Antioch Alerts

Sunday, January 7, 2007
This was a very good worship day. We were planning for the activity that we’ll have on the 20th of this month. Roque prepared a budget for the construction and Eli made a final design on it.

Since Wednesday the 10th we (Melissa) were in National City waiting for Lea’s birth.

Sunday, January 14, 2007
Mely & I congregated in Palomar St Church of Christ in Chula Vista, Ca. Brother Luis Torres, the preacher there, invited me to be the guest speaker. So I preached and lead the songs. In Flores Magon Eli, David, & Zambrano took care of the service there and also went to visit the Espinoza’s and Roque’s family.

Saturday, January 20, 2007
We had an activity with the brothers from Anaheim, Ca. for those who still haven’t accepted the Lord in their lives. lead by brother Jose Uribe, and Malkom Garcia (director of the rehab center) helped us by bringing his sound system. We had a devotional, brother Jose preached. At the end we gave out food boxes and clothes, also the kids received presents…

Sunday, January 21, 2007
We had some visitors from the activity we had on the 20th. Lets pray for them so they can accept the Lord into their hearts. We also continue with the Bible studies at the homes of the Espinoza’s and Roque’s.

Monday, January 22, 2007
Lea Alvarez Lozano was finally born, after 18 hours of labor. Please keep Mely and Lea in your prayers so that Mely can recuperate totally and Lea may keep growing healthy.

We are hoping to see you all soon we share the joy of serving the Lord. Hello to the elders and the youth there and to all that are interested in F. Magon.

In Christ Love
Omar Alvarez your brother

From a friend of mine back home.—Pam Nelson

I don’t usually send such a massive email, but I just feel compelled to ask all of you to pray for this family that lost their home and four children (ages 7, 10, 12, 14) in a house fire in Friendsville this morning. One of the kids was a classmate of Caleb’s.

I can’t imagine losing one child much less four at one time. And your home too. I know this lady. She helped with a recent fund raiser at school and they are very nice people.

They must be totally overcome with grief. I just really ask that you especially pray for them, for the classmates of these kids as they begin to cope with their lost. Pray that God will use these kids to witness for Him during this time to comfort other children.

Caleb was visibly shaken by this this morning as we prayed before he left for school. The 5th grade had to take the State TCAP Writing Exam today. I’m sure they were not at the top of their game while taking this test.

Thanks so much. Love, Cheryl

[The couple, Ross and Amanda Debuty, escaped the fire with their two year old son. The other four children—Mandy, 14; J.T., 12; Sinjin, 10; and Shelby, 7—died in the blaze.]

I know this is short notice for some of you but we have a small group going to Jellico, TN to help Misty and Vince Vannett get their “new” old house in shape so they can move in to town closer to the coffee shop. The house needs lots of work now and later, some before they move in. They have a long list of things that need done all of which we can not possible get to in a day. We would like to encourage them and lend a hand.

The plan is to go up on Friday Feb. 9th after work, yes this Friday, and return to Nashville on Saturday evening. If you are interested in going and lending a hand or can’t go but would like to give some financial help in order to get some of the projects done that would be great.

We plan to stay in the Greeks home and/or Meeks if we need more space. We will carry breakfast foods up with us or buy them there, eat lunch at the coffee shop and we’ll plan lunch according to our work schedule.

Following is a list of some of the items that need done:

- carpet laid
- drywall work
- insulation
- moving a play fort from old house to new
- cabinet removed and dishwasher installed
- other cabinet work
- move small boxes from old house to new
- move give away items to church for future garage sale
- block/foundation work
- yard work
    and more…

You can call me at 361-5452 or 397-2237 for more information. Thanks, Jill Anderson

Results from Ken’s arteriogram have come back with no heart blockage. Thanks to God for the positive results and to everyone for your prayers.

Ken Bissell will be having an arteriogram performed Tuesday morning at St. Thomas. Please keep him as well as his family in your prayers.

Thanks,
Kathy

Bud Clymer will have an arteriogram in the morning at 6:30. They will determine whether or not he needs a stent. Please keep him and Betty in your prayers.

UPDATE: Bud’s arteriogram went fine, and no stent or other surgical procedure will be required. Thank you for all your prayers!

A note from Kathy Irons Greene and Andrea Nicholson -

Just want to let everyone know Tommy Irons was admitted to Vanderbilt yesterday with chest pains. They kept him for observation and are going to go in and look at the arteries. The doctor said that when they put the stint in in May that there was another artery that was closing. They think it is that one; if it is, then they will put a stint in there and be done. Just pray that the procedure with go well and that Tommy will get some relief. Thanks.

We had an appointment with Madelyn’s neurologist at Centennial yesterday. He had not seen Madelyn since she had regained some of her movement on the right side of her face (although the left side still has some paralysis). He wanted to be updated on what happened while we were at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital since they did not give him an update.

Anyway, when I informed him that the Ear/Nose/Throat surgeon was convinced that the paralysis was due to the ear infections, he still did not believe it. He also does not believe that the tubes they surgically placed in her ears are responsible for any progress she has made. As he put it, “They are totally fine in themselves, nothing wrong with having them inserted” but it would not have any effect on whatever happened. (The neurologist at Vanderbilt said the same thing.) But, in the end, he says he still has no idea what happened but that the fact that her movement is slowly coming back (this soon vs. 6+ months) leads him to believe that there was no permanent damage and that we should expect it all to come back in time. Praise God!

At the end of our visit, when he again was saying how rare this bilateral paralysis was, I told Madelyn, “Girl, you are one in a million!” Then Dr. Anderson said, “No, try multi-million.” I again voiced that there were so many prayers going up for her and God may have chosen to heal her and he reiterated again, “I don’t discount that at all.”

I confess at first I hesitated sharing this with everyone because we want all the focus to be on Matthew today. But God must be glorified. We cannot let Satan give the false impression that her recovery can be explained away by one doctor when numerous others are telling us there is no medical explanation. May this give all of us more faith that God can and does heal. May this be a testimony to everyone that God is merciful and mighty. We plead, beg and cry out for that same mercy and might to be upon Matthew this very hour! May the Butterfields gain strength from our testimony as we hold them so close to our hearts.

Praise to God our Creator & King,
Laura

And Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Matthew 19:26

I received a call from my dad last night. My cousin (Laura Franklin), her husband (Pat Franklin), her sister (Melody Epley), and Pat’s and Laura’s 2 grandchildren were involved in a head on collision Saturday night in Kentucky. The driver of the car that hit them was killed and she had 2 children in her car. It is my understanding that these 2 children are at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.

Laura has a broken foot, Pat has a broken wrist, and Melody suffered several contusions. They are all in the hospital in Madisonville Kentucky.

The oldest grandchild, Paige (she is 5) is at Vanderbilt’s Children Hospital. I just came from visiting her. She had a 3 hour surgery yesterday to fix a nicked bowel and a huge laceration across her forehead. She is still in a neck brace and her neck will be evaluated today. Her little sister was not injured. They fortunately were all wearing seat belts.

They all attend my home congregation, Drakesboro Church of Christ and Pat is the current minister.

Pray for God’s healing and peace for the family as this accident caused a tragedy.

In him, Sherry Wright

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. – Ephesians 3:20-21

Matthew has his own weblog now. We’ve copied all the posts from the Antioch Alerts blog and put them here. Also, we now have a guestbook where visitors can leave messages for Keith, Gina and the family. It’s under “Pages” in the upper-right of the screen.

You can visit Matthew’s weblog by browsing to matthew.tonyc.com. Please share this link with your friends and family, visit whenever you can, and please continue to keep Matthew Butterfield and his family in your prayers.