January 2011
“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all
circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus,” (1 Thess 5:16,
NIV). This is one of the many promises that we have been clinging to this
month, as it looks like Dr. Russ Ebersole will be staying back in the U.S. for
medical furlough, before he begins his scheduled furlough in July. Even
though it’s a disappointment for us all---including Russ and his family---that
this is the way things are working out for him, we are all trying to place our
needs and wants in His hands and to do it joyfully! We’re thankful
that Russ is improving and continuing to gain his strength back. He has
been advised though not to return to the field and put more stress on his
healing kidneys and body at this time. Continue to pray for Russ and his
family.
We have been blessed with competent help since Russ has been
gone though. Just enough so that Dr. John Briggs and Michael do not grow
too weary with the ministry here. We currently have Dr. Dale Hoffman (an
FP from Canada) here for 6 weeks with his lovely wife Lou. We had Dr.
Joanie Medieama here for 4 weeks in Dec. And the Drs. Radecky were here
right when Russ got sick. We were also blessed with a IM resident and her
husband, the Moores. And right now, Amanda Magnuson, a P.A., has returned
for her second trip. We’re looking forward to two medical students
joining us next week. World Medical Mission/Samaritans Purse as well as
ABWE have been true godsends to us as we try to make sure of adequate
coverage. We know that God is in control thru it all.
We have planned a mini-furlough for 3 months in May, June,
& July, but without coverage, we will not be able to return home.
Please pray that all the needed people will step up to help fill in the
gap. Another reason to be thankful is that Dr. Chuck Miller,
a retired pediatrician, has agreed to come out for the three months that we’re
gone. We still need to find other primary care doctors to cover this time
while we’re gone, but it is starting to fill in. We can’t just leave Dr.
Miller and John Briggs here alone. We still have some holes for
primary care and surgery for mid-April thru Dec so if you or anybody you know
are interested please contact us. (Even when we return, Russ will still
not be part of the equation. Two primary care docs cannot cover all the
needs.)
We were blessed this month also by our Togo Team
Meetings. It is always a treat to get to hear about all the ministries in
Togo, not just our little neck of the woods. The Mango Hospital/Northern
Outreach Project is continuing to go well with many exciting ministries going
on during construction. The funding for this project almost totally
raised. Praise God!
We also had a great seminar on church planting that ABWE put
on for us here after the Togo Team Meetings were over. We got to spend 3
days all together learning how to be the best church planters that we can
be. We learned a lot about what God tells us to do in the Bible---meet
together regularly, pray without ceasing, go ye into all the nations making
disciples, etc. These are functions. But how they are carried out
is not specified directly in the Bible. These are the forms or how they
are done in our culture or other cultures. Such as “how should we meet
together, how should we pray?” The trick is to try to stay true to
the functions, what the Bible says to d, while making the forms
culturally and generationally relevant but also godly at the same time.
We were all inspired by this conference and very thankful that we got it
“brought out to us here on the field” so that we can serve Him the best way
possible.
Another blessing this month is that Dr. Kelly Faber has
agreed to join us for two years starting this fall! She is a pediatric
resident who will finish her residency in May/June of 2011. World Medical
Mission/Samaritans Purse are helping to sponsor doctors right out of residency
to the mission field so that the doctor can get their feet wet and, Lord
Willing, be attracted to full-time mission’s work in the future. The
field really is white for the harvest and the workers are few.
Please pray for Kelly as she prepares for her future here. Pray for all
of us too as we get ready to work with her and encourage here. Kelly will
help to fill in a great hole while Russ is gone, but she will never replace
Russ. When Russ returns in 2012, they can work together and help each
other out. With as busy as this hospital is, we need all the help that we
can get. And none of us are getting any younger! L We need to start to work on
replacing ourselves now. Not when we get too old or too sick to continue
on . God wants us to be wise as serpents, which means not waiting until
the last minute to get replacements.
And another blessing that we had this month, was that
Construction Workers for Evangelism (C.W.E.) has picked our church plant,
Tsavié, to build a concrete building with a steel roof in Feb 2012. We
are very excited about this. We need to raise $15,000 U.S. for this
project. CWE will provide $45,000 U.S. If you or your church would
like to donate to this project, please let us know. Even more exciting
though, is that anybody who is willing or interested could join one of the 4
teams coming out to either build the church (men and women included) or join a
medical team at the end of their time here. These trips are just 10 days
each and are very economical and quick. Let us know and we’d be glad to
hook you up with the appropriate people. C.W. E. likes to have at least
20 on each team. They need any type of construction worker, painters,
sweepers, water carriers, cooks, etc. They try to recruit from all
over the U.S. You do not have to be “part of C.W.E” to join in. You
just have to be a Christian and willing! It would be a great way to
join us out here for some church planting work and to see how the ministry is
going in Togo firsthand!
Well, we’ve gone on too long this time. There is so
much to be thankful for. We haven’t even touched on any of the hospital
cases this month! Please continue to pray for us, as the enemy does
not want to see us joyful and leading others to Christ or discipling. We
anticipate some opposition. We’re especially thankful to have you on our
team! Knowing that you’re “out there” holding up our arms means
very much to us.
For His Glory,
Michael & Cheryl Gayle, ABWE
Medical Ministry & Church planting in Togo, W. Africa