TeamDuggan

There’s the need…transformational church multiplication in Panama.
There’s the leader with the vision and gifting…Jon and Bianca Fowler along with three young sons.
Then there’s the challenge…how to identify, recruit and launch a team for this God-opportunity.
The answer can be found in Matthew 9:38…ask the Father to raise up workers for the harvest.

Recently the potential team for this new work met together for the first time for a chemistry weekend. As can be seen in this group photo, there are plenty of very young members which brings energy and challenge to forming a well-functioning team. Three couples, two singles and a bushel of kids will be the base for this work launching in early 2015. God was gracious and the time together bonded this new team in vision and relationship. Pray for our new, in-process team as they raise support, pack up their lives and move to Costa Rica for language training then Panama for this new work.

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Two days after coming home my mom is getting the hang of operating in her familiar environment again. It will be a long process of strengthening her muscles and her lungs as well as numerous home health, physical therapy, and physician visits. She tires easily, so please call her to arrange a visit and keep them to fifteen minutes or less. We don’t want to discourage visitors at all though, so don’t hesitate to arrange a time.
My brother Glenn is coming this evening to stay with her two weeks. Cathi, Anna and I will be returning to Costa Rica in the morning and coming back two weeks later to give Glenn a chance to go home.
So TeamDuggan will return to our irregular blog updates about life and ministry in Latin America. On Saturday Cathi and I will be working as nurses during a three day youth retreat in the Costa Rican mountains. A day after returning from there I will be going to three locations in Peru for a week. Stay tuned for pictures and updates.
If you’d like to know more about what God is doing in Latin America and the Caribbean, visit Reachgloballatinamerica.org to read stories of God’s goodness and the power of the Gospel in action. I am privileged to serve as the leader for our teams in this region and love to share what God is doing all over this hemisphere.
And of course, we’d love to offer you an opportunity to partner with us in this ministry. That’s not a euphemism for “would you like to give to our support?” We have many that can’t join us financially but can commit to pray with us and perhaps go on a short-term trip.
In addition to this blog you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social platforms. Just search for BDugganRN and you’ll probably find me.
Finally, I’d like to express my deep gratitude for all the caring comments during this time. It was so encouraging to hear from so many of you as you prayed for my mom and our family. We had visitors to this site from twenty-one countries around the world in the last few weeks, and I received notes of encouragement in several languages. Thank you, and I ask you to join me in offering praise to the Father who showed great mercy and compassion, much of it expressed through you.

It took some negotiation, but my mom was able to convince three doctors that she’s ready to go home today. We’ve arranged for home health nurses to come every other day as well as physical therapists. She’ll be restricted to the house for at least a couple of weeks so will appreciate visitors there. Cathi has the house clean and ready and just picked up my mom’s little white bundle of dog to greet her when she arrives. So with all her belongings packed we are waiting for the discharge process to grind through its mysterious machinations and we’ll be headed back to Stallings soon.

Although oxygen is needed for laps around the unit, my mom is no longer tied to a wall or machine and is able to move around well. Today she was able to get dressed and is feeling much better. We’re hoping tomorrow she’ll be discharged home and we’ll move towards more independence.

It’s fairly well known that staying in a hospital is not conducive to your health. And so it is with my mom as she now has a urinary infection to deal with that requires further medication that won’t stress the kidneys. She had her sixth thoracentesis to drain fluid from around her lungs, although this time it was less volume than before. But even with the steps backwards she continues to gain ground day by day. We celebrate the little victories, like a bath today that went much better than a couple of days ago, walking a little each day, and getting more tubes disconnected. Continue to pray for her full recovery and for the doctors that are working hard to get her back up to speed.

Merrimom has been on the stepdown unit for a day and a half and has made progress! She took her first real shower with assistance, walked down the hall and back, and the next goal is to do a whole lap this afternoon! All these new activities are tiring, so please limit your visits to no more than 15 minutes as she works on rehabilitation! We so appreciate your cards, kind words and love during these last two weeks!

Another liter of fluid taken from around her lungs today didn’t stop the physicians from deciding that my mom had improved enough to move to the step-down telemetry unit. That was a welcome change of scenery and included release from some more of her medical connections, giving her a little more freedom. No thoughts yet on how long this next phase will take but it is certainly headed in the right direction.