November 2011
HAPPY THANKSGIVING WEEKEND! We pray that you find
something to be thankful for everyday of the year and not just during the
holidays. We are always thankful for our salvation in Jesus Christ!
All the other blessings in our lives are “fringe benefits.” We were
able to celebrate Thanksgiving with our friends here in Togo, complete with
turkeys, mashed potatoes, dressing, and gravy. And we all ate too much of
course.
Some of the patient stories this month for you to pray
about: A 12 year old boy arrived to our hospital with a severe, compound
fracture of his lower leg. He had broken it 3 weeks earlier playing
soccer. The family took him to the local “witchdoctor,” who treated this
severe break (with bone sticking out of the skin) with herbs and probably a
sacrifice or two. By the time he arrived to us, the leg was badly
infected and gangrenous. His leg had to be amputated above the
knee. It makes us so sad when something preventable like this
occurs. There is still a lot of work and education to do in Togo!
Another sad case was a mother whose baby died before it was born. She
could not deliver the baby, but had to have a C-section to remove the
fetus. And yesterday a little boy came in with Burkitt’s Lymphoma, which
is a type of cancer found in the mouth and other areas of the body that can be
treated fairly easily. This little boy had already had a couple of
treatments at our hospital, but then he and his family skipped 3 months’ worth
of treatment due to a death in the family and lack of money. He and his
family returned Friday, because he was getting worse and losing weight.
With this type of cancer, once you start treatment, you need to have ALL the
chemotherapy treatments. If you skip any, it is a very low percentage
that the treatment will help again. He also has some other complications,
so at this time, he is being sent home to die. When we have done
everything that we can medically, the only thing left for these patients and
their family is the Good News of salvation and eternal life. We’re so
thankful to be able to help people physically and spiritually.
We had a couple of interesting visitors this month
too. Retired Togolese General Walla has been hearing about our hospital
for years. He has driven by it many times. He and his wife (and two
military guardsmen) decided to drive here for check-ups with Michael.
Because he is a dignitary, we had the privilege of entertaining them for lunch
afterwards. They were very enjoyable and seemed to be very solid
Christians. We were able to share a new French Bible with them and a
Bible Study in French (Won by One.) They usually fly to France for their
medical check-ups, so we’ll see if they ever return. But at least they
now have been to the hospital. Other visitors included two gentlemen from
the U.S. Embassy. One was the “Premier Conseiller” and the other
was the “General Services Officer.” They both said that they’d heard a
lot about our hospital and wanted to see it first-hand. They were very
complimentary and wanted to know how the U.S. can help the hospital.
Since Togo is not allowed to have U.S. Aid at this time, due to human rights
violations, it will be interesting to see what they can do. Maybe we can
influence them more than they help us?
Two of our favorite short-termers, Drs. Dave Oviatt &
Susan Radecky (husband and wife) from World Medical Missions have been here for
over 2 months. They have been a true blessing to us. They have to
leave on Monday the 28th, so we’re already getting sad.
Continue to pray for more medical coverage and for the 3 full-time medical
people still here (Michael as a FP, Todd as a medical/surgical PA, & Dave
as our General surgeon) to be able to just take one day at a time and just rest
in Him. Pray for the other short-termers who will be coming to help as
they can. God provides.
We are also very thankful for you and how you’re part of His
Team to Togo! We trust that you feel as blessed and thankful as we do!
For His Glory,
Michael & Cheryl Gayle, ABWE, Togo W. Africa
Medical Missions and Church Planting