his time of need.

2. That the spinal cord would stop bleeding internally. As of now, there is nothing more the doctors can do to stop it.

3. That we would see a miracle that would amaze doctors and unbelievers alike--that he would at least gain feeling and use of his arms and hands and proceed to lead a "normal" life. And may God be given all the glory.

We are already thankful to hear that Ethan's lungs work on their own, so he should not need a respirator.

We are so grateful that God chose to spare Ethan's life, and we know that He has an eternal purpose in this, as hard as it is to accept. May God's love and grace surround Ethan and his family, as well as his girlfriend and classmates who will be graduating this week. And may many come to know Him in this tragedy.

Thank you for your constant prayers and support. It's times like these that we are so grateful to have you on our side! "The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective."--James 5:16

A Day to Celebrate!

Today is a day we are choosing to celebrate. We have several reasons for doing so:

--First, today is Andrew’s four-month birthday! He has grown a lot, quite literally. We took him for his checkup earlier today and he has grown about five inches and doubled in weight since his birth. He continues to bring us joy each new day. We rejoice in God’s continued creation in Andrew and how He has touched our lives, and others, through this precious baby.

--Second, today we celebrate the Latino fellowship’s (which we call Comunidad Cristiana Nueva Esperanza: “New Hope Christian Community”) first anniversary. This will involve a presentation
of pictures taken over the past year, and afterward a short message of love and hope that we share through Christ. Then, a party, complete with many special foods from a variety of Latin American
countries. We’ve invited the group to use this as a chance to reach out to others who might want to belong to the group but who might be shy about coming to a Bible study.

--Third, it’s Luis’s birthday. Luis is a classmate of Caty’s in her Dutch class, a recent arrival from Chile. He is one of those we hope to be able to include in the group, but who hasn’t taken up the invitation yet. But last week, he helped us to arrange our sound system in the ministry center (which we’re now using full-time for church services for the English-speaking group as well). We had to go to Media Markt (Europe’s answer to Best Buy and the Apple store mixed into one) to get some adaptors, and in a store giveaway promotion that day, he and Richard from Paraguay, who was also helping us out, both won 50 Euros worth of gift cards. It was an opportunity to share a lesson about how God sometimes chooses to reward us for our efforts for Him. We hope that Luis, a talented musician, will consider joining the group soon.

--Finally, on a Pittsburgh-related note, Steelers receiver Hines Ward won on “Dancing with the Stars,” and today is the twentieth anniversary of the Penguins’ first Stanley Cup win, which we remember fondly. (No hate mail from Buffalo Bills fans or others, please. You know who you are.)

Thank you for praying for us and celebrating with us! We pray that you may celebrate God’s love and mercy this day as well.

In Christ,

Michael and Carrie (Caty) Hamley

Happy Mother's Day!

Dear Friends,

We would like to wish all mothers out there, and especially our own, a very happy and blessed Mother's Day. This is a special one for us, because it's Carrie's first Mother's Day as a mother.

To celebrate it, Andrew and I (Michael) had a little extra work to do, but it was a lot of fun for us. As many of you know, Carrie is a big fan of aquarium fish. One of the ways we have built relationships with some of the Europeans we've been sent to minister to, is through the aquarium fish hobby. In Spain, our favorite fish shopkeeper, a Moroccan man, and several secular Spaniards heard the Gospel of Christ through the relationships we'd built by being a presence in their community. We have continued building relationships in this way since moving to Belgium. Which brings us to our favorite fish shopkeepers here in Oostende, Cedric and Doreen.

Cedric and Doreen have gotten to know us through our regular visits to their beautiful and well-kept store, which is a block away from our ministry center here in town and not far off the route we travel to and from language school. They have also gotten to know Andrew, at first as Carrie's "belly dweller" preparing to emerge, and later as a real, live baby. At first, he mostly slept when we went to their store, but the last few visits he has been awake and usually quite smiley, and they have fallen in love with him, just like most people we meet do.

So earlier today, we visited Cedric and Doreen's store and Andrew became probably their youngest customer ever, picking out just the fish for mommy as a Mother's Day present (a six-line wrasse, if you’re interested). He even paid for it himself!

 

Please pray for us and our continued witness to Cedric and Doreen, and many others like them.  And please pray for Andrew, as he continues to be a big part of our lives and work here as missionaries.  Thank you!

In Christ,

Michael and Carrie (Caty) and Andrew