Did "proof of life" get your attention? Actually, I just mean that it's been a while since I've written a ministry update, and last time I mentioned that I had cancer, so it occurred to me I should probably write! (This is an email update list, so if you're getting it and you don't want to, please tell me. Oh, and if you're in a small group with me, you're not actually on the email update list, but I'm copying you anyway.)
We're both still alive, although dealing with my health concerns has taken a good amount of time. The short story is that I went through various diagnostic steps hoping we could appropriately treat the prostate cancer without removing the prostate. Then I had my prostate removed, which is a major operation in its own right, robots notwithstanding, and began the recovery process. While that still continues, I am alive and mostly functional with hope of further improvement.
It has been good to see that God has still brought us opportunities to be alongside others, engaged in meaningful conversations, and seeking to love well just as we are, including in the presence of sickness. I have also been reminded that when I share my weakness others resonate and open up in ways that wouldn't have happened if I kept silent, and for that I am also grateful. After all, my weakness is not any greater for having shared it, and shared burdens are sometimes easier to bear.
This is the week of Martha's 90th birthday, so let me add a note about how she has contributed to our ministry through the years. While it's quite true that she, and Bob with her while he was alive, have contributed financially, as so many parents do for their kids in ministry, she has also loved us in so many other ways.
For instance, she and Bob moved here to Colorado from Texas to volunteer in the ministry I was involved with at the time, and more than that they came alongside us with our young children--3 in under 3 years. When the kids were one (2) and three, they actually lived in our basement for most of a year (1992.) When my parents were dying across the country (1993,) they not only hosted us but also my mom, and pitched in alongside us to move my mom, with ALS, across the country when my dad died first.
Then they released us to go to Taiwan with their grandchildren (1996,) helped us pack, took us to and from the airport multiple times, and visited us there five times over the 15 years. Every time we returned to the US, including once for six months and once for a year, they put us up in their home, shared their vehicles, and so much more. Along the way Martha also hosted multiple visits from my sisters and their families, whom she treats like her family, as she has done with so many others as well, including many internationals and many in international ministry (and of course especially German speakers!)
So join us in celebrating this special lady, mother of my bride, like a mother to me, grandmother of course, and Gigi to our grandchildren! She loves to get mail (same mailing address as ours) and email as well, so if you want to reach out to her at this time of celebration, please do! (She likes phone calls, too, but I won't post her phone number here. If you email one of us, we'll forward the emails or give you her phone number if you'd like to call.)
With love in the One who keeps us, Steve and Laura
Steve and Laura Spinella
US: 1930 Springcrest Rd, CO Springs 80920
mail: 9685 Otero Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80920
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