Please Pray for Emily!

This cutie pie is Emily Choi. I am writing to ask you to please, please pray for her. She is 18 months old and has been recently diagnosed with stage 4, high-risk neuroblastoma, a.k.a. CANCER. She has two tumors, one in her brain and one in her abdomen. She has one round of chemotherapy under her belt and will undergo six more rounds over the next six months. The goal of this treatment is to reduce the size of the tumors so that they can ultimately be removed surgically.

Emily is the daughter of one of our pastors, Pastor Aaron Choi. Pastor Aaron and his wife Tina moved along with their son, Silas, from Orange County to the Bay Area to plant a church two years ago. David and I were very blessed to have the opportunity to hear Pastor Aaron preach several times before they moved. David also had the opportunity to visit the church plant, Berean Mission Church, when he attended a conference in San Francisco. Pastor Aaron preaches with authority and conviction, and Berean Mission Church is blessed to have him as their pastor!

When our twins were born, they each had health issues. Jonathan was in the NICU because he had trouble breathing and Matthew was in a Children's Hospital because he was jaundiced and dehydrated. At that time, I feared for their lives. That experience gave me just the smallest inkling of what Pastor Aaron and Tina are going through.  So, I just want to urge you to pray for her!

Please pray for God to heal Emily from this cancer and to give wisdom and skill to all the medical professionals involved.

Please pray for Pastor Aaron and Tina that their faith will be firm and steadfast and that God will supply them with all the strength and courage that they need to walk through this trial as they care for Emily, including giving her injections at home (tears!)

Please pray for Emily's big brother Silas. I'm sure it's really rough on Silas having his parents and Emily gone during her hospital stays. He does have lots of aunties and uncles caring for him, but no one replaces mom and dad.

Please pray for the ministry of Berean Mission Church as leaders step up to enable the church to continue to flourish.