October 2011
Rainy season is hanging on a little longer here in
Togo. Usually, we are pretty much into the dry season, but this year, we
are still getting rain! Bad for the roads. Good for the rice
paddies that we are seeing more and more of here in Togo! Cheryl is back
from the U.S. after her trip to help our second daughter, Stephanie, with the
birth of her first baby. It was a little traumatic for her and her
husband Scott, with the little guy (Kohen Lee Wolford) having to be in the NICU
for about 6 days, but everything has turned out well. And we’re all
rejoicing in this new little one. Our first grandchild, Celeste, turns 1
on Nov 3, so we’ll be having busy falls!
Michael has been blessed this last month or so with some
great help. We love having Dave & Susie with us. They are
“repeaters” so they fit right in and are big helps. We’re especially thankful
for the return of the DeKryger family for about 12 to 14 months while their
house is being built in Mango and until the Ebersole family returns in Sept.
Right now, our full-time surgeon, Dr. Eric Miller and family are in language
school in France! We’re anticipating that they arrive in Togo sometime in
the fall of 2012. (BUT we’ll still need surgical help as Dr. Miller
cannot be a “lone surgeon” here!) And we’re also looking forward to
our first Post-Residency doctor, Kelly Faber arriving in April (?) 2012 after
she has 6 months of language school in Switzerland. We’re still praying
for more permanent coverage though, as the doctors who are here, are getting
older! Please pray for more full-time missionaries.
The hospital and clinic continue to be busy, but the staff
(short-term and long-term) is really pulling together and helping out.
Usually, we get referrals into our hospital, but today we had to transfer two
people to Lomé. One is a 13 day little girl whose esophagus did not full
from in utero. There is probably nothing that can be done for her at this
time, but we wanted to send her to Lomé for a possible consultation and help.
Another family has a loved one with kidney failure, and they are going to try
dialysis in Lomé. This will be the first case that we have sent for
dialysis so it will be interesting to see what happens. Please pray for
these two families as well as the many others who we see each day.
Cheryl is gearing up for the Guest House roof to be replaced
in Nov. The whole big, long part of the Guest House (not the two new
rooms that were built about 1 ½ yrs ago) has to be replaced. John Teusink
has planned to start tearing everything up and replacing the roof in Nov.
If the rainy season will ever end! We have to move any visitors who are
in the main building to the new rooms or houses during this time. And all
the guest meals will have to be fixed in somebody’s house. Thankfully, we
don’t have too many visitors in Nov. (Or is that bad, because we don’t
have as much medical coverage???). Next time you visit, there shouldn’t
be any more leaking roofs.
Also, Cheryl is in charge of the finances for the two new
churches that are going to be built in February by the CWE team. John
Teusink also wants to start laying the foundations for the churches in
Nov. One of the churches is our church plant of Tsavié. Tsavié just
had a huge Thanksgiving Service on Sunday. It was a real blessing to see
everybody’s joy in the Lord! Part of the celebration was for the people
to donate what they could to help with their part in the cost of the new church
plant. We’d like to see them come up with $1,000 in money and labor themselves
so that they do their part too.
Thanks so much for praying. Enjoy the fall in North
America, spring will return soon. We are so thankful for you and are
praying for you too! Thanks for your faithful prayers and financial support!
For His Glory,
Michael & Cheryl Gayle, ABWE, Togo, W. Africa
Medical Ministry and Church Planting