Dear Family & Friends,
Now that we have settled back into our home in Brazil after our month of being "on the go" while in the States, we want to thank you once again for your faithful prayers and support on our behalf. It was wonderful to see many of you this summer, though it was impossible to see all of you! We travelled over 2,000 miles in the Mid-west, thanks to a special friend who gave us the keys to her car.
After we arrived in Kansas on June 22nd, we left the next day for Omaha, Nebraska to attend the wedding of our nephew Andy Friesen and Julie Baumert. The wedding was followed by a Friesen family reunion at Marilyn's parents' home in Marion, Kansas with all of Marilyn's sibblings present. Its was a blessing to just spend time together, but most importantly, to share our joys and struggles of the past year along with prayer requests.
For the next three weekends, we travelled to Oklahoma to visit our three supporting M.B. churches in Corn, Enid and Edmond, reporting on our work at PACA. During the week days, we spent time in Kansas with Marilyn's parents and in Nebraska with our daughter Jennifer, husband Jason, and 3 children. We also had a Fast family reunion in Weatherford, Oklahoma with Ken's brothers and families.
On July 2nd on our way back to Kansas from Corn, we visited Dad Fast and his wife Joellen for a few hours in Okeene and encouraged Joellen to drive Dad to Enid for testing. After we arrived in Kansas that evening, we found out that Dad Fast had had a stroke in the car on the way to Enid and was hospitalized there. We also learned that later that same day, Joellen had blacked-out while driving, was hit by a pickup when she had crossed the median, and was also admitted to the same hospital where Dad Fast was staying. From then on, whenever we travelled to Oklahoma, we stopped by to visit both Dad and Joellen in the hospital before leaving the States.
On Saturday, July 21st, we flew to Miami to see our son David and to meet his girl friend Lindsay on our way back to Brazil. While we were in Miami, we received word that Dad Fast had passed away the next day, on Sunday, July 22nd. We knew that we would not be able to return to Brazil for weeks if we changed our flights, so Ken made the difficult decision to continue on to Brazil, though he was sad to miss his father's funeral. God gave Dad Fast 89 years of life, and we feel blessed that we were able to visit with him right before his stroke, and also visit him five different times while he was in the hospital. When we said our "good-byes" that last time at the hospital, we knew in our hearts that it would probably be the last time to see him on earth.
The new school year at PACA began August 1st with a new superintendent, Robin Rugg, and with a new pre-school program. So, Ken is now teaching 3 & 4 year olds in P.E. class in addition to his regular K-12 P.E. classes. He's also keeping busy with his athletic director responsibilites by attending league & tournament organizational meetings as well as supervising PACA's first semester sports teams--4 basketball and 4 soccer teams. Ken recently completed the second of his third on-line graduate courses that he needs to renew his Kansas teaching certificate, and will begin the third one shortly. Besides teaching and attending all the league games that PACA participates in, Ken magages to squeeze into his weekly schedule a men's Bible Study, an indoor soccer outreach, and a mens' accountibility meeting, not to mention monthly deacons meetings. In a couple of weeks, teaching Sunday school also will be a regular weekly ministry for both of us.
Because we were on the road so much this summer, Marilyn was unable to see a doctor in the States regarding her tendonitis, though she did talk with a physical therapist about doing exercises. Please keep praying for her health. Marilyn came back to a beautiful and expanded nursery classroom at church, and she, as well as her toddlers are enjoying the extra space. Although Marilyn had planned to start cheerleading as soon as the new school year resumed, there were not enough girls ready to commit themselves to cheerleading this semester, and more girls were interested for 2nd semester. So, she plans to choose a squad, Lord willing, in November to prepare for cheering 2nd semester. Now that Marilyn has more time available at present, she is praying about visiting our second daughter Laurie in Alaska for 2-3 weeks, as she is expecting their 3rd child the first week of September. We have enough air-miles for Marilyn to get free passage to Dallas and back, so she will only need to pay the domestic fare. Please join Marilyn in prayer that God will open the door for her to travel, if it's His will, and protect her as she travels alone.
May God bless you as you have so faithfully blessed us!
Love in Christ,
Ken & Marilyn
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