Continue to pray for
Brother Roger Blevins
South America Director

On Sunday morning February 3 at 3:21 a.m., Brother Roger Blevins, BIMI’s Field Director for South America, was hit head-on by a drunk driver. He had gotten up and left just after 3:00 a.m. to travel to Boone, North Carolina, for a speaking engagement that morning. He was 2.8 miles from his house when the accident took place.

Both femurs were crushed and one of the main arteries in his right leg burst. The first day he received 33 units of blood. They initially thought he would lose his right leg but after several hours of surgery they were able to re-establish a pulse in his leg. They eventually were able to repair the artery. At the time the extent of other injuries was unknown. He was listed in critical condition. Due to the amount of trauma they used external fixcators to stabilize both legs and would later have to begin the process of fixing the bones.

For 23 days Brother Roger would slip in and out of consciousness, all the while in ICU remaining in critical condition. Because of the amount of injury to his right leg, it had to be amputated.

On July 12, five months and 11 days after the accident, Brother Roger returned home. PRAISE THE LORD!

Updated September 11, 2008

Today is Friday, November 21, 2008. It's hard to believe that the holidays are upon us! I wanted to send out an update to let you know how things are going with us, and to wish you all a blessed and happy Thanksgiving!!

As to my health, I can joyfully and thankfully say that I am doing much better! The rehab is going well, all though there are days when I feel really tired from all the exercises that they put me through. I am walking a lot now, but still I have to use a standard walker. It is hard work. The Prosthetist says that I expend about 200% more energy walking with my prosthetic leg than I did before the amputation. Not only is the walking tiring, but it causes considerable discomfort when I walk long distances (200 feet is a long way for me) or for long periods of time. I had an appointment with the prosthesis last week, and she made some adjustments that helped alleviate some of the discomfort, but I am going to have to wait until after the first of the year to be fitted for a new socket. That's the part of the leg that my stump actually fits into. The prosthesis says that the new socket will make a big difference in how the leg actually feels, and that should allow me to make greater progress.

I have also started to walk a little bit with what they call a pyramid walker. It's like a one sided walker with four legs on one side to form a stable base. When I improve to where to I can get around pretty well on that, (which may take a while) the next step will be a cane. I can tell each week that I am getting stronger. My endurance level has greatly increased. I am taking less and less pain medicine, and I just feel better in general.

Praise the Lord, I now have hand controls on my van, so I am able to drive!! It is great to get back that little bit of independence! I have gone to the grocery store and to Wal-Mart a couple of times, and I went for a haircut last week. That doesn't sound like such a big deal, but when you haven't been able to do that for over nine months, it's a pretty good accomplishment.

The Lord has opened the door for me to preach a few more times in the last several weeks, so slowly, but surely, I am getting back into the swing of things. Several pastors have told me that they would like for me to come to their churches when I was able; well, I am ready, willing and able, so we are praying that my schedule will start to fill up for 2009. I have already resumed my responsibilities as South American Field Director with BIMI and I look forward to being able to get back out in churches, preaching missions and sharing my story. The Lord has brought us through a lot over the past nine months and I hope you'll join us in praying that HE will use it all to bring honor and glory to HIS name.

Thanks so much for praying!! Prayer has brought us to where we are, and only prayer will take us to where the Lord wants us to go; so please keep on praying!

Yours for the Harvest,

Roger D. Blevins
Eph. 3:20