KONOMALA

Please pray for our friend Ken.
In short, he is currently in the capital city with Luke to get a diagnosis (and hopefully help) for a serious medical issue.

This last week has been a bit of whirlwind here in Konomala. Ken is one of our very good friends and a faithful man in the church. A couple months ago, he started having a pretty serious issue with his stomach. He hasn’t been able to keep any food down and has lost a dramatic amount of weight. The problem got aggressively worse over the last week or so to the point that it became obvious that he needed better medical attention than what’s available around here. If nothing was done, there was a very high likelihood that he would just slowly starve to death. 

After conversations with a number of doctors in PNG, we found out that the only hospital in the country that can perform the tests and potential medical procedures that Ken may need is located in the capital city, Port Moresby.

So, mid morning on Wednesday, we left Konomala in our truck and drove 4 hours to the nearest town. Myself along with Michael, another faithful man in the church, took Luke and Ken to a public boat service where they were able to get on the last boat of the day. That alone was a small miracle!

The next morning, the two of them were able to get on a plane to the capital city … yet another small miracle.

Yesterday, Ken was able to get blood work done along with an X-ray and ultrasound of his stomach. After the X-ray came back, Luke and Ken had a short appointment with the doctor. Nothing is conclusive yet, but the doctor seemed pretty concerned that Ken could have an aggressive, cancerous tumor growing around his esophagus. That was heavy news for Ken, his family, and all of us here in Konomala.

PRAY right now for Ken’s appointment this morning as the doctor will hopefully be able to give more information after seeing the results from the bloodwork and ultrasound. If needed, an endoscopy is already scheduled for this afternoon.

As it comes to mind, pray for Ken’s faith to be strengthened during this very hard time. It’s been a tough stretch of time for him to say the least. 
Also pray for his wife and kids. His wife, Ruth, is a believer, but she has not yet become a faithful member of the church. The two of them have 8 kids, ranging from 3 to 21 years old. 

Pray too for Luke and Ken both as they have had long days of travel and now multiple days of appointments and decisions to make. Pray that God would give them energy, wisdom, and peace of mind.

And lastly, pray for us as a church here in Konomala. It has been a rough season lately with a lot of hardships and very real spiritual battles taking place in peoples’ hearts. Pray that this season and these specific challenges would be a catalyst for us to bond together in love and unity with one mind: together looking to Jesus as our source of life.

If you would like to help financially with the costs for Ken’s travel and medical expenses, you can click below and mark “medical” in the comments line. If you have questions or would like to know more, please let us know. It’s still unknown, but the total cost will likely be between $5,000-$10,000.

Luke is covering all of Ken’s costs while traveling, so whether you give to Hodgdons directly or you give through us … all of the gifts will go to helping Luke cover Ken’s expenses.