Amundson Anthem October 2009

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people both now and forevermore. Psalm 125: 1-2

As many of you know from Heather’s blog, our family has been on a bit of a roller coaster since our last prayer but, praise be to God, things seem to be getting better, so we wanted to send out an “official” update to let you know what has been going on.

First – Heather’s health
During Sept. and early October Heather’s health was a roller-coaster. We have switched Dr.’s and hospitals and we feel like we are getting much better communication with our Dr (who also speaks English quite well). To try and summarize all that happened, we have been slowly lowering Heather’s medication which for the past three weeks really stopped all activity for Heather. The doctor did have her go off her medication for 48 hours in order to take “THE” test of all tests to confirm or deny Addison’s disease. The result is – Heather DOES NOT have Addison’s!! We certainly praise God for this result! However we also wonder what has been going on for the past year then. Due to the negative results the Dr. is taking Heather slowly off the medication she has been on the last year. She has been really tired, but thankfully, the last three days have been much better. We do not know what is going on yet, but praise God that “the LORD surrounds his people” and we can trust him. Keep praying!! We’ll let you know more as we know more.

Second – The Church
This whole month has been mission’s month at our church and we have had various missionaries come and speak at our church (this coming Sunday – 25-Oct, I will be preaching again), and it has been a blessing. This past Sunday we had just over 50 people at church, and over seven different countries represented!!! It is a pleasure to be serving with such a great pastor and group of believers!!! Please be praying as we continue to grow that we can keep this momentum, that we will grow in spiritual depth, and we can grow our ministries to the community. I (Doug) will be starting a Sunday school series on Ephesians this Sunday as well which should last the next 6 to 7 weeks. It seems incredible that 2 years ago I knew nothing in Spanish, and now I’ll be teaching about pre-destination in Spanish – kind of blows the mind!! Praise be to God once again!! Heather has had a break from the ladies Bible study this past month due to a one-day ladies conference that I drove the ladies to last Saturday, as well as another conference this coming week. Heather is still teaching the teenage girls Sunday school class though and that has been going well. Pray for transparency in this class and deep spiritual growth and fruit!!

Third – The future is always changing!!
With Heather feeling better, and an urgent need at SCA (Santiago Christian Academy), Heather will be stepping in again to help teach a science class at SCA

starting next Wednesday. The need is really bigger then just this class, but due to the conflicting home school/church/family schedules, and Heather’s still uncertain future of her health, we felt more than one class would be too much. Please be praying about this change, and that God would sustain Heather’s health as she fills in this need. She is good at what she does when teaching, but we also do not want her health to relapse again!!

Fourth – Misc. Items
We had a work day at church as we continue to change the appearance of our church. Hannah had a great time painting, Caleb worked with some of the teens, and Heather and another lady spent two days throwing out excess junk and cleaning up the teaching materials for the kids. This past month we have also slipped from winter into spring. Sept. was full of important dates. Sept 11th is the anniversary of the military coup – which today is nothing more than an excuse to burn tires and break windows. Sept 18th is the national Independence Day, which was followed by some version of “Armed Service Day” two days later. We had over 30 jet fighters and over 50 military helicopters fly directly over our house – it was pretty cool. We have also “sprung forward” in our time so we are now 1 hour ahead of EST, and when you “fall back” in November we will be 2 hours ahead of EST.

Keep praying –your prayers are being answered marvelously here in Chile!!!