June Update

Dear Praying Family,

If you have not already done so, please update our permanent phone number to (570)972-1272. This number will reach us anywhere (it’s through Skype).

Our furlough is more than half over. How time flies! We’ve driven over 13,000 miles for 22 meetings. It’s very encouraging to know that God’s people are praying for us. We are so grateful for each of you, our prayer partners. We are greatly enjoying this year of ministry back in the States. We are reporting to our churches and sharing how God has answered their prayers. It is a unique privilege to meet such a large part of our spiritual family before the millennium! Each week we worship with a different local church. Each week we see new faces, each week we meet part of the family that has prayed for us these last four years on the mission field.

Alison and Benjamin are doing great! Alison can’t wait to go to the next church and play with their toys. :-) If we’ve been to your church already you’ve seen how happily she stands up in front of the congregation to greet everyone! They’ve been real troopers on the long road trips. Benjamin has started crawling around and loves to walk with a little help. He’s trying to talk, but only “dada” and “mama” are really clear. All our family pictures are on www.stonesinperu.shutterfly.com.

We’ve had a wonderful time with family. We’ve caught up on Christmas and birthdays, our kids have met their cousins and 2nd cousins, etc.

Other than a few colds through the winter we’ve had relatively good health until now. A couple of weeks ago I (Jon) had a sleepless night with muscle spasms down my right leg. The next day my leg went numb along the path of the sciatic nerve. An MRI and a few doctors later we discovered I have a herniated disc with a large fragment creating pressure in the spinal canal. I’m now scheduled for surgery to remove the fragment on July 1st. The surgeon is confident I should recover rapidly (within a week) from this relatively simple surgery. Our travelling has been on hold as we’ve rescheduled several meetings. I don’t have much pain, but my leg is still numb and I am unable to sit for very long. Please pray for a speedy recovery so we can continue our ministry.

Please pray for a few more meetings to fill up our schedule. Due to the economic problems many people are facing, we’ve lost about $400 in support since returning on furlough. We already had to raise $750. BUT our God never comes up short and we’ve seen Him provide time and again. He has provided 2 new supporting churches and several churches have increased their support. We now lack only $275 per month in order to return to Peru in November. God has met all of our needs and we trust Him to provide in his time.

In His Hands,
Jonathan, Angela, Alison, and Benjamin Stone
www.abweperu.org/jastone
jastone@abweperu.org
jastone@abwe.cc
(570) 972-1272 (permanent home phone)
(570) 240-3651 (cell)