Copyright © 2010, J & P Oliver
Last Updated on February 6, 2010
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February 2010

• In January, we enjoyed a short visit from Paula's mom, Joan Mayshar, who we don't see often, as she lives in Tucson, AZ.
• As part of their homeschooling, Nicholas and Joy recently started some online U.S. History classes through Florida Virtual School.
• At NTM, I've recently finished some enhancements for our NTM Canada co-workers: EFT direct deposit of missionary monthly disbursements, and enhanced year end donor statements.
• Our 2000 Honda Odyssey has started having some significant transmission problems. We have discovered, though, that a transmisson rebuild (plus some other repairs) is quite expensive, so we're not sure whether to repair the van, or to sell it "as is" and look for another vehicle. We would appreciate your prayers.
• We're thankful that January was a good month health-wise. Paula is scheduled for an ultrasound (to check the ovarian mass) and uterine biopsy (to re-check for pre-cancerous cells) in April. We would appreciate your continued prayers for Paula's health.

January 2010

At home, 2009 was a rather difficult year: with Hannah's OCD, Nicholas' skin cancer, and Paula's D & C and other health issues. We are very thankful for the progress that Hannah has made, that Nicholas skin cancer was removed, and that Paula's D & C was successful, and we are trusting God to continue to guide and heal. We would appreciate your continued prayers.

We’ve recently put together a 2009 Annual Report, which includes an update on our family, our ministry, and our finances, as well as some praise and prayer requests for the new year. If you would like an electronic copy, please let us know and we will be glad to email you a PDF copy (1.1 MB).

In any case, we wanted to share our 2010 praise and prayer requests from our annual report.

PRAISE & PRAYER REQUESTS

• Praise God for His great salvation and the work He is doing around the world, reaching the lost with the Gospel of Christ. Pray that He would continue to raise up folks to partner with us in this important task - through going, giving, and praying.
• Praise God for our three precious children, Nicholas, Joy, and Hannah. Pray that they will come to know, love, and serve God, develop in maturity, make good decisions, and walk with the Lord.
• Pray for us in our relationships: with God, with each other, with our children, with others - that we would be the man & woman, husband & wife, Dad & Mom that God wants us to be.
• Praise God for good progress with our NTMAA system. Pray for wisdom & guidance as we work on various enhancements.
• Praise God for the excellent progress Hannah has made this past year in learning to deal with OCD. Pray that she would continue to grow in victory over OCD.
• Pray for Paula and the issues with her ovary, uterus, and lower abdomen. Pray for good health for all of us.
• Pray that God would give us humble hearts and make us a real blessing here at NTM Headquarters.

We also wanted to include an update on Paula's health issues:

Toward the end of December, Paula had another ultrasound of her lower abdomen, especially to determine whether the ovarian mass was growing and whether she would need surgery to remove it. We are encouraged that the mass was not any larger. The doctor is recommending periodic follow-up ultrasounds (the next one is scheduled for April 2010) to continue to monitor the ovarian mass. It is possible that it is cancer, but is more likely that it is not.

Paula is using a progesterone cream to try to get her hormones back into balance and hopefully resolve the endometrial hyperplasia which caused her excessive uterine bleeding. The doctor will likely do a uterine biopsy in April to see if there are still pre-cancerous cells around.

Paula has also been having some uncomfortable pressure (of unknown origin) in her lower left abdomen. It does not seem to be related to the issue with her ovary (which is on her right side) or uterus. In December, Paula had a colonoscopy, which showed some diverticulosis, which may or may not be related to this feeling of pressure.

We would appreciate your prayers for guidance and healing for Paula, especially as relates to her ovary, uterus, and this abdominal pressure. Thanks much!

Oliver Family Updates - 2009
Oliver Family Updates - 2008
Oliver Family Updates - 2007

For the past several years, we have also been summarizing these monthly updates into a year-end Oliver Family news summary:

2009 Oliver Family News Summary
2008 Oliver Family News Summary
2007 Oliver Family News Summary

To review some of our prayer requests from previous years, please visit our Praise & Prayer Request archive.

For a number of years prior to our monthly Oliver Family Update emails, we periodically sent our Oliver Family Newsletter to keep folks updated on our family & ministry news, praises, and prayer requests, so here are links to those:

(These newsletters are in PDF format and can be viewed using the free Adobe® Reader®. If you don't yet have the Adobe Reader installed, you can download it for free).

Newsletter 44 - Aug 2007
Newsletter 43 - Mar 2007
Newsletter 42 - Nov 2006
Newsletter 41 - Apr 2006
Newsletter 40 - June 2005
Newsletter 39 - Mar 2005
Newsletter 38 - Oct 2004
Newsletter 37 - July 2004
Newsletter 36 - Mar 2004
Newsletter 35 - Sep 2003
Newsletter 34 - Apr 2003
Newsletter 33 - Feb 2003
Newsletter 32 - Aug 2002
Newsletter 31 - Mar 2002
Newsletter 30 - Dec 2001
Newsletter 29 - Sept 2001
Newsletter 28 - June 2001
Newsletter 27 - Mar 2001
Newsletter 26 - Aug 2000
Newsletter 25 - May 2000
Newsletter 24 - Dec 1999