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Greetings from Mbingo, in the name of Jesus!
We missed our February newsletter due to a big development in our life, an unexpected blessing. While we were on annual leave in the US, we found a very affordable house as we were “just looking” one day at a place near Crossville, Tennessee. By God’s grace, we were able to make an offer, and it was surprisingly accepted. We were able to do the closing within two weeks. We then moved our belongings out of two storage units in Franklin, Tennessee, and unpacked a couple of days with the help of Jess and the boys on one of those days. We spent one night in the house and left to come back to Cameroon the next day! What a whirlwind; makes me tired just to write about it. God sustained us through it all, and we are so grateful to have a place to hang our hat after being homeless in the US and living out of storage units for the last 14 years. 😊 Now, for those of you who may be jumping to conclusions . . . we are NOT retiring. Rick is still committed to mentoring Dr. Mbanga a while longer, and we have many other projects going on here in Mbingo. We simply have a place to be based in the US now when we go on furlough. We do want to thank First Baptist Church Nashville Missions committee, especially Steve Walsh, for making their mission house available and caring for us during many furloughs over the last several years. What a blessing and provision that was for us!! May the Lord bless you in a special way.
During our short leave time in the US, we also got to be with both families in Tennessee and Florida. Our grandkids bring us such joy, and being with them hopefully is keeping us young?! We loved playing games; attending school activities, sports events, and music lessons; jamming together; birthdays; and snuggle time.
Rick and I have had opportunities to lead in devotion and prayer times with our departments, and Rick is leading our weekly Bible study with hospital admin and department heads in a study of Acts (unfortunately some were out of town this night, and we had to get the newsletter in 😊).
Speaking at our department retreat.
Praying at the hospital women’s retreat.
Rick’s Pathology Department morning devotion.
Thursday night Bible study.
Currently, we are the only missionaries from outside Africa here in Mbingo. We are serving with a wonderful family from Nigeria who are here with PAACS. He is the PAACS director, after being trained here as a resident and being attending staff. In January, Jackie Griffin, our OR nurse, had to return to the US for back surgery and will hopefully be back later this year. Dr. Laurie Elit went back to Canada for a few months and will be returning in July for a few weeks, then back in November for a few months. She will be coming and going as the Lord leads. She works in Gynecologic Oncology and is now the interim dean of the Baptist Institute of Health Sciences for our hospital. This is because Dr. Keith Streatfeild, who was the dean, has retired with his lovely wife Kaye in April. Keith, also an anesthesiologist, taught and worked in that field here and in Bamenda. Kaye served on the CIMS faculty and led Bible studies, as well as mentored residents. They are from Australia and will now be adjusting to retirement life there. They are very dear friends, and we will miss them greatly. Since we’ve arrived here in 2010, we have said goodbye to so many medical missionaries. It’s a bit sad, but God has a time for everything, and we trust Him for the future of MBH. The NAB has set up missionary job opportunities to replace these and other needs we have. Please pray for replacements: nabonmission.org/get-involved/missionary-job-openings.
Lastly we want to update you on the progress of the Radiation Cancer Center Project. Below are pictures of the bunker, which is finished on the outside, and they are now finishing the inside and needing furnishings. There are a lot of costs needed to go live with the linear accelerator. You can give to this through this link: nabconference.org/give/special-projects/ then scroll to Mbingo Cancer Radiation Therapy.
In His Matchless Love,