We continue to be amazed at God's provision. In the same way (as I have translated repeatedly in Luke's Gospel) that the people "marveled" at what Jesus did, Pam and I continue to "marvel" at God's provision.
Matthew and I are at the KC airport preparing to fly to San Jose, California (via Atlanta of all things since they changed our flights due, presumably, to not having enough passengers going directly from KC). We'll be in the Bay Area in CA through Thursday. We plan to meet with a new surgeon at Stanford Monday morning to get a second opinion from him about Matthew's condition and his advice on the best surgical treatment, specifically to find out if Matthew is a candidate for nerve reimplantation surgery. On Wednesday, we will go to UCSF (San Francisco), so Matthew can have a magnetic resonance neurography (MRN). This highly specialized imaging will give the new surgeon at UCSF the information she needs to provide us with a second opinion on the best surgical treatment for Matthew's condition.
God has provided to put this puzzle together so we can visit both UCSF and Stanford on this one trip. He has provided through a friend who bought the airline tickets for us using his frequent flyer miles. He is providing through another friend in California who, since they could not host us due to the COVID-19 lockdown, paid for a hotel for us to stay in and will be paying for a rental car as well.
In KC, God is providing through friends for our furniture needs for the townhouse we will be renting. Friends from our home church became executors of a house full of furniture (!), and they are giving us a ton of it. Stephen's parents and others from our home church are graciously providing other furniture needs we have. Additionally, the gracious hosts of the house where Matthew and I are staying have said we can use the house in May as long as we need it, which will make the transition to the townhouse easier and give a place for Pam and the kids to be with us when they first arrive as we set up the townhouse.
Lord willing, Matthew and I will be able to begin using the townhouse April 30 and will start the process of getting furniture moved in. We don't yet know when Pam and the kids will come back to KC as that depends on packing the house and the shelter-in-place rules in Croatia.
So praise God with us for these fantastic provisions. And also please pray for the following needs:
1) For a good appointment at Stanford, for all the medical records from UCSF to reach them, and for much wisdom for the doctors and us in deciding about surgical treatment for Matthew.
2) For successful MRN imaging at UCSF and much insight for the doctors and us as they also give us their second opinions.
3) Logistics for getting the furniture moved and the townhouse set up in KC.
4) Strength and wisdom for Pamala in Slavonski Brod, Croatia, packing up our belongings there. Stamina for long hours of packing and being a single parent, and much wisdom to know what we should move to KC and what we should give away and to whom.
5) For all the logistics (which are hampered by COVID-19 lockdown) to work out so Pam can give away the things we are not bringing back to KC, as well as cancel the utilities, etc. which is complicated due to my not being present in country to do that.
6) Wisdom and logistics for Pam and travel permission for the moving company to pick up our belongings for shipment by sea to the States.
7) For the 20 of us in Croatia, Serbia, and the US translating and checking the translations in the 5 Roma languages. We are currently focusing on Luke 20, on the incident when Jesus was questioned about paying taxes to Caesar. Please pray for wisdom in the myriad language decisions, for God's wisdom and empowerment to translate well, and all for His glory.
8) For wisdom for our colleagues and us to work out the best workflow and division of labor of how to handle the various administrative, bookkeeping, and accounting aspects of the Bible translation work, which is more complicated when I am not living in Croatia.
9) For what to do with our car in Croatia, for wisdom in stewarding it, and that it would be a blessing to others in Croatia while we are away.
Gratefully,
Todd
