March 2012
The hospital has busy as usual. We’ve had quite a few
women come into the hospital for surgery for infertility this month with our
OB/GYN friend, Dr. Gus Barkett here with a resident. This is about his 16th
or 17th year here. He is here with his good friend, Dr. Kerry
Sullivan, a radiologist who helps out on the medical side. They always
bring a great team with them that keeps us hopping and laughing! And we
always eat more chocolate pudding when Kerry is around. It has something
to do with his “payment” for his work or something like that! J We’ve had a few snake
bites this month. Even two in one day. Thankfully they all got to
us in time to be helped. (Don’t worry, we haven’t run into any
missionaries who have been bit since we’ve been here.) There were at
least two tetanus pts this month. The last one has been having trouble
with tremors and shaking from the damage that was already done to his nerves,
before he got treated. We’re praying that he has relief soon. And
we had a case of “natural” triplets this month. That is always fun and
usually a surprise. All 3 babies weighed a total of 10lbs. And they
seem to be about 34-37 weeks gestation. So far they are hanging in there.
Tsavié is really enjoying the new building. We have
noticed the last two Sundays though, that there have been loud fetish drums
during the whole church service. The first Sunday, they were just down at
the creek where we hold our baptisms. The 2nd Sunday, it looks
like they’ve cleared of a whole big area right there at the creek, and they had
quite a few young boys “learning” how to play the drums, etc. The
spiritual battle is heating up. Please pray for this to just be
temporary and not a direct challenge to us building a permanent church
building. We have been praying for ways to reach these fetishers with the
love of Christ. Pray for wisdom in how and whom to reach them.
We are looking forward to picking up Dr. Kelly Faber in Lomé
on Sunday night. She is our first “post-residency doctor” who is coming
out thru Samaritan’s Purse/World Medical Mission for two years. She is a
pediatrician and is looking forward to working with Dr. Russ Ebersole (still
waiting on medical clearance) when he returns in Sept. We are praying
that Kelly makes a good adjustment and grows to love the Togolese and the
ministry as much as we do. Pray for her travel safety and setting up
here. Pray for us as we will be mentoring her during her time here.
We’re also looking forward to celebrating Easter with our
national friends on April 8. This Easter, we will be joining quite a few
other churches in our local area, at the “mother church” that helped to start
the Tsavié church. It is about 20 minutes farther north of Tsavie.
Each church is responsible for certain parts in the service. The women of
Tsavie are going to be wearing matching shirts and have a song to share
with the whole group. And the women of each church will be in charge of
preparing food to share with everybody from our church. It should be a
very special (but hot and tiring) day! We love getting together and
celebrating with our national friends.
We are thinking of you and praying for you as you get ready
to celebrate the Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection! Have a great
Palm Sunday and Blessed Easter Sunday.
For His Glory,
Michael & Cheryl Gayle, ABWE, Togo
Medical Ministry and Church Planting