Benin Short-Term Missions Trip June 2019

  Benin Newsletter June 2019 by Stephanie Williams on Scribd

Benin Update

  Benin Newsletter 8-25-18 by Stephanie Williams on Scribd

Missions Trip to Benin -- Aug 2018

 

  Benin Newsletter 8-3-18 by Stephanie Williams on Scribd

Short-Term Missions 2016

Amy Brewer from Texas

This year God has blessed us with some amazing short-term visitors. As I look back, I see such extraordinary people that God called to work alongside us.

In February, a loving nurse named Amy joined us. She is American and came for three months. She served faithfully in the clinic, helping with the day to day running of the clinic. Her help and impact on the patients cannot be understated. She was a blessing and I’m thankful she was able to come.

Gerrit and Herma from the Netherlands

In April, a couple named Gerrit and Herma came out do a vision tour of the work at the clinic and at Maforga as a whole. They run a wonderful ministry called Follow Ministries which serves to equip and encourage medical charity ministries such as ours. We had an amazing time getting to know each other and planned how and when they would return with a larger missions team later in the year.

Marilize Jordaan from S. Africa

In July, a sweet friend named Marilize joined us for several weeks. She was hoping to help with the clinic but by that time we had already temporarily closed. So instead we spent our time preparing the clinic for re-opening, chasing down paperwork, cleaning, organizing, and learning the guitar. She was a joy to have and came at such an important time for us, encouraging us in the work. I cannot wait to have her back!

In August, my nephew from the States came for several weeks. His name is Luis and is studying to be a physical therapist. Originally he hoped to help out with the clinic but again things were stalled in the re-opening of the clinic. So instead he became my personal assistant making even the smallest of tasks easier. I loved having him here and hope he can return.

Luis Hafen-Lopez from Texas

In September, a construction crew of two joined us for several weeks. Rudy and Dave are from Calvary Chapel Johannesburg. They brought us so many blessings, but the biggest blessings were the repairs they did on the clinic. They helped solve our leaky roof issues and exercised the electrical demons in the clinic. The most amazing of course what the fact they were able to give us running water at the clinic for the first time in a year and a half. What a blessing they were!

Dave and Rudy from South Africa

In October, a Dutch construction team came through and did a whirlwind of building and fixing, teaching and loving! These eleven men and women had such a beautiful impact on us. It was so hard putting them back on the plane. I seriously wanted them all to stay. I look forward to when they can return!

Look for a blog post about them in the near future.

Aid Sudan Links.

Kerri is a missionary on staff with Aid Sudan. She arrived this week to do a little investigative research on health teaching topics for the upcoming radio broadcasts. But since she is a highly trained nurse, we've been using her at the clinic, too.

It's great to have another set of trained hands to help!

Anyway... she's a blogger too, and I thought some of you might enjoy her perspective on things. You can read her blog here.

Three new blessings!

Pritty (pharmacist), Benedict, James (translator), Sarah, Stephanie

This week, several key IDAT staff went on break all at once. It was hard to see them go, knowing the work it would require filling their shoes. But we sent them off with smiles, nevertheless. They had worked long and hard and needed the rest.

Fortunately, the plane that took them out brought in three new blessings!

Benedict is our new clinic officer. He's a soft spoken Kenyan who looks a bit shell shocked by all the 'rurality' of Sudan. (Yes. I just made that word up!) I'm guessing he had NO idea what he was getting into when he agreed to help us out for a month. But I'm so glad he is here!       

The next big blessing is Sarah. She hails from the great state of Texas and has a heart of gold! She just graduated from nursing school, and wants to learn all about midwifery. She tells me she's hoping to do a masters in Midwifery someday soon. She'll stay for three months. Yippy!

(So thank you all for praying for me to get some help. I'm loving it. Now pray she stays longer... or another precious person comes to replace her in August!)

Our new oxygen concentrator.

The last big blessing is our new oxygen concentrator! Yes, some generous soul bought us oxygen on wheels! What's great about this machine, is we are not dependent on getting oxygen tanks refilled in order for it to work! Woohoo!

What lovely blessings that God has showered down upon us! What delightful answers to prayer! 

