Dear friends,

I'm writing from Jerusalem, where my family and I will be staying for the rest of the summer, God willing, in a lovely home with a large garden in the center of the city.

Even as we've moved here the rescue of Palestinian children who need heart surgery is accelerating. Yesterday five-month-old Ahmed, from a poor rural family near our home in the Gaza Strip, had emergency surgery in Haifa to remove a problematic valve in his heart. Ahmed is an only son, just like little Hussein who went to Haifa nearly a month ago (and is still hospitalized there). To my surprise Ahmed's father began weeping as we spoke on the phone yesterday before his son's surgery, just as Hussein's father did a month ago. This is uncommon in Gaza, a sign that the fathers' hearts are deeply touched at this most sensitive point: the life of their only son.

And today, even as I write, another only son, two-year-old Abed Rabo, is undergoing catheterization in an effort to release one or more umbrella-like devices which will close a hole in his heart. The hole is impossible to reach by surgery, causing us to turn for the first time to the highly-advanced catheterization lab at the Schneider Children's Medical Center in Israel. The cardiologist there, Dr. Elhanan Bruckheimer, hopes this will be the first of many cases we will partner on together. We helped to rush Abed Rabo and his mother to Israel late last night in order to make today's procedure possible.

We'll need to contribute $2500 toward Ahmed's surgery, and $3500 for Abed Rabo's catheterization (each umbrella device alone costs $5000). Yet these are lives truly plucked from the fire by God's grace; they had no other chance to live. And thank God, we have started to see some income over the past week toward our obligations. Please would you pray with us for these Palestinian children and their Israeli doctors, and for the resupplying we need to continue in this battle.

Jonathan Miles
Coordinator
Light to the Nations
POB 7012
Holon 58170
Israel

Non-profit organization 58 025 750 9.