All in a days work...

the numbers speak for themselves...

Within 14 days of opening the dental clinic we have treated over 1,000 patients!!!

Mercy Ships released the following update on March 29th:

 "from the Field in Sierra Leone: to date, 2,893 dental care, tooth decay and infection procedures have been performed by Mercy Ships volunteers"

So here's a few pictures of our team working at the clinic. . .



The entrance to the clinic where each patient is registered and a goes through a brief health history.







Listening to hygiene instruction and the reason we are here seeking to follow the model of Jesus.

  



Assisting 'the world's fastest dentist', who averages only a couple minutes to treat each patient



Mona! the Norwegian dentist I usually assist



Working away!



the other side of the clinic

Comfort Yeboah and her translator, Pastor Samuel talking to the patients who are waiting

And then a link to the blog one of our ship photographers wrote after visiting our clinic! Love hearing about the team from someone else's perspective:  http://tombradley.wordpress.com/2011/03/19/the-tooth-the-whole-tooth-and-nothing-but-the-tooth/

Hope this gave y'all a better picture of what's going on in this corner of the world. Continued prayers for peace among the people we are treating and good health for the team are appreciated!!





Highlights!

Cushay! How d'body?
There's so much to tell y'all but for now i'll just hit a couple highlights...
*Seeing the ship sail in last Sunday! because there were soo many precious people in it, waving and waiting to hug the stuffing out of us! But mostly because hope and healing was approaching the dock. The fact that we're actually going to be able to do more than build walls, etc. while we're here... lives are going to be transformed from here on out!
*Setting up the dental clinic! We're ready! Our team was able to get our container off the ship by Monday afternoon, and unloaded at the clinic that is just outside the port where we'll be working! It's a fantastic facility, God has provided beyond what we were imagining. We are so blessed and can't wait to start treating patients!
There have been a lot of ups and downs (low and highlights) the last month while we've been in Freetown but the 2 highlights i've mentioned are the big ones. I'll continue to share the stories from those weeks soon. But tomorrow is the big day! Thousands of people have already been seen around the country and many of them scheduled to receive a free surgery onboard, but tomorrow we will see perhaps thousands more. It will be an incredible day and we're all praying for those God has prepared for this moment in time and excited to be part of it!
Please be praying for wisdom and peace over this important day!!

Gateway Group!

The group i'm learning and training with here in Texas before returning to the ship in February!!


"Gateway commenced at the IOC on Jan. 8th with 33 participants (and two children) from ten countries (USA, Hungary, Canada, Australia, Netherlands, UK, Germany, New Zealand, Austria, and China). Of these, 30 will go on to serve onboard the Africa Mercy and three at the IOC."

Focus...Open...Wait...Absorb

Hey y'all! As most of you know, I'm in East Texas at Mercy Ships International Operations Center (IOC) going through training, which involves both classroom time and then later basic safety training..yeehaw!
We've already learned a lot in the last week. We've learned about each other and our various backgrounds. More about the God we serve and how our view of Him (which is affected by many various things like family, media, the Bible, culture, etc) affects how we represent Him in our lives. I'll blog about that again soon but what i really wanted to share was what we heard during a Sunday worship service at a nearby church. During the song service, they stopped briefly on a winter scene...there was snow falling and it looked so peaceful. The pastor then began to explain how that image is captured, by explaining the basics of how a camera operates. (I admit these may not be in perfect order but hopefully you get the basic idea ;)
First it has to FOCUS...
the shutter has to OPEN, allowing light to come in....
this involves a period of WAITing...
finally, everything is in place and it can absorb the image.
The pastor related this operation to us and God.
When we focus on Him, open our hearts, and wait, allowing the Holy Spirit to shine His light on us, it help us absorb what He is trying to communicate to us and get a more clear image of what He's doing and our part in it.
He said more, and I could go on & on...but it really spoke to me and I hope you as well. My prayer is that during this time of training and somewhat peace, I will be able to apply these lessons. This is my prayer for you also, wherever you are!! I'd love to hear from you and your thoughts on this..or any subject really ;)
Love y'all!

Today in Liberia...I Need Thee Every Hour

Never know what a day will hold. . .

Today in Liberia. . .

