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4/25/2023 DUGGINS FAMILY e-Update April 2023PLEASE NOTE: WE WERE HAVING PROBLEMS WITH OUR MAIL PROGRAM AND WE JUST GOT IT FIXED, SO THIS IS THREE WEEKS LATE. THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE.  Christmas 2022 Greetings in Jesus. Wow, already April! We are prayerful that this season of celebrating the resurrection of our Lord Jesus is filled with joy and blessings for you and your family. We arrived to Fort Myers from our December and January time in Mexico rejoicing greatly that we had the opportunity to be with our family in Queretaro as well as the church families. We were blessed to have the opportunity to participate in the Evaluation and Planning Retreats for three of the four new churches that are part of the IMPACTOnetwork in Mexico. These were blessed times and we were greatly encouraged to see how our teams of church planters are moving forward and how they are being blessed. When we arrived in Fort Myers on February 2 we immediately began unpacking a garage full of boxes. Though we were still attending our responsibilities as Regional Directors and coaching in Mexico, we took most of February and a good part of March organizing and getting some changes in the house done. That process is pretty much done, Eric, just got done with the last piece of IKEA bookshelves.  A new friend came to visit in North Fort Myers  MEDICAL UPDATE: As we settled into Fort Myers, we also began the process of finding a doctor and working through the referrals needed to continue checking on the effectiveness of the cancer treatment that was done a year ago. Eric had his next CT Scan at the first of March and then it took almost a month to get to a doctor to confirm the results. We just had that appointment with the Lee Medical Regional Cancer Center and the news continues to be good. The tumors continue to decrease and she thought that Eric's reaction to the treatment had been excellent. She confirmed that he will need to continue the three month schedule that the doctors had indicated at IU Health and Eric's next scan will be June 1. We are thankful for your prayers and words of encouragement. The scans are becoming a bit more routine and though it was a bit stressful trying to get all the referrals worked through in a new city and with a new medical group, it now seems to be in place.  Administrative Team of new Church in Merida, Yucatan (Eric is taking the photo) REGIONAL DIRECTORS and IMPACTO Ministries
We continue to be blessed as we work in partnership with the affiliates of New International in the Americas region. We did a field visit to Phoenix to visit with Bob and Peggy Kuest. Bob and Peggy have been with New International for several years and though now retired, they still participate in teaching projects in several regions when those invitations are given. We spent three days with them and we left blessed by their wisdom and great commitment to seeing disciples made throughout the word. The next major project on the calendar is the Regional Directors meeting at the CGO (the offices of New International), here in Fort Myers when all the Regional Directors meet annually. This will be held from April 16-21. Then we will be planning a trip to Buffalo to visit with two affiliate families in the Buffalo area. One of those families is working with African Refugees in Buffalo and another family is there on a Home Ministry time (furlough). Our plan is to also visit with a supporting congregation in Maryland. Holly, Sergio and the three grandkids will be visiting with us from April 11 to 26. Sergio and Holly are participating in a week of missions at the Riverside Church here in Fort Myers. And we are going to enjoy the grandkids while they are busy with ministry responsibilities. Toward the end of their time, Eric and Sergio will be doing a quick two day trip to Louisville to meet with the new missions staff member at SouthEast Christian. In June, after Eric's next CT Scan and doctor's appointment, we are planning to return to Queretaro, Mexico on about June 12 and will be in Mexico for the rest of June, all of July and most of August. On the way back to Mexico, we hope to plan a visit with a supporting churches in Houston and in Dallas. For the Mexico time, already, there are some important things on the calendar, a lead pastor of a church in Atlanta will be visiting at the end of June on a research trip and there will be a work group from a church in Maryland. We are planning on visiting in Pachuca for about a week and Eric has been invited to preach at the Jubilee Church and we will continue our participation with the Administrative Groups in person and doing our coaching, also in person. We will of course continue our monthly zoom calls with the affiliates in the Americas Region. We are grateful that we have been able to return to a pretty normal schedule for our ministry. The CTScan schedule does make it necessary that we are in Fort Myers every three months, but so far, that looks like it will not be a problem. We are grateful to so many for your