A Few Things from Week One

What a great week Amy and I have had here in Bongolo! I have been busy at the hospital teaching anesthesia to the anesthetists and the surgical residents. We have had a few tough cases and some heartbreak but all in all a good week of being the hands of God in ministering to these gracious patients.

Mike is a clinical engineer from Cleveland and accompanied me on this trip. We have spent a lot of the week checking out all the anesthesia and surgical equipment, fixing things when needed and doing some preventative maintenance. It has been a blessing to have him on this trip as I am learning things that will prove useful when I am here without such help. I thank God for bringing us together and for Mike’s servant heart.

Today we spent most of the day celebrating the graduation of one of the PAACS (Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeons) residents, Anatole. We started with church at 9am for a couple hours followed by the graduation ceremony in the same building. This lasted another 2 hours. We then gathered for food, dessert and celebration. It was a joy to honor Anatole and his accomplishment--finishing the 5 year surgery residency. PAACS trains and disciples Christian surgeons to remain in Africa in underserved areas. Part of my responsibility when I am here on short term and eventually when we are here permanently is to teach these residents basic anesthesia skills. Many of them will go to places lacking quality anesthesia services.

Tomorrow we start another busy week in the hospital and mission. We look forward to the end of the week when we will accompany the Thelander family on a trip to the coast for some rest and relaxation.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. Have a blessed week!

“You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” - 2 Timothy 2:2

Cloud Cover

Amy and I arrived at Bongolo Hospital safe and sound yesterday afternoon. Mike (clinical engineer) and Sharon (accountant) are traveling with us to serve at the hospital as well. The last leg of travel is by small airplane from Libreville to Bongolo and takes about 1.5 hours, much easier than the path by road. God has blessed the hospital with the airplane and pilot. It is wonderful to fly, avoiding the 10 hour trip by road. It is long, dusty, bumpy and inconvenient, especially after traveling many hours to get to Gabon. Most of the time during the short flight you get great views of a beautiful county including lush tropical jungle, rivers, and small towns and villages. If you look close enough, you can even see people. It was on a flight like this that God called me to serve at Bongolo.

On yesterday's flight the skies were overcast and we were above the cloud cover. Even though we were flying at the same low altitude, we couldn't see anything--just cloud cover. No jungle, no countryside, no beauty, and no people. As I was peering out the window, God spoke to me again on this flight. As Christians do we spend most of our lives flying above the cloud cover? We like the convenient, quick, fast and clean routes of life. Yet, we cannot see the people below who are hurting and lost. We cannot see God's beauty because we are not even looking.
My prayer for this trip and life is to get below the clouds, take the inconvenient, tough, longer, route. That's where we see the people and their hurts and lostness. That's were we see God.

Continued Path to Bongolo

Amy and I have been called by God to serve Him full time at Bongolo Hospital in Gabon, Africa. We are eager to get there, but understand there is process and training necessary to serve in another culture. We started the application process with the Christian and Missionary Alliance in May of 2014 and have been progressing through their requirements and interviews over the last 15 months. While this may seem a long time, as is usually the case, God's timing prevails. He has taught us many things through the process and will continue as we progress to working at Bongolo. 

We sold our house and moved to a condo a few months back. We are getting settled in and continue to "downsize" and get rid of our "junk". This summer we also completed medical exams, personality assessments, and language learning assessments. I have no idea how I scored "above-average" on the this test.

The next step is our final interview with the CMA. It is with the International Ministries leadership and will be held in Lexington, KY on August 18 from 9a-12noon. Please pray for our preparations for the August 18 interview. Also pray for the interview, specifically that we would communicate our calling and answer any questions clearly.

There are still many steps until we see God's calling fulfilled. We remain obedient to the call and simply concentrate on the next step. That's all God asks of us. He will work out the details. 

Thank you for your prayers, counsel, and support to date. We may be the ones heading overseas, but you all are a much needed and significant part of our ministry. Join us on this journey. God bless you as you surrender to Him daily. 

"How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “ How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" --Romans 10:14-15

Bongolo Hospital Video

"Five billion people have no access to safe surgery"

In a recent BBC article, the author quotes a study by the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery - "Five billion people have no access to safe surgery." Another staggering statistic from the study shows that "a third of all deaths in 2010 (16.9 million) were from conditions which were treatable with surgery. That was more than the number of deaths from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined."

People sometimes ask me, "why do you spend your time and money to make short-term trips to Africa and why are you on a path to go there full-time?" Aside from the primary reason, a call of God to go, I am burdened by the abysmal health care situation in sub-Saharan Africa, especially as it relates to surgical services. People are dying of very treatable surgical diseases due to lack of resources and education. Here in the US, if you have belly pain and it is determined you have appendicitis, you undergo a relatively simple and safe surgical procedure with safe anesthesia. In a lot of areas of Africa, people with this very treatable disease die due to lack of resources or qualified surgeons. Even if the procedure is attempted, the patient may die from the anesthesia. This same scenario is played out daily with other surgical and obstetric conditions as well.

Check out this video from the Lancet Global Surgery Commission:

While it seems like an overwhelming task to even make a dent in the substandard surgical care in Africa, people are making a difference. One program I work with is the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons - PAACS. The organization trains and disciples African Christian doctors in a Western equivalent surgical residency program. After training, these qualified surgeons then go to underserved areas to serve as leaders and improve the care in these locations. One of my long term goals is to start an anesthetist training program at Bongolo Hospital in Gabon in a similar style, training and discipling Christian anesthesia personnel to go to underserved areas to be leaders in perioperative safety to improve care and save lives.

Bongolo Update

Thelander visit - We had a wonderful time this past week with Keir and Joanna. They stayed at our home from Thursday through Monday. It was a joy to connect and "hang out" and dream of future times in Bongolo. Keir and Joanna had opportunities to speak with small groups at our church, Centerville Community Church. Keir and I spoke at the Sunday services. Keir gave a short message on "the fight" for men and women and their souls. I had the opportunity to give testimony to God's calling for the Lanes to serve at Bongolo. For those interested, the audio is posted at the CCC website  - click here.

CMA Application - We continue through this process, finishing up the required Alliance Polity course. We are awaiting notice from the International Missions office to schedule a Level 2 interview. After that I am told the next step is Board approval and commissioning in Sept or Oct. We look to then start fundraising with plans to begin language school in mid-2016.

Downsizing - God is so good. We put our home up for sale and sold it within one week. Praise Him. We will be moving to a condo in June. We plan to keep this for our use when home and for others to use while we are away. Busy next few months of packing stuff, selling stuff, and moving stuff.

Trip to Bongolo - Plans are for Amy and Jeff to visit Bongolo from Sept 12 to Oct 1. We are looking forward to this time to reconnect (or connect for the first time) with the team.