Dear Brothers and sisters,
I apologize for being so late in writing, but you are always a part of our ministerial work as well.
After hosting the North India Preachers’ Lectureship in Chandigarh, things have been very busy. In March we were expecting our Pakistani relatives, who were coming after 66 years of the partition. We were very excited to see them, but somehow they could only manage to come at the end of March. After they left, Brother Jerry and Paula came. During their stay, Benu had some doubt about a lump a in her breast. She was very much concerned about that and it concerned us all. We were looking for a right person to tell us what to do. We went to a Gynecologist and she advised Benu to go to see a surgeon who could guide in a better way. He took a small piece of the lump and sent it to a laboratory for further investigation. After the doubtful report, the next couple of months kept us busy and tense till she had the mastectomy (MRM). After the mastectomy, the hospital frightened us by saying that the slides were to be sent for further investigation as the doctors were not sure about the report they received.
It took a long while and in between they started chemotherapy as they did not want to take risk and further delay in chemo, but after knowing that the fish report is 2.8 (i.e., Her2 positive), the doctor suggested that this cancer is more aggressive and needs extra treatment. Even though he says that the size of the post operated tumor was very small this type of cancer is dangerous.
Now the picture is entirely changed. Earlier the oncologist was saying only 4 cycles of chemo may be given, but after the report came he concluded that now Benu will be having 6 cycles of chemo (2nd already done this Thursday) with the additional 17 doses (approximately 1 year) of the medicine to block Her2 cell after every 21 days.
Since this was the double dose, as she missed it in first cycle, it cost us $2,650. Otherwise the next 4 doses will be of $2,000 each. After that it will be cheaper by about $500 a cycle. Since next month there will be 2 cycles (September 5 and 26), we will need to pay the medical bills of about $4,000. This is a year long process in which we will need a total of about $25,000 during the year. I think if you are contributing some, please send it to the bank in the name of the CHURCH OF CHRIST so that it can be used in time. If it is wired, it takes hardly 3 days to transfer into our account. If you would like to have this information, please write an e-mail to Bob Turner at bturner@bvbid.org. If you can use this, it could be of great help.
Our efforts in spreading the Gospel have not affected with that. A brief report of our activities can tell a lot.
Every first Wednesday we have a gospel meeting in Chandigarh. We hire a hall and invite people to come. Dinner is provided to those who attend. Sometimes the dinner is from us and sometimes someone else provides that. It is being done for the past 2 years. Sometimes, new people come and sometime regular, but it has become our routine to continue, come what may. Our next meeting comes on September 4, just a day before we have to go for the chemo.
We have students from Punjab, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Sikkim, Andaman and Bihar. I was expecting from Pune, Maharashtra as well, but we are still waiting for them as they have their own family problems.
16 people obeyed the Lord at different places.
187 complete Bibles were distributed apart from the regular 2,500 TfT books each month.
340 Song books
5,000 Truth for today books (Seeking a Better life, Hindi, that includes NT) distributed in India.
Printed and distributed Vol. 3, 4 of the Voice of Truth (Hindi). We print 5,000 copies at a time.
Small tracts and booklets in Hindi and Punjabi languages are sent to the preachers of India.
Printing Bible correspondence course (27 Chapters with 262 pages of course and questions) in Hindi for the Hindi speaking people. We have printed 2 chapters already and working on the print the 3rd and 4th chapters as well. We may start online courses also.
Thank you and God Bless
In Christ
Earnest