“Dear Friends,
Thank you for your prayers for our family! We have felt God's presence and experienced His peace during our unanticipated furlough. It is with grateful hearts that we send out this long overdue family update. After a difficult year in 2006, we are encouraged with the progress we have made in recent months.
In June, I (Dave) had sinus surgery to re-open obstructed nasal passages and correct a deviated septum. Now, I can breathe freely and rarely experience the nasal congestion I used to live with daily.
In July, I returned to the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago where I was diagnosed migraine headaches as a teenager 33 years ago. Dr. Seymour Diamond admitted me to the hospital for five days where they ran several IVs each day with a migraine medicine (called DHE) in order to break the cycle of chronic daily headaches. Within a couple weeks of my leaving the hospital, it was as if somebody flipped a switch shutting off my daily headaches. I have been seeing Dr. Diamond monthly to adjust my medication, and the remaining migraine headaches have reduced in frequency with each passing month. Last month, I had just one moderate headache which lasted a day and a half. I am so encouraged by this progress!
Once school started back for our girls, Suzie and I started working at the Christian Missionary Fellowship office in Indianapolis. To quote a letter CMF recently sent to one of our supporting churches,
Dave and Suzie have been working at the CMF office in their areas of expertise. Dave brings his administrative gifting to projects under our finance and donor development divisions. Suzie has focused on helping all CMF teams broaden their response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. She has also worked with mission pastors to help mobilize their churches' response to this crisis.
While we are enjoying this period of working more closely with our Stateside CMF team, we are still pursuing medical clearance in order to return to Kenya. Just in the past week, we have seen two letters from our caregivers giving us the "green light" for planning a summer 2008 return. Thank you for your support which has enabled us to get the care we needed in order to heal and resume ministry overseas.
Earlier this month, Suzie and I participated in the Global Missions Health Conference in Louisville where we were both speakers. I entitled my talk "Addiction, Recovery & Redemption." We were grateful for the opportunity to share our experiences as we are learning how to remain recovery focused while engaging more fully in life and ministry. We still have much to learn, but it is very encouraging to see how far our Lord has brought us.
Please pray for Suzie who is traveling to Afghanistan and Kenya from November 27 to December 13. Suzie eagerly accepted the invitation to travel with a group that is considering expanding their marketplace ministry into central Asia. While "in the neighborhood," she will travel to Kenya in order to participate with our Maasai team as they organize a board to oversee CMF-Master clinics.
Our girls are doing well. Rebekah is enjoying her senior year at Noblesville High School. She continues to swim on the JV Swim Team, and we are very glad she can now drive herself to the 5:30 a.m. swim practices! Rebekah isn't sure where she wants to attend college. She completed five applications for early admission and has begun to receive acceptance letters. With her grades and ACT scores, she is already receiving some scholarship offers.
Lauren is doing great in the 8th grade at Noblesville Middle School. All of her teachers report that Lauren is one of the top students in her class and is a joy to work with. She continues to play the saxophone, but may soon be switching to bassoon at the suggestion of her band director. Highlights for the school year will include a Washington, DC, trip in the spring followed by a trip to the Amazon rainforest in early summer. After long-awaited permission from Mom, Lauren adopted two kittens, which liven up our household as they romp and play.
As for news from Kenya, we hear that our newest teammates are settling in nicely to ministries which include teaching Maasai how to develop lessons for training and equipping church leaders. Another teammate works closely with the Maasai medical ministry, assisting our national partners in their HIV/AIDS response. While still another new teammate oversees our CMF-Kenya office in Nairobi. We will send a more complete report with news from Kenya after the first of the year, sharing Suzie's firsthand observations.
We would be grateful for your continuing prayers ...
• Relief for Dave from headaches.
• 19 months free of narcotic pain medication.
• Service opportunities at the CMF home office.
• The girls doing great in school and having a few good friends.
• Successful adjustment of our newest teammates to the field.
• Suzie's travels - for safety and fruitfulness.
• Open hearts as US churches consider joining the fight against HIV/AIDS.
• The safety of missionaries in Kenya. [Note: Our teammate Lynn Cozier was recently carjacked at gunpoint but was unharmed.]
• The faithfulness of Maasai leaders as they serve in ministries through their churches and the CMF clinics.
Your partners in ministry,
Dave for Suzie, Rebekah and Lauren Snyder
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