Witzke Wood

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Do not say, "I will repay evil"; wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

"In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

Senior Airman Tre Porfirio was laying cable in Afghanistan near the Pakistan border, on November 21 when he was shot three times in the back from about ten feet away, by an insurgent who had been posing as a member of the Afghanistan army. It required eleven surgeries to reconstruct his abdomen, including some that were groundbreaking. This surgery was the first known successful transplant of insulin producing cells after severe trauma resulting in the complete loss of the pancreas, according to Walter Reed officials.

On May 6, the Huber Senior Carvers, who meet at the Huber Heights Senior Center, had the opportunity and pleasure of meeting SA Tre Porfirio and the “special lady” in his life, Ahja Nock. They had been invited to stop by the center so they could be presented a special hand carved eagle head cane. The Huber Senior Carvers have been participating in the Eagle Head Cane Project for over three years. Originally this project was started by a group of carvers in Eastern Oklahoma, and has spread to just about every state.

The goal is to “provide presentation canes to a select group of post 9-11 veterans who have received some manner of leg disability from combat related action.

The 21 year old senior airman received lifesaving medical attention at U.S. military hospitals in Afghanistan and Germany before being removed to Walter Reed on November 24. There, a transplant surgeon, removed Porfirio’s pancreas, iced it down and had it flown to Miami where a specialist, Dr. Camillo Ricordi, who had developed a method for isolating insulin-producing islet cells, waited. Dr. Ricordi, and his staff, spent a very early Thanksgiving Day harvesting the islet cells. They then were put into a solution, bagged and flown back to Washington for the infusion into Porfirio’s liver later on Thanksgiving Day.

Tre Porfirio had eleven surgeries in 20 days, and has more ahead of him. He can expect to appear in several medical journals, because of this record breaking surgery. Doctors hope that his body will have enough ability to regulate blood sugar levels enough so that he will suffer little or no effects from diabetes.

When Porfirio was asked by Jake Jacobsen, who carved the eagle for his cane, as to what type presentation ceremony he would prefer, the answer was for a nice, simple and quiet presentation. Otherwise, newspapers and television reporters would have swarmed the Huber Senior Center to photograph and interview the man, who had such groundbreaking surgery.

That was not the case on July 9, when he was awarded the Purple Heart at a ceremony that took place at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
































Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

"Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

John Freels, Smoky Mountain Woodcarver from Knoxville Tennessee made a cane to be raffled at the MD chapter of the Patriot Guard Ridders and lucky Zeb Miller, whose grandfather made the purchase with a $411.00 bid, is now the proud owner.

Ann and Ted helped host a picnic for the local area hospitals including Walter Reed and Zeb enjoyed the canes, motorcycles and crowds.

Well done John. jack

Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. Keep my statutes and do them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you.

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.