Please pray for the Smith Family.

Throughout deputation the Lord bestowed many blessing upon us including giving us special friends along the way. The Lord knit our hearts together with Pastor Shawn and Sandy Smith and their family and it is with heavy hearts that we share the following prayer request with you. We ask that you not only pray for this family yourself but that you request prayer for them in your churches and among your friends. You all have been so faithful to pray for us and we know that it will be a blessing to the Smiths to know you are praying for them. This is an email we received last night from a friend in regards to the Smith family, for reference Sandy was just this week diagnosed with Breast cancer and Andrew is their youngest child:

“Sandy had her consultation this morning with her medical team and the prognosis is promising. They will do a lumpectomy, followed by Chemo and radiation. They are hopeful that this will be all that is necessary for her treatment.

During the same time period that she was receiving the news regarding her treatment, however, Andrew was in the pediatric intensive care unit with Pastor Smith and my husband receiving a more grave report. For about a month Andrew has had trouble with his balance. He had a viral infection and so it was thought that he had an inner ear infection causing him to be unbalanced. Wednesday morning, they took him to his primary care doctor and the doctor sent them to the emergency room. A CAT scan showed fluid and a mass in his brain. He was placed in PICU until an MRI could be performed. The results were explained this morning and throughout the day. The final diagnosis is painful to even write: Andrew has an inoperable brain tumor in his brain stem with the tumor being about the size of a golf ball. At first, they had said that there would be surgery to reduce the pressure causing his difficulty with balance. They have concluded that surgery is not an option and that he will receive radiation treatment only. They have given him two months to two years to live.”