April Prayer Letter From David DeFord

Dear Praying Partners First quarter 2013

With gratefulness in our hearts we write at the close of the first quarter of the year. We are grateful for the Lord’s blessing and hand

of guidance and undeniable intervening in our lives and ministry. There is so much to relate at this ;me it is difficult to know where

to begin. This is a feeble a=empt at capturing the majority of what we have experienced recently.

While we have been slowly working at remodeling and upda;ng our kitchen David had rou;ne lab work done. Our doctor noted he

was showing signs of anemia. A colonoscopy was ordered and aAer reviewing the results it was determined he had a 4 cm mass

located in the ileo cecal sec;on of his bowel. Pathology reports have determined it to be benign. It does need to be surgically removed

however. This is scheduled for April 3. We realize this le=er will not reach some of you un;l aAer the surgery, but we felt it

important to get a le=er out now. We will be sure to follow up recovery news and thank you in advance of prayers in David’s behalf.

February 10 Becky woke up to prepare breakfast with severe pain in her leA leg. Throughout the following 7 weeks, it was determined

through an MRI that she had a ruptured disc in the lower lumbar region and it was pressing against the scia;c nerve. Late in

March she received an epidural which has relieved the pain substan;ally. It’s good that we rotate through these ’bumps in the road’

at separate ;mes. That is definitely the Lord’s hand in our life and ministry.

Dr. Glen and Mary Jaspers were in the West ministering in several of our Indian churches. They are such a blessing and encouragement

to everyone and we all look forward to having them among the IBIMI mission family. They are able to communicate needs of

the various works throughout their travels and ministering. It is not uncommon to see Dr. Glen involving himself in some of the

physical work of building and planning. We thank the Lord for their friendship and fellowship.

The ladies at Ferguson Memorial have completed crochet and kniFng mee;ngs and look forward to beginning

sewing. Work schedules conflict many ;mes with mee;ngs, but we have been able to work

around that some;mes small in number but enjoying the ;me spent with each other nonetheless. We are

thankful to our friends at Fairbanks Bap;st Church for their giAs of machines and supplies for a very prac-

;cal side of ministering and teaching.

We have a new door of opportunity for neighborhood ministry on our street. A neighborhood block

watch is forming and we’ve been able to be in contact with several of our close neighbors. We would ask

that you pray for next door neighbors Jim and Nancy. Most importantly for their salva;on and secondly

for their physical needs. He suffered a broken back and she has had three falls in the last month. As the

Lord reminds you pray as well for Bob and Sue. He is paralyzed from the chest down and confined to a

wheel chair. Living in a 55+ community we come in contact with a number of physically needy people and

an unreal number of complacent and spiritually needy. They have a life;me in a par;cular mindset that is

res;ng in a religious system, not in a personal rela;onship with the Lord Jesus.

We love you each and everyone and cannot express our thankfulness to you in proper terms for your prayers and support on our

behalf. May God richly bless you as you serve Him in your area.

Contact us by phone 480-980-5633, e-mail (David) [email protected] or (Becky) [email protected]

In His love and ours, Dave and Becky DeFord