"Whatever" or "I refuse to be discouraged"

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things. Philippians 4:8

I received an email from Shannon today which was quite a surprise as I expected him to be at Maisome Island by now.

His luggage still has not shown up, causing him to be living out of his carry-on with only a couple of outfits. That's not so bad but Shannon has sleep apnea. To combat this he has a machine that pressurizes his airway while he is sleeping to help him. Without it, his airway collapses as he falls asleep and causes him to wake up gasping for air. He took his machine with him in the carry on. The first night, while in Arusha, he plugged it in with an adapter and "fried" the machine. He and Alex(Pastor Richard's nephew and right-hand man) took it for repairs to discover it cannot be fixed and there are none to be found anywhere. The loss of the luggage, is of course a big deal too and has caused Shannon to stay back in Mwanza, hoping it will arrive.

He is considering meeting up with the people he needs to and possibly heading home early. This is a huge blow. It is so expensive to travel over there and we hate for him to come home. On a positive note, it sounds like Alex is with Shannon in Mwanza. I am glad that they can spend some time together, further developing a relationship with each other that will extend over many years.

Please pray that the machine can somehow get fixed or that God helps Shannon to get the rest he needs without risking his health. Also, we need his luggage to show up. All of his clothing, toiletries and some gifts for friends in Tanzania were in it.

The rest of the team is on the Island. Sunday morning Rev. Debra will be preaching in a church there and in the evening the team will be doing an open air crusade. Pray for a great soul harvest!

I know that Shannon was supposed to be on this trip. I know that God has certain things that He wants Shannon to accomplish while there. I will focus on the positive, knowing that now Shannon has more time to do those things and more time to develop several important relationships. That is true, so that is what I will think on.