PRAY FOR JOE AND MILLIE

Please read Millie's latest letter and pray for them and the siblings far away from them.


Dear Faithful Co-Laborers in Christ,

Thank the Lord that we are back in communication on the Internet once again.
It still has its flaws but hopefully we will be able to keep you informed better of what is going on in our lives and where we are. Thank God He is always here and never leaves us nor forsakes us.

Joe is not very well at all. His memory is getting worse and we continually go over things to help him remember. I believe that he has had several mini strokes as at those times he will talk very mushy for awhile and not seem to
know what he is doing or what is going on. But then he will pull out of it
and become rational again. Sometimes he doesn¹t even know me but that may be because he is also almost blind and his hearing is very bad also. I have been going over our life together with him to try and help him remember things. I am even reading our book "ALL THE DAY LONG" again to him. He perks up and remembers things as he hears them being retold and it seems to help him get refocused for a time. He will be 90 in February if the Lord gives him that much more time. We¹ve had some really good talks about death, heaven, and resting and trusting in the Lord without fear.

Please keep him in your prayers as it is hard for him. He has always been so active and he finds it very hard to just sit. He can¹t see to read or do anything that requires sight so that avenue is closed to him. He constantly wants me with him talking to him and encouraging him so I find it hard to really get a lot done. I try to work while he is napping but sometimes I accuse him of being a yo-yo as I no sooner get him settled and get back to what I was doing when he is back out again. He loves me to read the Word to him and all the devotional books that I can get my hands on. This keeps him encouraged and he still loves to pray for anything that is going on here and faithfully for all our kids and their families. I usually take care of prayers for friends etc and other needs as he cannot remember so well but he faithfully joins in with his AMEN ever so often.

I have been tutoring 4 young men, actually they look more like boys and are kids that I taught when I was teaching in the school. Two are in their early 20¹s and 2 are still in their late teens. They were too old for the school here so were not allowed to attend and one boy (Joshua Santos) who was my prize pupil in Math came and asked me if I would continue to teach him Math as he still wanted to learn and not forget what he had learned. I agreed and began to put Math in a notebook for him which he would take home and do and then bring the notebook back for me to correct, grade and put more work in. Soon I was teaching his younger brother Alexis also and then came Elvis Rivas, and shortly after that Cristobal Perez (Bautista¹s younger son). (Pray for him. Some of the men from here who have turned their backs on the Lord and are living lives of sin out in Ayacucho, one being Cristobal¹s brother-in-law persuaded him to go out to Puerto Ayacucho with him recently. In spite of his father¹s pleadings he went out anyway. We are very concerned as the ones who have gone out there have gotten into alcohol, tobacco, prostitution and now even drugs. So pray that he comes back unscathed by these sins and that he will not have a desire to go back
again.)

The little thirsty blood-sucking gnats have returned with a vengeance and are making life miserable for all. I feel so bad for the women who come in with the skin all around their eyes sprinkled thickly with little red blood spots where the gnats have drawn blood. They try to cover their heads with old pieces of clothes and just leave their eyes uncovered so they can see to work the gardens. This leaves an unprotected area for the gnats to swarm to and get their blood. Who was it that said these people live in Paradise -- just leave them alone? Well, it's Paradise cursed. Paradise after the fall and believe me it is not an easy life for these people. The women work very hard and suffer to get the food that they carry home in heavy baskets on their backs after a hard day's work in the garden.

We had some hard days with a flu that was going around which many thought was the swine flu. Joe and I did not get it as our family and also the Yanomamö were very thoughtful not to come to see us at that time. Someone had told me that putting raw onions in saucers around the house would ward off flu so I tried that also. I don't know if it helped or if it was just the mercy of the Lord and His protection that kept us well but we give Him all the praise and glory. Faith's adopted son David and his wife Milaide were very ill with this flu and it took them a while to recuperate. Then just recently Susan's son Andrew (they live in the village of Jalulusiteli) was very ill with falciparum malaria with temperatures of 106. Thank God the last reports that we have are favorable. He has responded to the medicine and is doing better. WE were very concerned as he was hurting in the spleen and kidney areas and that is never a good sign. Please pray that he will fully recover and be completely well again. They live on a different river and have no contact with the outside world except for radio contact with Sharon and Faith once a day.

Thank you all for your faithful support through your prayers and giving.
Thank you for bearing with us during all the long seasons of no communication by email or any other way. These are hard times for us also but thank the Lord He is always available night or day when we call on Him.
No human force can cut our communication with Him.

In His Great Love,

Joe and Millie Dawson