DUGGINS FAMILY e-Update April 2023

PLEASE 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. 

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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.  ​

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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.
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Love always,
​Eric & Dee ​

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