So you don't get too confused I'll have to back up a couple of days to Wednesday morning. While having morning devotions one of our assistants, Henry, asked us to pray for a man he saw while walking to work that morning. He said this man was very sick, shaking with fever, just laying close to the road across from the hospital in the market place. Long story short, Dr. Keith took the land rover and went with Henry and Edward (another assistant) to carry this man to the ER. He was extremely sick, the only personal information we were able to get about him was when he said his name, "Anthony." The hospital staff somehow figured out he had been treated before for Tuberculosis and HIV but had stopped taking treatment. Due to lack of information, they were unable to contact any family and so the dental clinic (who carried him to the hospital) became responsible for his bills and performing the tasks family members would 'normally' do. Sadly, Friday morning when we went to check on Anthony he was much worse and after a difficult afternoon, passed away. The ER staff said we would need to bury the body as soon as possible. So this is how today broke down . . .
7AM - I met Edward and Sonkally at the hospital to begin the process of burying Anthony. These two Liberians are my big brothers, incredible Godly men who work at the hospital (Edward is a dental assistant and Sonkally works in the Pharmacy dept) and hang out with us when we're not working. We spoke briefly with the hospital staff who said the police needed to be involved before burial could be done. Sonkally had football practice so Edward and I started walking to the Police station.

7:30-9:30 Waiting at the station to inform the police of the incident, document the whole thing and receive permission to take and bury the body. The officer was very gracious, didn't require any payment and didn't send us into town to headquarters, just had us fill out the report and granted us permission.

9:30-11:30 Before getting the body we needed to purchase a burial plot. So we spent the next 2hours walking from neighborhood to neighborhood asking who had available space. In one of the neighborhoods, 4 big guys start whistling and calling to me, i ignore them and keep walking but turn to Edward and say, "you can protect me, right?!?" Half joking, half serious. He nods quickly and we keep walking. Finally, one of the neighborhood's council agreed to let us have a plot of ground, no coffin and no marker. . . back to the hospital. . .

12-1 Back at the hospital, Dr. Keith meets us with the car, the end is in sight. We tell the hospital, "Okay we have permission to carry the body and we have a grave site." They say, "Alright, do you have something to wrap the body?" . . .uh no! So again, long story short, we take care of that step, bring the body to the grave site, bury the body, have a few words & prayer.

1:30 Keith drops me off at home. While I've been away Jackie, my housemate, has been cleaning the house to prepare for our new roomate who arrives tomorrow. And our guard has taken care of our rabid dog whose been dying for over a week. But because there are people here who eat dogs...we have to burn the corpse. Alright, what do we have that's flammable?!? After searching the house, WD40 is the closest we've got. Where is my boyscout brother when i need him! I run down to Keith's to see if they have lighter fluid. . .negative. So we head up to the nearby market. First shop. . ."no fire lighter, try across the road!" Try two places 'across the road'...nothing. Okay. . .gas station here we come. I tell the old man at the gas station I just need a bottle of gasoline...but i didn't bring my own container...so I run into the nearby shack and buy a 1.5liter bottle of water and Jackie and I start guzzling it, because there's no point in wasting perfectly good water just to have an empty container. The old guy sees us and has a kid run and get an empty water bottle...nice. We stop drinking and i help him use a funnel to pour the gasoline from a 10 gallon drum into the empty water bottle...messy, but we get the fuel and head back home.

2:30 We get back home, make the bonfire. Wash the garage out where the dog has been all week. Whew that's done. Now Sonkally has a church youth meeting he's asked us to speak at, so we shower and head to the church.

4-5:30 Youth Meeting, Sonkally challenged the group to experience their divine destiny and Jackie shared a couple personal stories and verses to encourage the youth to make the most of every opportunity and encourage each other. I haven't had time to prepare anything so I just said a few words from the story of Esther.

6 Back home, grab an egg sandwich, quick conversation with our newest stalker who came up to the house, telling him not to waste his time and leave us alone, add more coal and dry mango leaves to the bonfire..not quite done.

6:30-9 Worship & prayer service at Keith's. Just what we needed to encourage and refocus our eyes on Jesus, the reason we're here. Have some great fellowship after the service and find out one of the guys who's here visiting from the states is preaching at a rural church tomorrow morning! We work out details and make plans to catch a ride in the morning, can't wait!!

