Prayer Letter January 2025
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Happy New Year! May 2025 be the year we hear that trumpet sound and see our Lord, Jesus Christ! We are thankful for His gracious hand in our lives and the hope He gives us to keep fighting the good fight of faith. We trust the God of hope and mercy has strengthened y’all as well.
Praise the Lord, we were able to spend the holidays with family for the first time in nine years! There are a ton of nieces and nephews that we hadn’t met or seen in forever. We didn’t realize that our kids don’t even really know the family well because it has just been so long, and they were so little when we left. We were also able to deal with some of them on a spiritual level and plant more seeds, so overall it was a real blessing. We even got to bring a few nieces and nephews to church with us! God is so good!
In our last prayer letter, we mentioned Sarah had a hidden bacterial infection. We didn’t fully understand just how difficult the treatment process would be, as these bacteria are resistant to antibiotics and require a multi-faceted approach to bring down their protective layers first and then work on killing them. The levels she has are extremely high, and the treatment to break it down took longer than expected due to low tolerance of the medicine. Just last week she was able to finally start the round of treatment to actually kill the bad bacteria; and once again her body is having a hard time tolerating the medicine, so she has to go slower than expected.
We also found that, in extremely rare cases, this specific strand of bacteria has been linked to widespread neurological problems with similar symptoms to what she has… What does all that mean? We don’t know yet. The doc said that within a month of taking this current round of treatment we should start to see what kind of results we get from killing the bacteria off. We know the Lord is the one who heals all our infirmities, and He gives us high hopes for complete healing.
Our plan and heart’s desire were to be back in Mexico by mid-January, and I was pushing, trying to line everything up for that. The week before Christmas, we had an appointment with the doctor treating Sarah’s gut, and she said she would like two months with her to help her through this and get the best results possible. The Lord also was not opening the doors or giving clear direction for January. Honestly, I was frustrated, a little discouraged, and was fighting it…but the Lord continues to show us that He knows what He is doing. His timing is always perfect, and His ways are definitely not our ways. So we are going to wait (hopefully with better patience) on the Lord here at our home church for the rest of January, into February, and serve as He sees fit, praying that His will and perfect timing will lead us to Mexico in February.
I will be making a trip down to Mexico next week to check on the work, encourage the church, and resolve issues with the property deal. Apparently, the owner has finally received proper paperwork for us, but at the same time, they believe we owe another full payment which we are not prepared for. It shouldn’t be due until December of this year, so I need to sit down with them and resolve that issue, as well as make sure the paperwork is correct so we can move forward in putting the property in the name of the church. I ask for prayers for wisdom in dealing with the owner and the lawyers as they have been very frustrating, to say the least.
We pray that God is encouraging you, your families, and churches for this coming year and for serving Him in “such a time as this.” It’s time to step up in 2025 and be the brightest light possible, for the world to see something different… Truth! God bless, and thank you for your faithfulness to the Lord, missions, our family, and the work that He has called us to.
Brothers and Sisters, keep up the good fight!
The Russell Family- Adam, Sarah, Kendra, Braden