Please pray for Peter DeSoto and his family.  The DeSotos are a family from Copperhill who are now missionaries in  El Salvador.  Yesterday afternoon, Pete was shot in the neck while driving through the jungles of El Salvador.  At this point, we don't believe that Pete's life is in danger, but this is definately a trying time for the family. 

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Here is an email  from Scott Anderson who is a good friend of Pete's

"Peter was shot in the neck while driving a van through the jungles of El Salvador.  There were 10 people in his van and it appears that the gunman was trying to stop the van by killing Pete.  He fired four shots into the van, and Pete was the only one hit.  A second van was following them, and it seems the gunman was scared off when the second van drove up.

Though he felt a burning sensation in his neck, he did not realize he was shot at first which likely indicates that the gun was of a small caliber.  There was a nurse who works with Peter in the second van who gave Peter immediate medical attention to stop the bleeding and took him to a local clinic.  They were about 4 hours drive from the city, so they were concerned about getting him proper medical attention and Pete was very scared and in shock.  Dara said that he actually thought he died at one point and was very concerned that he had left his 4 children behind.  So scary!!!
 
The nurse called the HDQ office of Enlace (the organization that Peter works with) and asked what they thought they should do.  Someone at Enlace knew someone at the American Embassy, so they called and the Embassy sent a government helicopter out into the jungle to pick Pete up and bring him to the one high-quality, modern hospital in San Salvador. 

Pete was able to talk through all of this and it appeared that the bleeding had stopped and that nothing significant was damaged in his neck.  Upon arrival at the hospital they thought that the bullet had simply passed through his neck, but they performed an MRI to make sure and found that a bullet or piece of a bullet was lodged in his esophagus.  The doctors said that this was the safest place for it to be lodged but that they would need to operate to remove the bullet.  The last I heard, Pete was going in for a surgery that seemed fairly low risk and was supposed to take about 2 hours.

His parents flew in from San Diego late last night, but obviously, everyone is extremely worried.  I am very concerned about Peter, but my heart breaks for Dara and the kids.  I guess the boys know what happened, but they felt the girls were too young to process the information.
 
I cannot believe all of this is happening and wish that I could be there with them.  Please pray!
 
Scott Anderson

Here is the latest news in another email from Scott: 

“Peter is through the surgery.  The stories that we continue to hear are pretty intense.  Without the nurse in the van behind him, he would have bled out.  She knew how to slow the bleeding.  Without the helicopter from the embassy, he would have bled out.  The surgery went well.  They brought him in twice.  Once to remove the bullet and once to reconstruct his trachea and esophagus… everything went well and he is actually been moved to level below the ICU.  The big concern now is infection forming in his chest cavity from the surgery or exposure before the surgery, but they think that is unlikely.
 
Isaac and PJ came to the hospital to see Pete before he went into surgery last night, and Dara has been with him through everything.  Pete’s dad, John, took a midnight flight to El Salvador last night and is there right now.  Many others are considering going for support…

To top it all, there was an earthquake in San Salvador last night while they were at the hospital.  Craziness!”

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Last night, we had a prayer meeting for Pete.  It was so encouraging to see the church come together on a moment's notice, to lift up Peter and his family.  Brian Howard, our pastor, also said there was a church in Hawaii praying as well as one in Hunington Beach.  What a beautiful picture of the body of Christ!  Please continue to pray for healing and strength for Peter and his family.  Pray that the Lord would use this situation to glorify Himself and open doors for the gospel.