Update June 29 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

Grace to you! My God is an awesome God! This letter comes to you filled with faith and a request for prayer. I am asking for God’s children – His Warrior Bride – to stand with me for my very good friend Cade. Many of you may remember me talking/writing to you about her. I love her and her family very deeply. She is a very precious person who loves Jesus so much and truly illuminates Jesus. I just got back from visiting her in the hospital as she is contending with something very serious and it is for this reason that I am writing to you this evening.

Good news is that Cade (and her husband Esau) gave birth to her second child on June 20. She now has a beautiful baby girl named Pricilla. I got to visit Cade the day that she gave birth to Pricilla and she was doing very well and full of joy. Everything went well until yesterday morning.

Cade woke up with a severe headache and had called for her sister-in-law Ceu (means Heaven in English) to come help with the children while she went to the hospital, but before she could even leave her left leg stopped working and she could not walk on it. They some how got her to the hospital by using a motorbike, but when she got to the hospital and got off of the bike she fell to the ground in convulsions. Ceu said that a crowd was all around Cade and she could not even look at her because all she could do was cry. The hospital took her in and gave her some meds, but said that she needed to be transferred to the Central Hospital of Beira.

Cade had more than one episode of convulsions which were very hard on her body. Esau (her husband) called me in the morning right after this happened in Dondo, but unfortunately I was on my way to Beira to do a few errands in the early morning and so could not go to the hospital to see her (I did not know exactly what happened, but new she “was sick”). When I got back to Dondo Esau called to let me know Cade was going to Beira so I was not able to see her yesterday.

I knew in my spirit that something serious was happening with her before I even heard the news. I was told what happened later on in the day by one of her sisters. Today I went with two of Cade’s sisters and Ceu to visit her in the hospital in Beira. When we walked in her room at the hospital it was difficult at first to see her like she was but I just took her by the hand and began to speak life to her.

She cried and said “Mana Ashlee please pray for me”. We gathered around her and prayed for her, declaring God’s promise of healing and health over her body and His peace to overpass her. She is not able to move her left arm or leg, but she can feel when people touch her. She can move her fingers on her left hand, but that is it. Her headache is gone and she has not had anymore convulsions/seizures today. She said that yesterday she would get extreme tension in her head and then the convulsions/seizures would begin.

She has not been able to nurse Pricilla yesterday or today, but thankfully Esau was able to get milk for her today and so Pricilla was able to eat. I can’t say how much I love this family. Jesus’ heart is so big for this family and His love and grace are sufficient. My natural mind would want to tell me there is no hope and think of what is happening to my precious friend Cade, but I am fighting with her in this spiritual battle and we have and will win because Jesus’ blood was too precious to be spilt for nothing….His blood and strips already paid for this so Cade does not need to carry or contend with it.

Please stand with me for my friend Cade’s life. She has two children, Pricilla and Joel (her son who is about 6). I have attached a picture of Cade and me so that you can put a face to her name. She is Chico’s sister for those who remember me speaking about Chico. The picture was taken before I left to visit America in November.

God bless you and THANK YOU!!!
Ashlee