The Martin's Blog

2 years here!!

USA Bound!

July 13 marked the date!! Can you believe it’s been two years since we packed up, said our goodbyes and boarded a plane bound for Luleå, Sweden? Our time here has been really great!! We have met so many people, developed relationships (we will soooo miss our friends here), been involved in many ministries and have seen first-hand how God is satisfying the spiritual hunger here. Also, God has changed our lives in incredible ways as we’ve learned to trust Him more.

Now it is time for us to return to the States for our 1^st home assignment. We have purchased our flight tickets and we’ll arrive back to the States on 17 August! We can’t wait to get there and reconnect with you! Our desire is to share what God is doing in people’s lives here in Luleå. If you or others you know would like to meet with us, please let us know.

We’ll need to raise additional financial support so we can return to the ministry here. Our length of time in the States will depend on when God works through people and releases the funds needed, but we are hoping to be back here in 6 months!

While in the States, we’ll be staying at Cedar Lane Missionary Homes in Laurel Springs, NJ. We will need a reliable car while in the States… if anyone can provide us with one, please let us know.

We can’t wait to see you all!! We’re all looking forward to meeting our “old” friends and making new ones!! And Jiana has her list of places we need to eat at with Rita’s and Dunkin’ Donuts topping the list!!!

Dr. visit update

Yesterday, my July 18 doctor visit got changed to today. Unfortunately, there is still no clarity. The doctors still don’t know if there is malignant cancer or not. There are abnormal cells but they are not sure of the cause – if it’s cancer or if it’s cells from the PSC disease or dead tissue. So they have sent the cells to specialists in Stockholm. All these specialists do is look at these types of cells to see if they are cancer or not. Treatment will depend on what they say. I may have to go to Stockholm so they can look in the bile ducts via a spyglass method. They can go in a back door and look directly in the duct. They can’t do this here in Luleå. They are aware of our departure date for the USA and will press Stockholm for an answer. So we wait to see what all this means.

Update on Gwen

We just wanted to catch you up to date. In the hospital, they did an MRI. The surgeon said that there was something in my liver that that looked different. He mentioned a possible tumor. It has also been confirmed that I have a new disease, related to Crohns, that attacks the bile ducts in the liver and they squeeze shut, not allowing the bile to go where it should but backing it up into my blood – it’s called primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). They also did an endoscopy. The doctor widened up one of the bile ducts going into the pancreas but couldn’t do anything for the bile ducts in the liver because he couldn’t reach them. He took a biopsy of the liver which was sent to the university hospital in Umeå. They got the results and had a conference with the Umeå doctors. We don’t know the results of that conference yet but have an appt with a doctor on July 18. Since I have been home from the hospital, praise Jesus, I have not had fever, throwing up, or pain!!! Our plans for returning to the States on August 17 are staying the same.

We are standing in faith and praying that God will heal me one way or another. Also, we’re praying that I will continue to be symptom free and the bile will flow where its supposed to. Many praying friends here in Luleå are standing with us in prayer for healing. Of course, the possibility of cancer is a scary thing and we are going back and forth between peace and fear. If you are a person of faith in Jesus and prayer, we invite you to pray with us in faith for healing! Thanks!!