Dear friends,
We have a lot to tell you. Mostly, it seems that our future in Missions work has changed quite a bit. We want to let you know everything that has been going on to keep you updated, but most importantly to get your prayer backing. Our family is in a very precarious position at this time and we could use all the prayer support and direction we can get. Thank you for being our faithful prayer partners!
Many of you will remember that Damon suffers from several diseases, namely Crohn’s Disease and Ankylosing Spondylitis, and now, Kidney Disease. When we decided to follow the Lord’s urging to go to Africa, we made the decision to have Damon stop taking the medication that was treating his Crohn’s and Spondylitis, after we had had several failed attempts to start him on a medication that was available in Kenya. We had faith that the Lord would take care of Damon’s health issues during this time, as He so obviously wanted us there and there were really no other options. God was faithful during that time and Damon had almost no Crohn’s symptoms at all, and was able to treat his Spondylitis symptoms with pain medication.
Upon returning to the States, however, his symptoms seemed to worsen. Damon visited several doctors and was told the same by all of them: that if he did not get back on his regular medication to treat the Spondylitis, that he would be crippled in as little as ten years. The problem, though, is the same as the one we ran into when planning for Kenya the first time: the medication is not available there. But not only that, even if it was available, Damon wouldn’t be able to take it there. The medication which treats his Crohn’s and Spondylitis is an immunosuppressant, which suppresses the immune system. Because of this, Damon is and would be susceptible to any sort of disease or infection to come his way, and his body would not be equipped to fight it as a normal person’s would. His doctors have told him that he simply cannot go back to or live in a third-world country.
Obviously, this news has been devastating to us. Our plan all along was to return to Kenya as soon as possible – we even left all of our belongings there! Once the reality of this news finally sunk in, and all other possible options had been explored, we had to accept that the future that we had planned on was going to change drastically.
We spoke to our bosses at Deaf Opportunity OutReach (DOOR) and Wycliffe Associates, who graciously accepted our news and supported our decision. Our contacts at Wycliffe Associates began looking for new positions for us here in the States, or in Europe, and DOOR has already said they would like for Damon to keep working on their websites as he is able. (Thank goodness for jobs that can be done from anywhere!)
This week we have been contacted by The Seed Company, who are also heavily invested in seeing God’s Word translated into every language. They are looking for a WordPress Administrator who would head up their website projects, and much more, and after speaking to Damon this week, are very excited about bringing him on board. This is a position which would allow Damon to work from anywhere in the States, and with that, receive his medication and live in a relatively safe environment.
As I’ve said, this has not been an easy transition for us. We fell in love with Africa while we were there, as well as with the people we worked with and the Deaf community in general, and made ourselves a comfortable home there. The thought of giving all that up has been incredibly painful and we have had a couple intense months of begging and pleading with God to heal Damon and allow us that life we had envisioned. In the end, we know that we are in the place where God has brought us, where He wants us for HIS purposes which are much better than ours.
We still do not know why this has happened; why God would ask us to sacrifice a comfortable life here in order to follow Him to Kenya, only to be brought back with much less than we had before; but we are still certain of the fact that He did call us to go to Kenya, and that even now He does have a good plan for our lives.
We are aware that this changes things for you too. Many of you were invested not just in us, but also in the work we were doing in the Deaf community in Africa and India. We are also aware that it may be less appealing to support a missionary who is living here in the States – just like you! – and not somewhere exotic like Africa. We do not want to put any pressure on anyone to support a cause that they are not familiar with or invested in. And to be honest, we won’t know more about our next assignment for a while yet, but of course, will be excited to share that with you when we do.
We have decided to continue doing missions work, in whatever capacity the Lord would have us. However, we are still at 49% of our support goal – our support goal for Africa (we have not yet re-evaluated our needs for living in the U.S.) This allows us to continue receiving medical insurance, but at the moment we are not receiving a paycheck. Obviously, we will need to finish support raising in order to be able to start our new lives here. We have been hesitant to continue raising support during that uncertain time when we weren’t even sure that we could continue in the Missions work. So we’d ask that you please keep us uplifted in prayer while we continue in this work, as there is a very finite amount of time in which we can continue to live off of our tax refund and at our family’s expense.
Also, if this is a change which you feel you cannot support, we ask that you please let us know. We really do value your opinion and input, and we will not be offended or judgmental as we understand where you are coming from. This is a really big change and it has taken a long time for us to get on board with it too!
Please also continue to pray for Damon’s health. Both of his diseases have been “flaring up” and he has been in a lot of pain. He’s been unable to receive his medication for weeks now due to complications with insurance, paperwork, and doctors. We have just yesterday been notified that he can finally get the medication he needs so desperately and he is scheduled to receive it on Friday. This has been a rough couple of months for us with his deteriorating health and our lives and future in such upheaval. We are looking forward to better health for Damon.
Thank you so much for your continued prayer support and uplifting. We need it so desperately right now.
We are so thankful that we can rest in the assurance that our God is watching out for us and has a perfect plan for us, even if we can’t yet see what it looks like.
Love and blessings,
The Ellis family
