Friday, January 12th
This is Gayle and the team is out on safari and have talked to them and they are having a great time. They will be coming back on Saturday evening and then we pack to fly to Mwanza to do medical work there for a week. I am so happy they are having a fun and relaxing time.
Mark and I worked at Selian all day and finished up on the last surgeries. We continue to have such difficult surgeries and we see things we have never seen in the states. We started the day by going and seeing all of our surgical patients and we were extremely happy about their progress. Many of these patients, Hope Ministries paid for their surgeries and hospital care. I received many gracious hugs, thanks and most of all they all said “be blessed”. I told to pray and thank God, because HE is the one that made all this possible.
We had an evaluation meeting with the head of the hospital, orthopedic, anesthesia, and OR staff. I always ask to have this type of meeting at the end of our visits, so we as a team can discuss how the week went. I am so happy and pleased with the gracious comments that we received. We have really enjoyed our time at Selian and the staff and doctors have been awesome. They were so grateful for all the great teaching that the team did. We discussed things that we could improve on with the next visit. This was an evaluative trip at this hospital and as Mark and I discussed it, it feels like a great fit with our mission at Hope Ministries. This hospital services the poor of the poor and that is who Hope Ministries wants to help.
We brought them donated medical equipment and we extremely happy with these items. I made a wish list of equipment that they need very badly. We had to improvise with a lot of surgeries because of lack of equipment. It is getting harder and harder to get donated medical equipment to bring over here and thus we have had to increase our medical budget to include these costs. So I hope if any of you feel called to help service the poor of the poor, please come to our fundraiser on January 25th or you can donate on our web site. www.hopeministries.co.
I go pick up 3 more doctors at the airport and then leave for Mwanza for the week to work. Please pray for all the safe journeys of the team and that the Holy Spirit will continue to be our beacon of light and strength. Also pray for my NGO committee as we meet today to discuss Hope Ministries activities here in Africa.
Thanks for your donations and continual prayers. God is working through you to help the lest of our brothers and sisters here in Tanzania.
Sending a lot of love to my family and friends at home. Miss you all so much and kisses and hugs to my grandchildren. My prayers are to bring you with me someday.
God bless,
Gayle
