Thursday, May 26th

Thursday, May 26th:

Well the team was all excited at breakfast and the smiles and laughter warmed my heart. Today is the day that they leave on safari and get to see God’s beauty of Africa. Always nice to have this break between the work weeks so they can relax, bond and have some fun. I stayed behind to have meetings and get things arranged for our trip to Mwanza on Sunday.

I am still missing one of my supply bags, which is full of medical equipment, so spent the morning on the phone trying to track it down. I have been told that is should arrive today, but I have been hearing that each day for 6 days. As I am faced with challenges on these mission trips, I am reminded of God’s presence and that I need to turn things over to him. Also a daily devotion that I presented to the team at morning prayer talked about staying positive and always seeing the goodness and positive things that happened.

As I reflect back on this last week and the work the team did, it brings many smiles to my face. The team did such a great job working with the kids at Mama Lynn’s, from teaching school, playing with the kids and even hugging and giving kisses. They do not realize how they have touched each of these children’s lives. They showed them love and compassion that will never be forgotten. I was able to see the 3 children that my son and his family are sponsoring in school in honor of Kari, who was their wife and mother that lost her battle to cancer. Kari your love continues on here on earth because these children are so grateful for the opportunity they have been given.

We sponsored two outreach clinics, which were held in a poor mining town and out in Maasai land. We saw about 160 patients each day. The team worked together and did an awesome job, from packing and labeling the medication containers, to doing nursing assessment and treatments. I thank the nurses who gave of their time to help the students with their assessment skills. I was so impressed with the assessments that they did and I was always there to help and reassure them.

You cannot believe some of the horrible and unbelievable cases that we saw. We had a lady that a very large tumor protruding from her neck and she was in a lot of pain. We gave her some Meds for pain relief and I wrote a referral for her to go to the hospital and because they had no money for transportation, Hope Ministries assisted with this. This mom had two great sons with her who were so attentive and were so pleased for our help, that they gave me bigs hugs and a a lot of thanks. We referred a lot of patients to the hospital, which I will do some follow up on. I had my African Sister Nai spending time with us out in the outreach program to witness what we do. She was very impressed with what we were providing for her people. These outreach clinics reach the poorest of the poor and out in places where people have no access to health care or can’t afford the transportation to get to a medical facility. I thank God for my many years of working with various hospitals and doctors that I have their contact information and know where there are specialist that can help the different conditions. I always have a list for the doctors to see, who will be coming with Hope Ministries in the future.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers and love. Those provide all of us with the strength to do God’s work here in Africa. When I get really busy doing things for Hope Ministries, I ask myself why I am doing this and I am always reminded of WHY when I am here in Africa. These people are the most warm and caring people and they are so grateful for all that we do for them. Somehow that does not always seem like enough! So thanks to all of your for your donations, because without you this would not be possible.

I have had many meetings and planning a lot of medical things to do in the future and I am so excited about the people that will be helped. Hope’s mission is to help educate the medical people here so that we can leave a long term impact in their health care. Our medical educational component continues to grow and that really excites me. I pray that you will feel the heart and passion to help us accomplish these goals. The education is not only for the people of Tanzania, but all team members that come with me. Each one of these “tripsters” lives will be forever changed through this experience, and it thrills me to watch them grow in their profession and their faith. We need your help, so I hope you feel called to donate. You can go to Hope Ministries web site and find the address for a donation and can pay online. Also please join us on our fundraiser in August. The details are on our web site. It should be a lot of fun and I am so grateful for all the people who are organizing and working on this event. You guys rock!

Sending a lot of hugs and love to all my friends and family.
Gayle