Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

First of all, we want to thank you all for your kind prayers and support during this time.  Please accept my apologies for not responding to each of the individual emails we have received.  With the medical appointments and other activities occurring at this time it has just been too difficult to get back to everyone.  We have read every email and letter.  Your outpourings of love and encouragement have meant so very much to Susette and my family.  We can never thank you enough.

We just completed a series of tests, including blood tests, a PET/CT scan, Echo cardiogram, and Pulmonary  test.  Our doctor, Dr. Sven DeVos, and his staff at UCLA, have been a blessing and are very helpful.  The tests concluded that Susette has at least stage 2 Hodgkins Lymphoma.  There was a suspicious cell that showed up on the PET/CT on her hip, which will now require a bone marrow biopsy and MRI to determine if the lymphoma has spread to the bone.   If it is cancer, that could move her up to stage 3.

What it all means is that she will need to begin chemo therapy immediately.  Her first treatment is scheduled for this Friday.  At this point, treatment is expected to take six months, likely followed by three weeks of radiation.  Therefore, we will be living in Southern California for at least the next seven  months.    We have been blessed to be housed by our dear friends Peter and Joy Bohlinger.  They as always, have been a great encouragement and help to us, and we will be staying with them in Manhattan Beach California during the duration of our stay here in Southern California.

In Haiti, we have had nothing but support and prayers from our kids and staff.   We miss them all terribly.   We were greatly blessed to have a couple that we know from Georgia volunteer to help out in Haiti during our absence.  Ted and Lisa Hojara, and their children Caleb and Charmaine, are the dear friends  that have agreed to step in for us at the orphanage.  We have known Ted and Lisa for a number of years, as they have worked closely with our friends the McHouls for a long time.   They are now living at our house in Haiti and will be overseeing our staff and children at the orphanage while we are gone.  God continues to be faithful.

Lord willing, I will fly over for brief visits and meetings, but the Hojaras will be handling the day-to-day activities of the orphanages.  It's important to note that we have also decided to postpone all missions team trips until we return.   We regret the inconvenience to those of you that were planning a visit, but we feel the Hojaras will be busy enough handling the day-to-day activities of the orphanage and keeping our kids on track.  When we return, we will reschedule the teams for a time when we will be there to help organize, coordinate and assist on visits.

Again we thank you for your prayers and encouraging emails and cards.   We appreciate you all so very much and are thankful to God for all of you.

Trusting in Him,

bill manassero