Now, start praying that God will drop an ultrasound machine in my lap! Thanks.

By the way, Sarah has a blog. Last Friday, she helped me with a wonderful birth. I'll let you read about it here, if you are interested.

Aid Sudan Mission Team

Kerrie teaching our patients on proper tooth care.

 This week we’ve been visited by a team of Texans and one Indianan! As short-term missionaries with an organization called Aid Sudan, their main goal is to evaluate how they might put up a Christian radio tower in Tonj, among other projects.

However, in doing so, they are visiting many outlying towns, leper colonies, and schools as well as helping out in the clinic.

Yesterday, they did a great health teaching on the importance of brushing your teeth, and then handed out toothbrushes to the clinic patients.

My prenatal ladies with their new toothbrushes.

They have brought much laughter and love to the compound. What a blessing to have them here!

Pray that God would continue to use them as they return home and tell the world what they’ve seen. May hearts be stirred to prayer and action.

Strong & Beautiful.

At the sight of her belly, my heart skipped a beat; it was huge. Round, corpulent, robust, stocky, she stood out in the sea of big bellies.     --It was mesmerizing.

Slumped low in a plastic chair, Ajok explained that her labor had started earlier that morning, and she had come to deliver.                                 -- Yippy!

Expecting her sixth, she obviously knew what a contraction felt like --so I didn’t argue-- but she didn’t look like she was in labor. Plus, she was having only two contractions an hour.

Nevertheless, multigravidas (woman expecting their second or more baby) can surprise you.

Knowing full well that she could go quickly, I asked if I could do a vaginal exam. I didn’t want to send her home and miss the birth.

Though soft and pliable, her cervix was closed. After explaining that she wouldn’t deliver any time soon, she went home, promising to return if the contractions picked up.

The next morning, she returned at daylight, insisting that the baby was coming any minute. I didn’t argue (even though she didn’t look like she needed to push), and quietly set up the room.

As we waited for that illusive ‘urge to push’, she slept. Her contractions were moderate and regular, coming every 2-3 minutes on the dot.

Since she had been up all night, I encouraged her to rest and push later. She was fine with that at first, but then got impatient.

“What was taking so long?” she worried.

Trying to move things along naturally, I encouraged her to walk, but she refused. And since both she and the baby were both doing great, I saw no need to force it.

Plus, I had help.

This week, several short-term missionaries from Aid Sudan are visiting, and one of them really wanted to assist at a birth. As young mother and wife, Ashley oozes compassion from every pore.

When she volunteered to be my scribe and doula, I was relieved, and left Ajok in her very capable hands. There were at least a dozen prenatals waiting for my attention outside. 

But after an hour or so without any progress, I finally broke down and did a vaginal exam. I needed to make sure I wasn’t way off on my guesstimate.

A quick review showed her to be 9+cm, 90%, with waters intact. All she needed to do was push, and the baby would be born.                         --And I told her so.

But each time she pushed, it was short and weak. Not having that ‘urge to push’, yet, I let her rest and wait some more. Why rush things?

A few hours went by.

She rested but started showing signs of impatience. Plus, her friends looked agitated. They wanted to take her home.

What?

With four pairs of eyes watching me like a hawk, I asked Ajok what she wanted to do.
--Do you want to go home, Ajok?
--No. I just want the baby out.
--Then push. The baby will come once you push.
--No. I don’t need to.
--Okay. Then, let’s wait.
--No. Give me medicine to make the baby come.
--I have medicine, but it’ll cause you lots of pain. Why don’t you walk around a bit, instead?
--I’m too tired to walk. I want the pain.

She was tired --that was clear-- so I gave in and started an IV to augment her labor.

Once the cannula was placed, and the drip was in route, she instantly got uncomfortable. Two minutes later she had a strong contraction... and she pushed.

She pushed hard!

One minute later, the head was visible; and seconds later, the baby was out!

As I wiped him down and placed him on her belly, she smiled and thanked me for causing her the pain. She even chided me for not doing it earlier, and we laughed.

The placenta was born with ease, and her 9lb 2oz boy breastfed with gusto. He was a sucking machine!