prayers and we are grateful for the financial support we are blessed with from supporters and churches. Again, we pray that your Celebrations of the Resurrection are blessed. Love always, Eric & Dee We were greatly blessed that we were able to spend much of December and all of January in Mexico and participate with the IMPACTOLatino ministry. We participated in three Evaluation and Planning retreats and these year end reports and plans for 2023 promise to make this year the fastest growing year so far for our church plants in and out of Queretaro. LA VIÑA CHRISTIAN CHURCH (QUERETARO) La Viña by the end of 2022 returned to earlier attendance numbers for Sunday celebrations as was being reached before the pandemic. What a breath of fresh air. This is quite an accomplishment considering they also sent off two families to plant the third church plant for IMPACTO here in Queretaro.  CELEBRATION AT LA VIÑA CHURCH EL ANCLA CHRISTIAN CHURCH (QUERETARO) The Ancla church actually has grown to 90+ and they began only two years ago during the Pandemic. They also sent a resident family to begin the 4th IMPACTO church in Merida, Yucatan, last fall.  ADMINISTRATIVE COUNSEL FOR EL ANCLA CHURCH - PLANNING RETREAT EXPANSION MID (EXPANSION MERIDA CHRISTIAN CHURCH) We met with the Merida Planting team January 17-20, along with Andy and Bitia Garcia (Lead Pastors of the Ancla Church) and Phil Banta (Former missionary to Mexico and Hispanic work in the US) to help administer plans for their church launch in April. Tony and Jacky Moreno are the lead pastor and their team, Monse and Deberá have already begun their small groups and are beginning to search out posible locations for their Sunday celebrations.  ADMINISTRATIVE COUNSEL FOR EXPANSION MERIDA CHURCH IMPACTOnetwork IN QUERETARO We are amazed at advances IMPACTO has made even through setbacks. This last summer saw multiple crisis' as one of the team member families had to return the United States to deal with personal issues. Also, the IMPACTO offices were broken into during which we lost cameras and other equipment. Fortunately, the computer that held most of the files done for on-line classes and other teachings was untouched. We were thankful for that, they represented hours of recordings. The projects have continued since key parts of the recording studio was able to be replaced. New printed leadership training studies for the churches are available with online video teachings to be mixed with class time and homework. A new Bible Knowledge Course is being offered by local pastors through the on-line platform and a new Children’s Series, Rocket Kids, has been developed for churches to purchase with informational online videos, instructions, games and and creative ideas to reach non-church communities. It’s hard to keep up with all that’s happening. IMPACTO is also beginning discussions with the next potential Residents that will come to Queretaro and prepare for IMPACTO's next Church Planting project. The year IMPACTO will hold AVANZA (our Church Planter's Assessment Program) after a two year delay through the pandemic issues.  ALVARADO & DUGGINS FAMILIES ON CHRISTMAS MORNING RETURN TO FORT MYERS We return to Ft. Myers on February 2. We will spend some time to unpack and settle into our new home in North Fort Myers. The house papers were signed by a good friend with a Power of Attorney and another family received our furniture and boxes from the moving company. A QUICK MEDICAL UP-DATE ON ERIC We indicated by an up-date that Eric's last CT Scan continued to show that the tumor seems to be shrinking and is "killed". He has his next scan at the end of February. During February, we will have our first appointment with a local Fort Myers medical group and we are hopeful that we will be able to arrange his next scan in the Fort Myers area. If not, we will make a trip back to INDY to do that next scan at IU Medical. UP-COMING EVENTS & PROJECTS We do a zoom call with each of the 13 affiliate families (singles or couples) in the America Region about every 4 to six weeks. It looks like we will be adding two countries to our responsibilities with 5 additional family units in the next months. 22 FEB / La Viña Church Administrative Meeting (Zoom-AM) 22 FEB / Expansion MID Church Administrative Meeting (Zoom-PM) 24 FEB / El Ancla Church Administrative Meeting (Zoom-PM) 27 FEB / Projected CT Scan - Eric 11-19 MAR / Reporting to two supporting congregations in Texas (Houston and Dallas) 22 MAR / La Viña Church Administrative Meeting (Zoom-AM) 22 MAR / Expansion MID (Merida, Yucatan) Church Administrative Meeting (Zoom-PM) 24 MAR / El Ancla Church Administrative Meeting (Zoom-PM) 27-29 MAR / Affiliate Visit in Phoenix (Ministry of Leadership Development) 16-21 APR / Affiliate visit in Council Bluff (Ministry in Romania) 15-21 APR / Annual gathering of Regional Directors of New International in Ft. Myers. PRAYER REQUESTS:
