We apologize for being a bit out of touch. It’s been a busy past few months for us with a lot of ups and downs. Additionally, the Covenant’s Blog service that this blog is hosted on has not been working properly the last couple of months and so we actually haven’t been able to do new blog posts here anyways, that is technologically speaking, so we are going to take the opportunity to catch you up on numerous fronts here in this update.
We a reeling this past week after learning of the resignation of our greatly loved Executive Minister of Serve Globally, Al Tizon. He is a man who we have learned a lot from and for whom we have a lot of respect. It was very hard for us to come to grips with his resignation, especially as everything has been met with a mix of sadness and confusion. That said, we will be praying for him in his next steps.
Many of you may not be aware but we helped my (Joel’s) dad, Earl, transition into an assisted living facility in the Dallas area of Texas earlier this month, which is about 5 mins away from my older brother’s house. We had decided a few months ago that it was probably best for him as his mobility was starting to decline and we were getting increasing concerned about his falls. We feel that this will be a safer option for him. We are sad to see him go but will definitely cherish the time we had this past year and a half living with us.
Kim took Earl up to Dallas in this transition but also spent a week with her best friend Christa in Evansville, IN. It was a special time for them both as they were both encouraged by just being with one another for the week. They really don’t get enough time together.
As we mentioned briefly in last month’s newsletter, I got a really bad case of covid and was hospitalized twice in the month of June. I can say that I have never experienced anything like that health wise in my life previously. It started out as not being too big of a deal with just having body aches and a loss of smell and taste. However, I soon quickly declined with needing oxygen. After that I got a stomach infection and pnuemonia which is what caused me to need to be hospitalized. My three days in the hospital were some of the worst days I have ever experienced though most of it is a fog at this point as I was also experiencing “covid confusion.” Thankfully after my three days in the hospital, I was quickly on the mend and was back to normal after about another week. I need to wait to get my vaccination until 90 days after this hospitalization though covid vaccinations have picked up quite a bit in Ecuador and a lot more people are now getting vaccinated.
I think I will stop the updates at this point as there is more we can share but this has gotten long enough. Thank you for reading and keeping up with us and especially for your prayers!
The Santiago Partnership