How unique are you?

My kids have always teased me because since they were very young, they have heard me tell stories of comments doctors have made to me over the years. When having cataract surgery at age 35, and then again at 38, the eye doctors - after first having to confirm I was indeed the patient - were fascinated by my eyes. They would call out to their colleagues, "Come here, you have to see this!" The early onset of eye trouble is caused by an inflammatory disease that is most commonly found in men and those of African descent. Go figure! So now I am 42 and as I prepare to have open heart surgery to replace a regurgitating aortic valve caused by the inflammatory disease, Ankylosing Spondylitis, I went to see a hematologist to see if I would need to continue taking blood thinners after ths surgery. I was told today by my primary care physician that the hematologist called him Friday afternoon extremely excited about my blood work. It seems that I have thick blood. That in itself is not very exciting, but apparently mine is caused by a condition called Antiphospholipid Syndrome. The hematologist said that he is been practicing for over 20 years and has been waiting to get a patient who had it. My primary care said he also had never seen it before. When my primary care doctor listened to my heartbeat (swish), he said, "WOW! We listen to chests for years just to hear that!" My kids just rolled their eyes...again. (Did I mention that the heart surgeon said my murmur makes the sounds in the opposite order than most?) My mom is not nearly as excited as the doctors are, but I have always said that I am a medical anomaly. Apparently I was right.

Psalm 139:14 - I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

Matthew 10:30 - But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Jeremiah 1:5a - Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee;

It is exciting to me that the doctors can confirm that God has created me - and every other person - to be absolutely unique. Even my primary care doctor agreed that God's creatures are marvellously unique!

God is so Good!

Hello friends, we just want to send an update on how things are going so far in 2010. January was a good month! We had a few churches promise to pick us up for support, but even more importantly...Scooter had the honor of leading Bro. David Pacheco to Christ while we were in a missions conference in Denison, TX. We have been blessed by many churches since the beginning of 2010 that have encouraged us and helped with some financial needs we had. Thanks to all of you who have been praying for us and supporting our ministry. We really appreciate it and we pray for you all as well. We do have some medical issues that need prayer. As some of you know, we are in the process of "interviewing" surgeons for a surgery that Leslie needs to have this summer. Please pray with us that God would guide us and give us wisdom in this decision. Also we are weeding through the red tape and paperwork to apply for our Spain visas and part of that includes medical exams. Unfortunately, AJ's TB skin test showed a suspicious result. His lung xrays came back clear, but there are a couple other tests before we will know for sure if he has been exposed. Please pray for a negative result on the following test so that he can get a clean bill of health!
Thank you all so much for keeping us in your prayers.

The Belasco Team,
Scooter, Leslie, Alexandra and A.J.
Missionaries to Spain

New year, new start

Well, like most people, we have made a resolution this month. Our resolution is to keep our supporters better informed! That includes keeping this blog up to date. On deputation it seems that we are doing the same thing each week, just in a different church in a different city. All the churches are special to us and it does not get boring to us, but to others, the blessings may not be so evident. So in an attempt to keep the blog updated weekly, I will tell about someone or something that has touched our lives in that week. We hope that will be more pleasant to read than just where we are each week.
This week we were in Canton, Texas on Sunday morning. We were blessed by the pastor's 16 year old grand-daughter. She played the guitar and sang a very worshipful song that she had written and composed herself. It was her first time to perform on stage and she did a great job. The people of the church were very loving and generous. AJ enjoyed going to Awana's on Sunday night and we went our afterward with the preacher and his wife and the McKibbins. It was a good time. I met a lady there who was speaking Spanish to me - testing me. She was very nice and we talked about how her children no longer remembered how to speak Spanish and how Scooter's dad didn't teach his kids Spanish. I learned a few days later that she died in a car accident. What a loss for the church, but we rejoice that she was saved.
On Wednesday we went to Athens, Texas. It is a small town that reminds me a lot of Centralia, where I grew up. The church is located right downtown, 1 block off the town square. There had been three churches recently torched in the area, so since we were parked in the church parking lot, we were a little nervous. The first night we didn't sleep very well! They are a great church and they love missions. They were involved in the planting of Iglesia Bautista de Montegrande when Tim King originally planted it. It was exciting for them as well as us to know that we were going to be working with that church when we get to Murcia.
Both of these churches were such a blessing to us. They encouraged us and made us feel very welcomed and loved. This next week we are in churches in Houston and Galveston.
Check back next Saturday for a new update. God bless. Go Cards! Pray for the people of Haiti.