Thanks so much for your continued prayers and support that makes all this possible. We will catch you up on our New International responsibilities as Regional Directors in in our next newsletter, as this is already long. And of course, here is our payer list. 1. Pray for continued good news from the CT Scans for Eric. 2. We would ask for prayers for Pat Bonner, long-time friend and partner in the Mexico Ministry, Pat is having treatments for cancer. 3. Smooooth transition into our new home in North Fort Myers. Lots of paperwork to get done upon return! 4. After several months of distraction, we will be returning to our walking and diet program. Thanks for praying for that process. 5. Please join us in prayer for financial resources as IMPACTO continues to expand church planting projects. 11/28/2022 Medical Update - Eric / November 28, 2022Greetings in Christ.
We are grateful for your prayers. Eric had his next CT Scan and the news was very good. They are sure that the tumor is dead and has shrunk, even to the point that other treatment options would be considered if something returned (i.e. transplant). But at this point all blood tests show completely normal levels and the Interventional Radiologist was extremely happy! They did say that the three month schedule will continue at least another year after which, it will move to every four months for two years and then eventually to twice a year. It looks like he will get used to seeing the inside of scanning machine. We are planning on leaving INDY on Tuesday morning (Nov. 29) to return to Fort Myers. Our house there is progressing but it very likely it will not be ready by the time we return to Mexico on December 17. Just in case that is the case we are leaving a power of attorney with the a friend and director of financial services at New International. And another couple is going to receive our furniture. We will be in Mexico until February 2 and will participate in the Evaluation and Planning Retreats for three of the Church Plants in Mexico as well as a planning time for the IMPACTOLatino staff. In February, we will take several weeks to put the new house in order. We are grateful to the Lord Jesus for His mercies and for the faithful prayers of so many of you! Blessings. Eric & Dee 10/4/2022 A brief e-Update / Oct. 2022Dee and I wanted to give you a quick update. Many have written asking us if we were already in Ft. Myers and expressed concerns because of the Hurricane. We are still in Indy! Our house here closed on Friday, September 30th and the day before we sent our furniture off to storage. We are staying a few days with long-time friends Marvin and Donna Hitchcock in New Palestine, IN.
We got word from the New International staff that the mission campus came through the Huriccane without major damage. Lots of trees down but as far we we understood the buildings did not sustain any major damage. We will be renting one of the houses on campus until our house is finished in North Fort Myers and in fact we had already taken one car load of things there last month. Though the campus has electricity there is still a "boil water" advisory in effect and the campus administrator indicated that it was a challenge to find gas and even groceries stores were limited in operations. She suggested that we delay a bit our travel to the campus so we are remaining here in INDY a few more days and will begin to travel toward Florida starting on Sunday, October 9. We are planning to do church visits in Johnson City, TN and McDonough, GA and we are also planning on doing visits with two affiliates of our Region in Athens, GA. We are in the middle of making those arrangements. We should arrive in Ft. Myers on October 19. Hopefully after a month, things will be returning to some normality in some parts of the Ft. Myers area. We were blessed to also get a message from the construction manager where our small home is being built that damage there was also light. He said there were issues with shingles and a patio sliding door. We are therefore hopeful that our house will be ready in November as planned and that we can get our furniture and boxes into the house before we leave for Mexico in December. We continue to praise our Lord for His kindness and protection. Eric has his next CT Scan at the last of November in INDY. This will most likely be the last one in Indiana and we will need to begin the process of finding new doctors in Florida. We are planning on being in INDY for Thanksgiving and then Eric will be preaching at the Post Road Christian Church on November 27th. On the following Monday, Eric will have his next CT Scan and then after the scan, we will return to Fort Myers and prepare for our ministry time in Queretaro, Mexico to start about December 13. We will be participating in the End of Year Evaluation and Planning Retreats for three of the new churches in Mexico. It is our plan to be in Mexico most of January and then we will return to Fort Myers to finish unpacking and installing ourselves into our new home there. We are grateful for your prayers! Transitions are always a challenge but we have seen our Lord give us mercy and protection beyond what we could ever imagine. Blessings always! Eric & Dee 8/9/2022 Medical Update - EricGreetings in Jesus.