Once the bleeding was controlled she asked to go home. Living just a few minutes away by foot, I didn’t argue for her to stay. We didn’t have a free bed for her to properly rest in, and a storm was coming.

Promising to return if her bleeding got bad, or any infection started, I prayed with her and sent her home.

Not long after she left, a low, grumbling pall of clouds swept our way. I can only hope she made it home before the deluge.

Oh, Sudan!

Your land is beautiful. Your women are strong. May your children be blessed!

The Griff!

A few months ago, we were in need (desperate need) of a Bible teacher for the fall semester months. As I prayed over who God might be calling to come, Joshua came to mind.  I mentioned him to Sabet and wrote him to see if he’d be interested.

Josh is a missions-minded man with a huge heart for Africa. He has been involved in missions work for years, working mostly in Mexico and Africa. You would never guess he’s done so much as he’s pretty young -- early 20s. But he understands God and what’s more... he loves Him!

When I told him about the opportunity to come teach the Sudanese pastors he was surprised. He’s never taught full time before. But when he prayed, God made it clear to him that he was suppose to come. God told him, “Of course you cannot do this work, Josh. But I can do it through you.” And that is what God is doing.

So each morning, he teaches until lunch. Then in the afternoons he records the Dinka New Testament in preparation for the talking Bibles. It’s a neat project! I can’t wait until it’s all recorded!

But what is more... he is mechanically minded. So far, he is constantly helping fix generators and fiddle with electrical problems. What a blessing he is to us!

Of Jews and Gentiles

Beverly and Greg Wootten are Bible scholars and teachers from Kenya, here to cover the Pastor training while Sabet’s away. They have been walking with the Lord for over 30 years.

I learned their story over dinner one night and I wanted to share it with you. Greg is a Jew who immigrated to Israel with his young wife (raise Catholic), Beverly, to live in a Kibbutz.

After 6 months of picking olives in utter misery on this kibbutz, Greg picked up a New Testament and started reading. He opened to the Book of Acts and was so captivated that he called in at work. He read it from morning ‘til night. That night he prayed to God, “If this is true, I want this.”

The next morning he woke up a new man. Everything changed. The job he hated soon became a dream job as it allowed him to read passages out of the Bible between picking olives and meditate on them.

Bev got saved shortly after and says that instantly the whole kibbutz was a stir. “Did you hear that Bev and Greg are Born-Again-ers?” Apparently, there are no secrets on kibbutz. But then again... Greg wasn’t keeping it a secret. Not at all.

However, finding fellowship was challenging. On one of their rare days off, they hopped on a bus and went north because they’d heard of a Dutch colony that had a church. But when they got there, Bev and Greg were just too hippy-ish for them. They were asked not to return. Keep in mind this was 1976. Think bell-bottoms, long hair, platform shoes. Can you hardly blame ‘em?

Their next day off, they found their way to a Christian bookstore in Jerusalem. But it was closed. So they sat on the doorstep all day, hoping. Eventually the owner came and they asked to buy a Bible.  Instead, she gave it to them for free and offered them a place to stay. It was getting dark and they had no place to go... so they accepted.

She called an American pastor, who picked them up, took them to a furnished house and got them settled. There was just one condition.  He wanted to show them  Jesus throughout the whole Bible -- Old and New Testaments.

Greg says, that by the end of that man’s Bible study, it was a done deal. He has never been the same. Beverly is right there with him. They lived a total of 20 years in Israel, only coming to Africa two years ago as missionaries. They teach at Bible schools all over Kenya and Sudan and are very good at it too.

It cracks me up that God brought this couple to Israel to get saved. I love how He does stuff like that! I love that God continues to call His people, Israel, to Himself by simply reading the Gospels. I love that a Jew, knowing nothing of Jesus could read the Book of Acts and radically be transformed.

No one preached at him. He didn’t hear some powerful alter call. No one even told him to read the Bible. But he did. He read the conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus and said, “Wow... wait up! What was that again?” A Jew, like me, was persecuting Christians, rushing off to have them incarcerated and stoned... and then everything changed in an instant. Yes... God spoke.

The olive branch will be grafted back again... : - )  (see Romans 11:11-24)