9:30 Get home, eat a can of green beans, make tea and snack for the night guard, feed the dogs, check on the bonfire...just ashes, it's finished. Grab the computer whose internet has been working most frequently...internet is working so I start typing about my day and am now quite ready for bed. One of the songs we sang at the service this evening was the old hymn "I Need Thee Every Hour" as we sang it I ran over today in my head and just wholeheartedly agree. . .I need Him EVERY HOUR!!! Another day in Liberia.

Compliments to the Chef

"Home is where your story begins. . ."
Well, part of my story is about growing up in a home that included learning how to cook, clean and serve a large group of people...my family and our guests. Now living in Africa i find myself with the opportunity to once again serve a large group of people only this time they are Liberians! (And fellow Americans, etc ;) For example, today we had a goodbye lunch for an Australian dentist who has been helping at the clinic for the last 2months. It was a combined culinary effort but the big crock-pot of soup I made brought on these choice comments; "I beg you to marry my brother"
"this is beautiful"
"the soup is fine-oh!"
"the American soup makes my belly happy and full-oh!"
"I need to lie down, it's too much"
"I have to go home and tell my wife i can't eat her cooking anymore!"
"Melissa is a strong African woman, she makes a good wife"
"I pray to God that your husband finds you soon so he will be satisfied"
Eating the soup and humming 'Here Comes The Bride'

Haha in a culture that values marriage and food so much, let's just say the soup was a hit!

A New Normal

Heyo!!

This update is long overdue, i apologize for my tardiness!! I left the ship end of July and moved to Monrovia, Liberia! I'm living on a missionary campus that is home to a community of several different NGO's and Liberians, conveniently located right on the beach! The campus started with a radio station, hospital, school, and church, that by God's grace survived the country's recent civil war. The dentist who introduced me to dentistry in Africa, Keith Chapman, lives here with his family and has built a clinic onto the existing hospital. I worked at this clinic briefly last year and learned more about Mercy Ships, as Keith served with them for several years. I'm so happy to be back working with this clinic, it's an incredible ministry and witness to the surrounding community and every patient who is treated.

So here i am with my incredible roomate, Jackie . . .living in a real house again with the ocean right outside my front door and a backyard jungle, complete with banana trees!! Before you get too jealous, this paradise comes with it's own negatives. For instance, the salty, moist air combined with the warm climate makes a coat of mold on everything...everything. So certain procautions have to be taken, basically keeping all food in the fridge, assuming the fridge works, of course ;) Keeping laptops and electronics covered, and making sure your damp clothing (no dryer) is ironed dry. Things rust and deteriorate very quickly, a reminder that the things around us are very temporary. Including these mortal bodies! It's almost a part time job trying to stay healthy! While I'm consistently amazed by this body He's created, I've realized many times recently how weak they are and how fragile life truly is. Learning to praise Him even in our weakness is not easy but praise God for never leaving us and sustaining us through hard times.

So this new normal includes :

Sleeping under mosquito nets. . .which is kinda cool, except in the middle of the night when you're racing to the bathroom :P

Trapping, chasing and squishing multiple mice, rats, cockroaches & other uninvited housemates.

No A/C...but there's a nice breeze off the ocean.

Cold Shower. . .just make sure you're hot before!

Security guards, one during the day and one at night...perfect conversation opportunity!

Three mangy african dogs...who bite the guards and each other more than someone who is an actual threat. At the moment, one of our dogs is dying. According to the night guard a stray rabid dog came and got into a fight with our dogs, biting one of them. Despite our best efforts to make a quick end of it, Liberty (the dog) is still alive. So sad to see our favorite dog so miserable, another reminder that life is fragile.

Fresh Papaya, Coconuts, & plenty of bananas!

Inconsistent internet - i'm blaming this for my delayed post :P

No TV...so we entertain! A lot! It's fantastic, at least twice a week we're serving dinner to random friends and coworkers or going out into the city to grab a bite. Through this we've been able to make incredible friends and have so many long, wonderful conversations learning about this country and it's children.

But most of the time we stay busy at the clinic, always expecting the unexpected. So like i said we're living in this new normal, but I only have one more month before i'm headed back to the USA! It's going to fly by and while I can't wait to see my family and friends again, once again i'm leaving a home i've come to love. Thanks to everyone for your love, prayers and support. Keep fighting the good fight of faith and serving Him wherever you are. Remember wherever your "normal" is, He's working, look for Him and see how He's equipped you to serve those around you, there's plenty of opportunities right where you're at!