Eric had his next CT Scan this morning (August 9). Results continue to be very positive. The Internal Radiologist said that he could not identify any part of the tumors that had active cells and he felt there had also been a slight decrease in size. These conclusions will be confirmed by other doctors who review the scans. We had hoped that the scheduling would now be every 6 months, however, we will be on the 3 month schedule at least one more time. Next scan should be in November. We are still in the process of selling the house here in Indy. That too is a prayer concern, since the market situation has changed in just a few weeks. We are still hopeful to be completing the move in November, giving us time to return to Mexico in December to participate in the evaluation and planning retreats of the four church plants. Thanks for your prayers. In Christ, Eric & Dee 7/17/2022 Duggins Family e-UpdateGreetings in Jesus. |
 | Eric has his next CT Scan on August 9 and if all goes well and the results are "clean" it is very likely that he will have a 6 month schedule instead of every 3 months. He is feeling good and is even starting to get back to his walking routine and is starting to loose weight that had moved a bit upwards. We will do a small update after the August 9 scan. |
 | It looks like we are on our way to Florida. After a lot of conversation and prayer we have decided to move our family base to Fort Myers, Florida. In conversations with our up-line at N.I., there was an interest to have us involved in more projects with International Operations at New International and it was encouraged that we consider the move to be closer to the CGO. We also were concerned at how inactive we tended to be during the Indiana winters and especially Dee would have more discomfort in her legs from the cold. I guess 40+ years in Tropics and Sub-Tropics changes the "old body". We are presently packing the house after making arrangements with a moving company and our house will be for sale starting on August 1. We would ask that you pray for a smooth and timely process! We also put money down on a house in north Fort Myers and that is being built presently. It is amazing all the moving parts involved in this move but we feel the Lord is in it and we would be grateful if you could also keep this process in your prayers. |
In June we had to make an unscheduled trip to Mexico to deal with an emergency with one of our families there. Though we thought we might be there a month, the situation became more stable and clear and we returned to Indiana after two weeks. Be praying for the IMPACTO Latino ministry, Sergio and Holly Alvarado will be moving the ministry forward as the only full-time family presently on the field. We continue to encourage and counsel with them and plan to be with them in December for the year end meetings and planing retreats for IMPACTO and the church plants.
 Jeremy Beford, N.I. Affiliate with ministry in Romania | Eric will be in Romania for 8 days during the middle of July to accompany a New International missionary and to observe his ministry there with youth and young adults, many of which are graduates of State orphanages and others that are still residents in those institutions. Jeremy Beford is also helping with refugee relief which is a growing problem in Romania because of war in Ukraine. |
Though our responsibilities as the Americas Regional Directors takes a good portion of our ministry time, we continue to be part of the IMPACTO Team ministry. We are focused presently on the formation and on-going functioning of the Management Teams for each of the New Church Plants. These management teams function as Elders for each church until an Eldership can be chosen. We are serving on the four teams, one of which we lead and two other are in the process for forming. A lot is done by Zoom and other electronic methods, but we are always looking forward to the in-person meeting times. A very important time will be December and January, when the Evaluation and Planning retreats are held for the church by their leadership, when we will be in Mexico. We also continue to be involved in fundraising projects for the church plants.
