Dear friends,
Greetings from Ohio.
Many of you reading this have visited us in Guatemala. Some of you know our friend and colleague, James Baartse. James is Canadian and was a member of Wycliffe for a number of years. He used to work for IBM, but he decided that he wanted to work more directly in providing the Word of God for a group that never had it before, so he joined Wycliffe and then tried to find a place to serve. This wasn't easy since he suffers from cystic fibrosis.
James, during his entire life, has experienced reduced lung capacity and other symptoms related to CF.
My friend and colleague, Homer Gifford, and I felt that James deserved a shot at a village assignment and we invited him to join the work in Comitancillo. After two years there, he met and married Linda and they went on to provide Scripture portions for another Mam group near Comitancillo.
James' view was that if CF were to take him, he wanted to die "in the saddle."
James and Linda lived for a number of years at altitude--some 7,000 feet above sea level, and they needed to cross several 10,000 foot peaks to get to their village allocation, not the kind of thing CF sufferers can usually do. James carried oxygen with him and he was on a special high fat diet since his body has had difficulty in processing calories. He struggles to maintain weight even though the high fat diet would do most of us in. James is over 50 years old, in itself a great victory for one who lives with CF, especially one who has chosen such a rigorous life.
As I write this, James is scheduled to be undergoing a double lung transplant. This is what Linda wrote:
The call came tonight (last night) for James to go to Toronto General Hospital to get ready for new lungs.
Please join us in prayer for:
- the physicians and medical personnel to skillfully perform the double lung transplant scheduled for tomorrow morning (that's actually this morning, beginning at 10:00 AM)
- for James' body to receive the lungs with minimum complications
- for grace and peace to be multiplied through these uncertain days
The Psalms were great reading material for tonight reminding us that God is the rock of our strength.
Thanks.
I suspect this is a long and complicated operation. Please pray for James and Linda as they go through this. I'll get back to you as soon as I hear something.
God's blessings to all.
Wes
