Submitted by Tom Goracke on Fri, 07/18/2008 - 13:23
Dear Family & Friends,
I found a little time to give a brief update on what is happening with Tamara Cook and other ministry events of this immediate time.
I am actually writing to you from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia once again! Why KL Malaysia??? Well, that has to do with Tamara and Charles Cook. Let me start with an update on Tamara...
The surgery was successful in the repairs needed to relieve the pre-surgery pain and she is now undergoing daily therapy and has even begun walking a little bit each day! She is still in the hospital, but might be released as early as next week! Once again, I thank you for your prayers on behalf of the Cook family. Tamara will need to continue therapy for the next three months from what Charles has reported, but nevertheless, she has been blessed by the God of all mercy and has been delivered from this painful trial.
Now, as to why am I back in Malaysia... I am in KL once again because Charles was scheduled to present a Servant Leadership seminar and a Gospel meeting starting this evening (Friday) with the Wangsa Maju church. Due to Tamara's health situation, we all knew he needed to be with his wife.
Submitted by Tom Goracke on Mon, 07/14/2008 - 17:28
Sunday 8:15pm Singapore time
Hello everyone,
Tamara was in surgery for a little longer than 6 hours Saturday (2:00pm to 8:00+pm). It took longer than thought due to extra "repairs" needing to be done, but she is presently recovering in ICU and will be there for a day or two. Then she will be moved to a regular hospital room. Her previous pain has been relieved! Now she is going through whatever recovery pain there is to be found after a back surgery.
Please continue your prayers in her and Charles behalf and I will update you as time goes by. Thank you for your partnership in prayer through this trial for the Cook family.
On a different note.... We just finished up our second weekend of studies with Gerald Paden teaching the Old Testament sacrificial system course and next weekend he will return to include a study of the book of Hebrews. Near 40 students are in regular attendance!
Submitted by Tom Goracke on Mon, 06/09/2008 - 14:10
Dear Family & Friends,
FINALLY!!!... our first newsletter from Singapore! Due to no Internet connection yet at our apartment, I have had limited access to receiving and sending emails because we have spent most of this past week just getting settled into our home. There will be more to come!
Our love to you,
Tom, Nancy, Jaydon & Shayla
Read attached PDF
Submitted by Tom Goracke on Sat, 05/24/2008 - 06:00
Dear Family & Friends,
It is Saturday night our time in Singapore and I just wanted to send out this quick update so you can report to the church you worship and serve with what is happening with the Goracke family.
We have been welcomed here with a "red carpet treatment" by many here. Jaydon & Shayla are still wrestling with the time changes, but are getting closer to sleeping through the night. This will make it easier on mom & dad when it happens too!
We signed a contract on our apartment this afternoon , but will not be able to move into it until this Friday at the earliest. We were excited to see it today! It will make a nice home for our family.
We have been staying with the Winston Chong family from the Pasir Panjang church. Winston serves as a deacon for the church as well as a board member for SIBI Singapore. He and all of his family have just blessed us with their warm hospitality.
Winston's wife, Hong Ngee, helped us to get our Singapore bank account set up on the first day we arrived here as well as helped us with preparations to use certain public transportation. Already we have gone out in exploration to get around by ourselves.
Submitted by Tom Goracke on Mon, 05/19/2008 - 14:14
Dear Family & Friends,
The time is near for our departure to Singapore!
We have been busy with all the necessary preparations and have finished up with several visits with supporting churches and brethren. We have one more meeting time with our overseeing church in Seagraves, Texas tomorrow, Sunday the 18th.
We are scheduled to fly out of Lubbock at about 7:00 am on Tuesday the 20th to arrive in Singapore just after 12 am on the 22nd...
Singapore time.
We were blessed by the service of a Singapore brother and Charles Cook, the administrator for SIBI Singapore, to have our housing secured as early as June 1st. We will be staying with Singapore brethren until then.
We request your continued prayers as we make our final preparations in the next couple of days and for the blessing of safe travels all the way to Singapore. Upon arrival, I will send out a notice as soon as possible.
Thank you for your partnership and your
encouragement in every way. Know of our love and continued prayers for you.
In service to Jesus and His Gospel,
Tom, Nancy, Jaydon & Shayla
Submitted by Tom Goracke on Wed, 04/16/2008 - 13:15
Dear Family and Friends,
As with the account of Abraham, The Lord commanded the man of faith not to lay a hand on the boy Isaac. In place of the boy, "Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, 'On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided'." (Gen.22:13-14 NIV)
Today, the LORD provided all of our financial support needs for the first two years of our committed service in Singapore! Through the partnership of his church, God has supplied our every need! Through you and your faithful prayers on our behalf, God has heard and given us success! Praise to HIM who provides for the success of His work!
Now we will be making our final preparations for our departure to start serving in the actual work of the Singapore International Bible Institute. We ask that you continue your faithful prayers in our behalf. As always, we will keep you informed of our progress as the events unfold.
In preparation for serving Asia,
Tom Goracke (and family)
Submitted by Tom Goracke on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 13:45
Brethren,
We are preparing to leave tomorrow morning (Friday) for two meetings with two definite supporters. The first is with the Eastwood church in Hutchinson, KS. They have given me both the am worship time and a special afternoon "Mission Study" time to preach and give our presentation about the Singapore work.
From there we will go to Shawnee, OK to meet with George's friend (reference/lead), who has informed me of his and possibly other individual committments. From there we will probably visit the Memorial Rd church in Edmond, OK who helped us with a one time gift.
Also we are trying to arrange other meetings with interested churches in MO, KY, AL and possibly others. We have one "definite anytime" meeting invitation with a church in KY, but would really like to firm up other opportunities to make the trip more economical as well as fruitful from other visits along the way.
Submitted by Tom Goracke on Wed, 04/09/2008 - 15:41
Dear Family & Friends,
I know many of you have been anxiously awaiting the response to my phone meeting from this past Friday evening concerning the financial support possibility that I wrote and asked you to be praying about. That Friday meeting extended into a second phone meeting on Monday morning, by which time I was able with the help of dear friends, to get our packet information into the hands of the considering party. After that meeting, like many of you, I waited as patiently as possible until I received a phone call from the considering party late this afternoon (Tuesday).
In answer to all of our prayers, this party has committed to a generous one time offering with the consideration of contributing even more in the future after a face to face meeting. So it is our plan to visit with this party soon and to attempt to arrange as many other meetings as is possible with other interested churches and Christians.
Submitted by Tom Goracke on Fri, 03/28/2008 - 21:57
Dear Family & Friends,
Incredibly, another month in this year is almost gone! But it has certainly been enjoyable to finally see spring arrive… even though in this part of the country most people would never agree that it is really here. We had 3 inches of snow after the first day of Spring officially arrived and it is still possible that our April showers might be snow showers. The temperature continues to get below freezing every night, but the days are warming up fast! On to the news of this past month!
Nancy and I spent the first few days of this month doing what most people really don’t look forward to doing… taxes. Fortunately, everything went well and that is behind us for another year!