Next year, Eric will be traveling to several locations related to our ministry as Regional Directors. Though dates are not set, trips will be planned for Haiti and South Africa as well as Council Bluffs, Buffalo, Athens, GA, Phoenix and Los Angeles. All these locations in the United States are with NI Affiliates that are based in the US and have ministries in other international locations or are working with ethnic groups in their US location. The variety of ministries are a challenge and often involve a learning curve which we really enjoy, but we have been blessed to be pastorally involved with these families and as their up-line at New International.
ON THE CALENDAR:
20-29 July / Trip to Romania.
1-8 August / House Showing. 19 August / Admin Meeting Expansion Merida, Yucatan.
1 or 2 September / Moving company packs and moves to storage the INDY house.
16-24 September / New International Reginal Directors meetings and Retreat in Lisbon, Portugal.
27 September / Admin Meeting La Viña Church.
29 September / Admin Meeting the Anchor Church.
26-30 September / Our move to Florida. We will be staying on Campus of New International until our house is closed on in Mid-November.
25 October / Admin Meeting the Anchor Church.
27 October / Admin Meeting La Viña Church
5-10 November / Eric will be participating at the Tri-Annual Mission Week at Mountain Christian Church in Maryland.
24 November / Admin Meeting the Anchor Church
29 November / Admin Meeting La Viña Church
13 December / We will return to Mexico for Christmas and for the year-end planning meetings for the new churches.
20-21 December / Planning meeting for the Anchor Christian Church, Queretaro.
3-4 January / Planning Meeting for the La Viña Christian Church, Queretaro.
10-11 January (?) / Tentative dates for the Planning meetings for the new church in Merida, Yucatan.
Prayer Requests:
- Eric's Trip to Romania, Safety and a good introduction the the ministry.
- Smooth and timely sale of the INDY house.
- Be praying for Andrew, as he also going through transition, again. He has been with us since returning from Minneapolis. He is moving to an apartment in Martinsville, IN at the first of August.
- We are grateful for you prayers. Be praying for our Lord's good mercy as Eric has his next CT Scan. We are praying for a "clean" scan.
5/3/2022
MEDICAL UPDATE ON ERIC
We are rejoicing!
We returned to INDY from Queretaro yesterday afternoon (May 2) and got back to the house in INDY about 1:30 AM. Today (May 3) we did a bit of unpacking and got ready for the appointments at IU Hospital that was the first follow-up after the Radiation treatments that was done at the end of February. Eric had blood tests and a High Contrast CT Scan and then we met with the Radiologist that did the Y90 radiation treatment.
The news was excellent!
The doctor did start with a word of caution, that the scans will still be reviewed by another specialist, but according to his revision the tumors have been killed.
The scans did show one small area on the largest tumor that still showed a "reflectiveness" that often would indicate active cells, however, he felt that this area was not in-fact active.
The other specialist will look over the scans to confirm his conclusion and also will look over the rest of the scans to confirm that there are no suspicious areas throughout the body core.
There is no additional treatment presently in consideration. We will begin a process of having the CT Scans about every three months and that will most likely continue over the next few years.
We are so very grateful for the prayers of so many who have lifted up this medical concern on our behalf! We are feeling blessed because the Lord has been gracious to us during this whole process.
In Jesus,
Eric & Dee
We returned to INDY from Queretaro yesterday afternoon (May 2) and got back to the house in INDY about 1:30 AM. Today (May 3) we did a bit of unpacking and got ready for the appointments at IU Hospital that was the first follow-up after the Radiation treatments that was done at the end of February. Eric had blood tests and a High Contrast CT Scan and then we met with the Radiologist that did the Y90 radiation treatment.
The news was excellent!
The doctor did start with a word of caution, that the scans will still be reviewed by another specialist, but according to his revision the tumors have been killed.
