The Past 48 hours

As I write this blog update I do it with a very heavy heart.  The past 48 hours has been such a roller coaster of emotions for us.  Monday morning I went in for my immunotherapy, it was at that time we learned that our friend Pastor Larry Anderson, who was staying in our apartment in Kosovo, filling in for Mark for three weeks was not filling well.  Mark advised Lirak to call our doctor/American missionary friend in Kosovo, Lirak was advised to get Pastor Larry to the hospital.  He had an  intestinal infection and  was very dehydrated.  He was given an IV and sent home.  Thankfully Lirak took him back to his apartment where both him and his wife could take care of him.  However soon after he had to be taken back to the hospital because he was having a hard time breathing.   Before long his  kidneys started shutting down and his lungs weren't doing well.  At one point he did red line for 24 minutes and they were able to resistant him however he went home to be with the Lord yesterday morning around 10:30 am.

Pastor Larry has been my friend for over 16 years. I first met him when he came on an outreach to Moscow in 1997. Then his church started to support the work in Omsk, where I was serving and he would go out there to minister. Because he picked up the church in Omsk to support, him and is wife kinda adopted me as a missionary so every time I would come to CA on furlough I would spend time with him and his family. Because Mark and I got married he started to take an interest in our work in Kosovo and wanted to help us. He was in Kosovo last June and did a marriage retreat for our church.

Mark and I are battling with feelings of feeling responsible  for this.   He was our guest in our home.  We love our guests, we want to serve our guests.  We feel like the unimaginable just happened to one of guests, our friend, and his family. Thinking if he wouldn't of been in Kosovo this wouldn't of happened.  However we try not to go there with those thoughts. We just hurt!  We hurt really bad for what happened and we hurt for his family.  Both Mark and I have shed ALOT of tears over the past 48 hours.   Mark is trying to do everything he can to help with the details of getting his body back to the US. Mark did consider going back to Kosovo for a week. However the body of Christ there in Kosovo is doing an amazing job taking care of all the things that need to be done to get Larry back to his family.

Although we are hurting for the family.  We are rejoicing for Larry.  He is with Jesus.  We received word about his last message that he preached on Sunday from the pulpit at Calvary Chapel Prishtina, it was taken from Psalm 92. One of the members of our church posted this on fb about his last message:  "Late pastor Larry mentioned in his sermon pastor Chuck Smith who was ministering till the end of his life...more precisely, pastor Chuck preached his last sermon two days before he met the Lord. On that very moment nobody who was worshiping at CC Prishtina knew what would happen in two days...Now, if I reflect upon the last Sunday's message I am simply to say left with no words..."  We did hear from another member for the church that Pastor Larry said he wanted to go that way as well and he did.  As I have been reading posts from those who love Pastor Larry, it is repeated over and over again how the Lord used this mighty man of God.  Larry had a heart for missions and he died doing what he loved.  Rest in Peace Pastor Larry!  We love you.  Jeri and family as well as friends of pastor Larry, words cannot describe how Mark and I feel about this situation.  We are so, so sorry.  We hurt for you!  We love you and are praying for you.  

If anyone reading this post feels let to help out the family in getting Pastor Larry's body back to the US you can do so  here:  http://www.gofundme.com/PrLarryAnderson

It has been AMAZING!!

Wow, it has hard to believe that we have only been in the US for two weeks, so much has happened.  We are currently staying with Mark's sister and her family.  Our first Friday back we went to watch my nephew play baseball, followed by that we went out for pizza with my sister, her husband and Mark's sister as well.  We had a great time catching up. 

Our first Sunday fellowshipping at Calvary San Ramon was amazing for me.   Two things happened to me that had me praising the Lord when I left.  One, when I left Kosovo I had a silent prayer request.  I was praying that God would give me the opportunity to attend a ladies retreat.  Before the service got started the pastor briefly mentioned something about a ladies get away.  After the service I inquired about it and it turns out that the ladies from the church were going to attend a retreat hosted by Calvary Chapel Laguna Creek in the Santa Cruz mountain.  My friend Sherri Youngward was leading worship and I was invited to come along with the ladies. 

The second amazing thing that happened at church that day was a man came up to us and said I would like to know if the cancer drugs you are currently on are the drug that my company makes.  We told him the drugs that I am on and it turns out that his company does make them.  He went on to say that one of the drugs I am currently taking is known in cancer industry as the "miracle" cancer drug.  He also told us that if any thing ever happens with our insurance and them not covering me that he could get me the drugs for free.  How amazing is that!  We met him for dinner and he went on to tell me how good the success rate is of the treatment I am on. 

Last week we got in some good baseball, we went to my nephew's high school baseball game and the Lord blessed us with tickets to go see the Angel's play the A's.  The Angel's lost but it was still fun to get out to the game.  While I was at the ladies retreat Mark took Isabella to see the Angel's play the Giants.  They had a fun daddy/Isabella date.

This past weekend I attended the ladies retreat.  I had an AMAZING time!  The theme of the retreat was "Upon the Waters" Gina Chaffin was the speaker.   The subject really hit home for me as Gina talked a lot about Jesus walking with us during the storms of life.  I felt like the messages she shared pertained to me and what I went through last year.  Saturday evening there were a group of ladies on a panel answering questions.  One lady on the panel shared a little bit of her story on how her son was diagnosed with stage four cancer.  As she was sharing the Lord was showing me that I needed to talk with this lady before the retreat was over. I felt that I needed to tell her, that her son loves her and that he fought cancer for her. When she shared, she did not share the outcome of his situation.  However she did tell me that he is now tumor free, he had tumors all over his body.   That Saturday evening after the session was over I was too tired to talk.  On Sunday the Lord gave me an opportunity to speak with her.  We both had a good heart to heart talk and we both shed tears.  It was good for me to talk with her to understand what my mom may have gone through as I was battling cancer and I think the talk was good for my new friend as well, I think it helped her to have a better understanding of some of the things her son went through.

We ended our weekend by visiting some good friends from Mark's College and career days at Calvary Costa Mesa.  We had an amazing Mexican meal.  Mark also had the opportunity to teach on Sunday at Calvary Chapel San Ramon.

This Saturday I will be attending a one day ladies conference at Calvary the Rock in Santa Rosa.  I am looking forward to hearing  Gisela Yohannan and Inga-Lill Guzik speak.

Tomorrow we will be taking Isabella to the  Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland.  We are looking forward to a fun day studying space. 

Monday I will be having my immunotherapy treatment.   Please be in prayer for that.