Dear Friend,

I think you will be interested in the note below, which has come from Felipe Ramos, the Totonac pastor and leader. We had previously asked prayer for Felipe, because he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. We had sent down extra money to pay for that operation, but as you will see, more urgent things had to be cared for.

Continue to prayer for him, and also for the future of the ministry which he has developed and led so capably. I am not sure of his exact age, but he is somewhere around 70 years old. He mentions some of the more responsible men working with him. Pray that they will know how to lead in the years to come.

In Christ’s service,

Dale W. Kietzman

Rcvd 25Aug09

Dr. Kietzman,

Many thanks for your prayers for my health. I was at the point of having the prostate operation, when suddenly I had a terrible pain in my abdomen. I had to go to the hospital in Zacatlan. They could do nothing for me there, but sent me to a hospital in Zacapoaxtla. There they did not have the necessary equipment for the operation, so they sent me to Tezlutan, where they took out my gallbladder. Thanks be to God, I am now up after six days of recovery. But I had to use the money designated for the prostate operation; all this cost me a total of 35,000 pesos. As I was coming back home, I had trouble urinating, so in the hospital in Zacatlan they put in a catheter, which I am now using. I hope that, as I get a little better each day, I will be able to make a trip to the Urologist (who is in the state capital of Puebla) to get a fresh evaluation of the prostate cancer.. So you see, brother, the suffering I have passed through, but God has given me strength, and I am alive to serve Him.

Although I am not able to get out for the moment, I give thanks that I have Sylvestre in Coyutla to visit the young churches in that area, and Porfirio to visit those in the Patla area. As soon as possible, my son will be driving me around to visit the congregations in this area. Daniel Luna is taking permanent charge of the new church in Olintla. The radio programs were recorded a month ahead, and I am able to keep up with them.

I am also grateful that me daughter Rosy, my granddaughters, and Peter were here at this time (they live in Houston). My son Edgar is with us, and he has helped a great deal. No one else could have moved me in and out of the car on all of the trips we had to make.

That is all. May God bless you.

Your brother in Christ,

Felipe Ramos