KMBC Missions Chapel

Friday, January 25, was the Kentucky Mountain Bible College's first missions chapel for the 2013 Spring Semester! We were thrilled to be a part of it!  The chapel was filled with students, faculty, and staff from both KMBC and Mount Carmel High School.  We had such a great time sharing about our many experiences in Cameroon, Africa! Click on this link http://www.kmbc.edu/?q=node%2F412 to read more about the service. We were blessed with the presence of several African students, who are pictured below. Also pictured below is Jeff with one of his professors, Miss Griffith. We want to thank our good friends Jay & Amber Wisler for opening their home to us! 

 

 

 

Missions Conference

On Friday, October 26, 2012 we had the opportunity to speak at Bowmantown Baptist Church in Jonesborough, TN for a weekend missions conference. We shared with the congregation about our trip to Cameroon, Africa. It was a great night with pictures, videos, and stories of the our month long trip to the children's ward of Mbingo Hospital, New Hope Village (post leprosy colony), and other experiences we had in June 2011.  We both concluded after the service that we are ready for our next trip! Reminiscing about our stay in Mbingo made us miss the people of Cameroon. Lord willing, we plan to make a trip back at some point! Continue to pray for the missionaries, doctors, nurses, staff and patients of Mbingo Hospital!

After the service...

 Melissa speaking in the service...

Our Cameroon display

Cameroon, Africa Video

Click on the word Cameroon below for a video about our work in the Children's Ward in Cameroon!

Cameroon

Blog Update

We arrived safely in the states. We will be posting some blogs about our busy last week in Cameroon soon! Thank you all for your prayers!

Rainy Season

Maybe you are wondering about the weather here at Mbingo?  We are here during the rainy season.  Cameroon has 2 seasons, rainy season (April - October) and dry season (November - March).  When we were planning our trip here, I was expecting us to be in some really hot and humid climates.  Little did I know that the weather here right now is actually cooler than in East Tennessee.  The only place here at the hospital that I have seen air conditioning is in the operating room during surgery.  Where we are staying, we keep the windows open at night while we sleep, and some nights it even gets a little chilly.  I never expected that in Africa!  Today as I write, it is a consistent rainy day.  We have not had a day like this until now.  We have had rain throughout our stay, but it comes and goes quickly, but today it hasn't stopped raining much at all. I returned to New Hope Village this morning to give a devotion and sing for the people.  We also said farewell in chapel this morning to the Ipsen family (orthropedic surgeon and family from the states).  I couldn't help but think during chapel that this time next week it will be Melissa and me saying our goodbyes.  It kind of makes me sad to think about it, but that is a part of life that the ministry brings to the table.  Someone said to me today in reference to our departure next week, "I wish next Wednesday will not come." So, we know the love is definately mutual! My prayer before we came was that God would allow our hearts to be "peeled back" for these people, and I think that He has allowed that to happen.  Everyday I go to the surgical ward to pray for the little baby that had the shunt placement.  Today I noticed a sign on the nurses station door.  It read "If you have a vision for a year, plant wheat. If you have a vision for ten years, plant trees.  If you have a vision for a lifetime, plant people."  This quote has a lot of truth in it.  What are you investing in today? Think about it.  Thank you for your prayers! We love you all!

 Chaplaincy Department

 Medical Student that Melissa is teaching (left) & Hilda, a Nurse Practitioner student (right)

 At New Hope Village

The Ipsens, Stephanie (nutritionist), Lauren (nutritionist)

The group of people we eat meals with here...

Saturday In Bamenda

Yesterday Melissa and I along with our friends Lesslie and Theresia went to Bamenda, a bigger city nearby Mbingo.  Lesslie is my good friend that works in the Social Services Department and Theresia also works in that department with him.  On Saturdays, some of the hospital employees work until around noon, then have the rest of the day off.  We have heard stories about taking a taxi in Cameroon, but nothing could prepare us for our trip to Bamenda, which is about a 45 minute ride.  Melissa and I were told to get up front, so we at least knew that we would be sharing the front passenger seat.  My friend Lesslie got in the driver's seat, so I thought maybe he had rented the car or something.  When I asked him if he was driving, he said "No, I am passenger." So after everyone was finally in the taxi cab, we had 4 up front (2 in the passenger seat and 2 in the driver's seat), 5 in the back seat, and one riding in the hatchback of the little Toyota we were in.  The guy riding in the hatchback part of the car had to hold the door while we rode swiftly down the road to Bamenda.  I wish we could have gotten a picture, but we just couldn't move after we were situated.  It was an experience we'll never forget.  After we arrived in Bamenda, we went to the market to buy some fabric for someone to make Melissa and I some traditional African clothing by hand.  We shopped for alittle while in the market and a craft store, then went to eat at a place called "Dreamland Restaurant".  They served hambugers and french fries here, so we were pretty excited about that.  After our meal out on the balcony overlooking Bamenda's shopping district, we said goodbye to Theresia, and got in another taxi to visit some relatives and friends of Lesslie.  We stayed in Bamenda until dark, then caught another taxi back to Mbingo.  I told Lesslie to tell the driver that we would pay him if he didn't let anyone else in the taxi with us! Haha

Shopping District of Bamenda

 Theresia, Jeff, and Lesslie

Melissa, Lesslie, and Theresia

 Dreamland Restaurant

 Lesslie & Jeff

 Melissa & Theresia

 Lesslie's family in Bamenda

 3 week old baby girl and Melissa

Uncle Lesslie

C WARD

Hello all!  I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on the C Ward (what they call the Pediatric ward here).  We are booming that is for sure.  Lots of very sick kids coming in daily.  Right now I have a 7 year old male who came in yesterday evening with bacterial meningitis.  Worse case of neck stiffness I have ever seen which is a hallmark for meningitis.  If I even placed my hand on his neck he would scream out in pain.  He is currently receiving IV antibiotics and I am hopeful that he is on his way to recovery. 

Also, a 4 month old male baby was admitted two nights ago in respiratory distress.  The baby was transferred from an outlying hospital when they said there was nothing more they could do.  I have been very concerned about this baby because he simply has not been improving, but today I believe God gave us the answer as to why the baby has been so sick which is that the baby is what they call code status positive.  That is there way of saying HIV positive.  The mother had said on admission that she had just recently been tested and she was negative but she must have converted during pregnancy.  Now that we have this answer I have placed the baby on the appropriate antibiotics for a type of pneumonia patients with HIV get and I hope that in a couple of days the baby will be doing much better!  I thank God for this answer today I have been racking my brain trying to think of why this baby was not responding to the treatment I was giving and then God handed me the answer!!  He is so AMAZING!!!  Please pray for this family as I was counseling this family about the code status being positive the mother asked that Jeff and I please pray for them even after returning to the states so I ask everyone that reads this blog to please pray for this family that they will find encouragement in GOD.

On Thursday night I received a 9 year old male with cerebral malaria.  He was unconcious and had seized multiple times after admission.  I was pretty convinced he was not going to make it even with the best malarial treatment that could be offered.  However, this morning God showed me the power of prayer because last evening at the prayer meeting I had prayed for God to give this boy a healing and I believe we are on the way.  When I walked onto the ward this morning I found him responsive to touch and opening his eyes in response to his name being called.  Needless to say we still have a long way to go but I believe God is performing a miracle right before my eyes!!

I am going to include some photos taken on the ward.  As you look at each child's face please say a prayer for them and their families.