Church of the Nazarene Asia-Pacific

Manila, Philippines: In a new church plant in downtown Makati, there is a remarkable young man named Roldan. Roldan has been an orphan for many years and has been living in the aptly named Village of Hope. In June of this year, he began the pursuit for a degree in theology and music from the Philippine Missionary Institute. With an intelligent creative spirit and a passion for Christ, Roldan was on his way to incredible things.

And then a giant stepped in his path.

In August, Roldan was diagnosed with a bacterial infection of the heart valves – infectious endocarditis. In the treatments that followed, Roldan faced first acute kidney failure and then liver failure. As if that were not enough, the nature of the infection caused incredible damage to his heart. Three of his heart valves would need to be replaced.

The surgery would be both incredibly expensive and very risky. Through gracious discounts from doctors and donations from sponsors, the heavy price tag was met and the surgery date was set for December 9^th.

In all of this, God was (and is) at the focus of everyone’s attention. Roldan was covered in prayer from people all over the world. God roused well over five hundred prayer warriors from at least twenty six nations. He settled Roldan in a tight nit group of believers in Makati. He wrapped his arms around this young man through caretaker Jam David and friend Ricardo.

On December 9^th, Roldan was rolled into the OR to replace three major heart valves in a surgery that typically takes five to seven hours. At 10:30 PM, Philippine time, the report came in from the orphanage operator Jeanete Auxtero Propp: “thank you Lord for getting Roldan through his operation!”

Not only did God bring Roldan through the procedure but it was discovered that only two of the three valves needed replacing. Ten hours later, according to Jam David from Village of Hope, “he woke up! Smiled, gave us a ‘salute’ sign!”

But the giant has not yet been slain completely.

While the surgery did indeed go as planned, Roldan has a very serious battle to fight in recovery. Due to the high cost of medical care and all of the potential problems that come from such a major surgery, Roldan is still in urgent need of prayer. His heart rate is unusually high and his hemoglobin is low. Prayer is requested for Roldan, the medical teams, and the Village of Hope family.