NTM

Please continue to pray for Jason.  He has been having serious pain in his muscles throughout his body.  The doctor isn’t sure what it is and is doing more tests to try to determine the diagnosis.  Jason has been very tired, and although he has been trying to continue life as normal, it isn’t working very well.  We know that he is in the Lord’s hands, and He will work it out in His own time.  Thanks for praying!

As our previous update said, Jason has been having serious pain in his arms, neck and shoulders.  The pain has spread to his legs and feet as well.  So, this morning we went to a specialist at Froedtert Hospital, the research hospital in Milwaukee.

After arriving about 30 min. late (snow is wonderful, isn’t it?), we had a full morning of poking and prodding, electrocuting, and drawing 11 vials of blood; the doctor’s conclusion was…and I quote…"I love a challenge."

The tests done this morning showed that Jason’s nerves are fine; the problem is his muscles. He probably has a metabolic muscle disorder of some sort. They are going to do a muscle biopsy, which should shed some light as to what he has. The doctor has only seen 3 cases similar to Jason’s in the 10 years that she’s been at Froedtert. They are not ruling out an auto-immune disease, either.

The doctor gave Jason some medicine that should help his symptoms while we are waiting for the biopsy and then the results of it, so hopefully that will give him some relief. We probably won’t know anything conclusive for at least 2 more months.

The semester has started, and already we are feeling back into the swing of things.  Jason is teaching Soteriology (the study of salvation) now and has started taking an Advanced Greek Grammar course at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in north Chicago.  This course is one of the best available, and Jason wants to take full advantage of the opportunity.  This class is all about linguistics, etc. that will definitely help him with his goal of training translators.  Hopefully, he will be able to put as much time into it as possible!  Pray that his physical challenges will not hinder him from doing so!

Please be in prayer for Jason.  He has been having quite a bit of pain in his arms and shoulders, and he is losing muscle strength.  We have been trying to find out what is causing it, but so far we don’t know what he has.  Thanks!

Pray that the students will grow in their walks with the Lord during their time here and that we, as a staff, will be good examples and encouragements to them.