Dear Brethren  

"Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me."

It has been one week since I was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus.

Sandy and I want to share with you the first three gracious miracles of the love that our Lord Jesus Christ has already wonderfully provided.

Our dear brethren at the Tuni leper colony in India, giving thanksgiving to God for the great love in Jesus Christ that has been shown to them by their American brethren. I had hoped to see them next week, but my doctor has ordered me home for the next six months.

It is difficult to find the words to adequately describe the peace (peace that passes understanding) that the Holy Spirit has imparted to us, and the love He has surrounded us with. His assurance that He will never leave or forsake us. Truly from the moment the doctor walked into our room and shared the sobering news, we have felt such strengthening and such comfort from the Holy Spirit, from His people, and from His living Word.   

First, our Lord so faithfully prepared us for this "trial of our faith." Three weeks earlier, we were so blessed to have in our home for over two weeks our dear friends and brethren from Burma (Myanmar), Dr. Aung Mang and his dear wife Dawt Dim (see photo at end of email). Together Dr. Aung, and his wife and I traveled to West Virginia and the Washington DC area to visit some of our precious brethren here in the US. This was a very strengthening time for both Sandy and me.

Then our son in Jesus Christ, David Ibrihim, spent time at our home to greatly encourage and strengthen us personally. David is the author of the extraordinary expose' of Islam "Mirage - The Love Language of Islam - Wake up America before it is too late"    Link to obain David's book

Then last week Arun and Shobha Massey, arrived on Monday to spend 4 days with us. Arun and

Arun and Shobha Massey

Shobha are from India and are also dear sons and daughters to us in Christ. We first met them in 1997 in Bombay (Mumbai) India when they were first establishing by faith their extraordinary ministry to rescue the young daughters of Davidasi Temple Prostitutes. They are presently a dad and mom to 66 precious girls living in their Christian home, Caring Hands, located in a state in India listed as second in its persecution of Christians.

Arun and Shobha were with us the day I visited our godly Messianic Christian gastroenterologist (you cannot have a better doctor than that!!!) and received the sobering news that I had esophageal cancer. (For two months prior I had increasing difficulty swallowing and this had caused me to seek an examination.) What a mighty strength they were to us in Christ at that critical time. That night Arun brought his laptop into our living room where we were having fellowship and praying. He had brought up on Skype their precious children in India (some whom I had been so blessed to meet years earlier). With us able to see each other by the marvelous technology available today, these dear children prayed earnestly for Sandy and for me. How wonderful and amazing to know that these precious children are praying for these unworthy servants every day. "Amazing love how can it be That You my King, should die for me? Amazing love, I know it's true. It's my joy to honor You, In all I do, I honor You."

The second great miracle has been the wonderful Christian doctors and nurses the Lord has placed before us as we are embarking on this journey of faith and healing. As I have already mentioned, my primary gastroenterologist is a dedicated Jewish/Christian doctor we had met at one of two wonderful churches that we attend here in the Bristol area. Sandy was already his patient. He has graciously fast tracked my tests in an extraordinary manner. One day after his exam he had me back at the hospital for a CAT scan. We are so thankful that it revealed no spreading of the cancer to other parts of the body, or to the lymph glands. By the following Monday (this week) I was seen by another Christian gastroenterologist for further tests. All the nurses were godly Christians. When this doctor walked in I wondered if he was a Christian. He walked over to the exam table where I was lying awaiting the exam. He had a big smile and on his medical jacket was a cross. Not a small lapel cross. It was a gold cross three inches tall and 2 inches across!!!!! I smiled and said: "You must be a Christian." He replied: : "You bet I am!!!!" For a few minutes before the exam we had wonderful fellowship, and when I asked if I could pray for this wonderful doctor and the nurses, he immediately took my hands, and the two nurses joined their hands to ours, as we blessed and prayed for one another. "Oh wonder of it all, the wonder of it all, just to think that God loves me."

Pastor Joshua Atieno in Mawani, Kenya, praying for a Christian widow named Cladis who is suffering from either a tumor or a severe hernia. I cannot imagine her suffering.

Today we received a call that I am scheduled to see an oncologist next Thursday at which time he will advise the course of treatment. It most likely will involve surgery and chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. Please join with us in prayer that God will place another godly Doctor before us to advise us with the heart and mind of Christ on these next important decisions.

The third great miracle has been the great love that is being shown toward us by our family in our Lord Jesus Christ, here in America and around the world. This past few days so many of you have sent such life giving words of faith, healing, love, and strength, accompanied by such encouraging promises from the living Word of God. Please forgive us if we have not yet been able to respond personally to you. We are cherishing each of your emails and letters, and are going to place them in a scrap book to refer to over the next few months of treatment. Your words and the Word of God will greatly strengthen us, and bring healing. Indeed your words are living words for Christ lives in you. We gratefully recieve your messages as from the Lord Himself, as evidence of His tender mercies toward all of us. With all the tests and appointments, and our guests, this has been the first opportunity I have had to share with you. Sandy did send an appeal for prayers to our brethren overseas, and to as many as she could think of here in the US, but we know many of you did not know.

Tuni leper colony, India

Most important please pray that Sandy and I will continue to be good soldiers and faithful servants. Pray for strength to continue in the ministry we have all been called to in helping our much less fortunate brethren behind "the gates of hell" in the Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and Communist nations. All this week I have thought what my fate would be with this illness if I lived as a Christian in these nations. I would most likely be extremely poor. I would not have any health insurance. At my age of 70 I would have no such benefit as Medicare. I would not receive medical treatment unless I could pay in advance. I would die within a few months from starvation or hemorrhaging. I would have no help for the pain. I could not even have basic care from a doctor unless my family went horribly into debt. We are so blessed to be here in America. Are not we all here in America, like Queen Esther, "for such a time as this"?

As you pray for Sandy and me would you also pray for our brethren. It would encourage us so very much this Thanksgiving and Christmas season for Sandy and me to see an outpouring of gifts for those in whom Jesus Christ lives, the Body of Christ. Would you pray about sending something extra for this Thanksgiving and Christmas. 100% of your gift, designated for "our brethren" or a congregation of your choosing, will be forwarded to our brethren. Your gift will mean so much to a congregation of believers somewhere in our world, and your love for our brethren will so greatly strengthen Sandy and me in our faith and resolve.

link to help our brethren

Thank you so much for loving and praying for these unworthy servants. And especially thank you for loving and praying for our brethren around the world, the beautiful family of God, in whom Christ lives.

It is the donors to In Jesus' Name Ministries that are the reality of God's love demonstrated by our "laying down our lives for one another."

Dr. Aung Mang, his wife Dawt Dim, and their four children, serving the Lord in Burma (Myanmar). Our Christian brethren in that country need our love and help.

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything." The Apostle John in his first epistle.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'  Our Lord Jesus Christ

We pray you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving.

So gratefully slaves of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Court and Sandy Wood

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:28-39 

Pastor Pulidindi George lovingly sharing gifts of love with our leper brethren, provided by their American brethren. Your love is bringing so much hope, joy, comfort, encouragement, and faith, to the Body of Christ.   "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."