The scans did show one small area on the largest tumor that still showed a "reflectiveness" that often would indicate active cells, however, he felt that this area was not in-fact active.
The other specialist will look over the scans to confirm his conclusion and also will look over the rest of the scans to confirm that there are no suspicious areas throughout the body core.
There is no additional treatment presently in consideration. We will begin a process of having the CT Scans about every three months and that will most likely continue over the next few years.
We are so very grateful for the prayers of so many who have lifted up this medical concern on our behalf! We are feeling blessed because the Lord has been gracious to us during this whole process.
In Jesus,
Eric & Dee
3/9/2022
HELPING UKRAINIAN REFUGEES
Greetings in Christ Jesus.
Refugees are leaving the Ukraine in record numbers. One of our New International affiliates ministers in Romania and is now trying to help several ministries in various parts of Romania to minister to Ukrainian Refugees. These ministries are confronting a situation that is quickly moving beyond resources that they have access to. And the situation is expected to only worsen with the next waves of refugees who will have growing needs as the escape from Ukraine has become more difficult and dangerous.
We wanted to let you know that you can help with the Refugee needs through the following link at New International. This will be Refugee work through Romanian Christian groups who have been working in Romania various years.
The following link can be copy-pasted or the donation page can be found on the New International webpage under "PROJECTS"
https://newinternational.org/give/campaign/ukrainian-refugees
If you have question, please contact Jeremy Beford* at: jbefort@newinternational.org
Blessings,
Eric & Dee
*Jeremy Beford is a New International missionary that has ministered in Romania more than a decade.
2/23/2022
Medical Update - Eric / February 23
Greetings in Jesus.
Eric's out-patient surgery to implant the Y90 beads was yesterday morning. The doctor came to talk with us after the procedure and really seemed very encouraged. He said the scans showed that the radiation was right where it needed to be and that it had not moved into other parts of the liver or beyond.
The radiation has a very short half-life and will do its process of killing the cancer in the next few days. Because the beads have stayed where they intended, any collateral damage to the liver should be minimal. Then it will take time for the liver to adjust and heal. After three months (end of May, first of June) he will have the scans redone to see the results.
Until then, the doctor said, "live life normally". We are therefore taking him as his word, we will be participating in the Regional Directors' meeting in Fort Myers (March 6-11). Traveling next week, we are working on two church appointments and then after our return to INDY, on about March 22, we will be flying to Queretaro, Mexico and will be there until May 1. During the first week of May we will have two follow-up appointments with our general doctor and the Liver Specialists and then as we mentioned, scans will be redone at the end of May/first of June.
Again, we are grateful for the prayers and notes of encouragement. This Medical Update will be the last we will do until the scans are redone in May/June unless there is an urgent need. We would ask you to keep Eric's healing on your prayer list over the next three months.
Blessings and love always.
Eric & Dee
2/14/2022
Medical Update - Eric / February 13
Greetings in Jesus.
We are so very grateful for the prayers and encouraging words of so many over these past two months as we have been dealing with Eric's medical issues. We wanted to update you where things are at the moment:
-The procedure to map the tumor in the liver was a success and the results showed that the planned treatment should be relatively safe. The process was set in motion to order the Y90 radiation treatment. We got word three days later that a date was set for the next procedure.
-The treatment to implant the Y90 beads will be done on Tuesday, February 22, early in the morning. This treatment should be quicker than the mapping procedure and the recovery time should be about the same two days of rest. The doctor indicated that there will most likely be an extended period of tiredness, about two weeks, as the body reacts to the radiation. However, if all moves forward positively, we will be able to return to our normal life for about three months, at which time new evaluations will be done as to how effective the treatment has been and to make decisions as to if there is a need to repeat the process.
Thanks again for praying!
In Jesus,
Eric & Dee
Eric & Dee Duggins
The Duggins have been missionaries for more than 40 years, the last 38 in Mexico. They are currently Regional Director of the Americas with New International and Directors of Development with IMPACTO Latino.
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