We have discovered that the government wants a local dentist to supervise our current graduates.  Unfortunately, there are no local dentists.  In fact, there are only eleven dentists in the entire country of six million people; and the only dentist who used to work in the local government clinic no longer does so.  The result is no authorized dental care in the local and surrounding regions; a combined population of almost two million people.  The team continues to work in the local clinic, but is not able to expand its outreach to the surrounding communities.

We understand the position of the government because they are not familiar with our program.  The next step is to get the authorization to continue to train and to certify our graduates to practice independently.

In the meantime we have partnered with Francophone Ministries and Radio Evangile Developpement with their work in the country of Burkina Faso in Western Africa.  We are scheduled to travel to the capital city of Ouagadougou on March 24 and return April 2.  We hope to train ten people to perform extractions who will use this skill to facilitate their evangelism, church planting and church support in the surrounding communities.

Please pray for the current team for wisdom and direction.  Also pray for us as we make final preparations for the trip to Burkina.

October 2010 Update

In October 2009 we trained ten people to perform extractions and place fillings. This training was done in six days, by Dr. Evans, and only by the grace of God.

There were  so many things that had to come together for this trip to be a success; so much of it was out of our control.  Some of the challenges included:

• communicating with a partner 5000 miles away in a country with limited telephone and internet service; 
• making a list of, and ordering equipment, instruments and supplies needed; writing a training manual; 
• team meetings with fourteen others from Christ Community Church; 
• packing everything in footlockers not to exceed the 50 pound weight limit; 
• securing the footlockers so that the contents do not end up on the tarmac; 
• anxious moments checking in the luggage and going through customs; 
• traveling through new and strange places with people we have never met to places we have never been, over roads that narrow in a moment with oncoming foot and automobile traffic and go from asphalt to gravel to dirt to a stream and back again; 
• selecting students to participate in a new program they don’t fully understand; to give classroom training for the very first time in a very limited time frame; to give clinical training to willing, yet nervous students who give care to willing, yet nervous patients who desperately need it; 
• to resist the urge to provide the care and let the students take over because they will be on their own in just a few days. What a thrill to see it all come together; to see satisfied patients having their needs met; 
• to see proud dental healthcare providers depending on the Lord and each other to meet the needs of others.  The graduates continued to work closely together in the clinic where we did the clinical training to develop their skills.

The graduates, now called “Community Dental Health Care Providers”, are affiliated with our ministry partner, most are directly involved in the church planting ministry.  Three of them are  nurses in the medical clinic which is operated by the ministry.  One is the director of the clinic.  The director and the nurses will use these new skills to provide dental care in the clinic.  They will provide this care as part of the overall ministry. 

During their interaction with patients they have the opportunity to share the love of Jesus and to share the Gospel with their patients.  They also go on mobile clinics to villages within the district.  The other graduates will work within the church planting ministry, using their new skills as an access ministry to facilitate the evangelism and church planting ministry.

March 2010 Update

Thank you so much for praying for us this past week. We returned yesterday from an incredible week in Africa. Tom and Brian travelled together  independent of a group from Christ Community Church.

Ten more dental students were trained. Two of the students were from the central district where we did the training.  Eight of the students were from other regions; two teams of four. They will return to their home regions to use their new skills to enhance their work in the church planting ministry.  Dr. Evans provided the two days of classroom training.  Five of the graduates from the first class received additional training and served as clinical trainers.  They were responsible for, and successfully completed the four days of clinical training.  They will continue to train and encourage these new graduates to refine their skills and utilize them in the church planting ministry.

We discovered that most of the dental supplies are available in country:  gloves, masks, gauze, and even anesthetic.  This will greatly relieve the travel burden of bringing these items from the States.  The cost for these items is still a need.  In a country so poor, one of the biggest challenges is to discover how to make the program self sustaining.

We received a great report from the team.  They have used the program to plant seven new churches.  One of the villages had not received them well before; in fact they had been physically chased out.  Utilizing the dental and eyeglass program, they were able to establish a relationship with the village, creating an opportunity to evangelize and plant a church.  In return the village gave land to build a church and to cultivate.   Praise the Lord!

However, when we got on the ground and came face to face with the people of Sierra Leone, the plans were laid aside.  Dr. Evans and I met the young men who were to be trained as Optical Technicians.  Essa, Bob Thomas and Fidelas were ready to learn!  They quickly took up the project and soon were giving eye exams quite professionally.  

Our new Optical Technicians had agreed to charge a fee to help cover the expense of the eyeglasses. However, when we saw the number of school children that could be helped through wearing eyeglasses our hearts melted.  To see the look on the face of a teenager who could finally see the chalkboard was a truly moving experience.  When we checked people’s vision at the clinic, we felt blessed that we could help so many people.  We also came to realize that none of these people could afford to pay for the eyewear.

During our second trip, we had the chance to train three new Optical Technicians.  Derrick, Lance and Kroma were  church planters from areas east of Bo. Happily, we found that the Optical Technicians trained during our first trip were skilled enough to lead training of future Optical Technicians.  It was a very good feeling seeing these men teaching and correcting the newer technicians in the finer nuances of fitting glasses.
We found that the nature of the eye problems we encountered was much different.  There were numerous cases of persons, young and old, having physical problems with the eye.  

In addition to cataracts and glaucoma, the Optical Technicians saw a great increase of patients with ulcerations to their lens.  We  had incomplete medical histories, but oftentimes measles and other viral infections were mentioned.  We were encouraged by  the number of successes, such as the pastor who can now read the Bible to his congregation, the Catholic Sister who can see well enough to teach the children, and the tailor who can once again see well enough to thread his needles.  Still, we could see that the cost of eyeglasses would be cost prohibitive to the church planting mission of our ministry partner.

The Lions Club seemed to be an answer.  In 1925, Helen Keller challenged Lion International to become "knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness".  Since that time, the Lions have dedicated themselves to helping restore sight throughout the world.  Lions have generously donated nearly 4,000 pairs of eyeglasses for our trip in November.  We will be transporting these glasses to our Optical Technicians so that they can  provide this care to the people of Sierra Leone.  We hope to able to use the Lions Club as a resource for glasses in the future.  This would greatly reduce this expense and allow us to use our resources for other needs including transportation of the glasses and supporting the ministry of our partner.

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you so much for praying for us this past week. We returned yesterday from an incredible week in Africa. 10 more students were trained. Eight of the students were from different regions from where we did the training; two teams of four. They will return to their home regions to use their new skills to enhance their work in the church planting ministry . Click here to view photos from the trip.

I would like to ask that you pray for one of the patients we saw. His name is Morey. He has a tumor caused by an infection resulted from extractions that were performed elsewhere five months ago.  We were not equipped to treat him and I am afraid that without a miracle he will not survive even with the IV antibiotics they are giving him at the clinic.  I hope to hear the final outcome in the weeks to come and will let you know. He is Muslim and responded positively to an invitation to attend a church within the ministry in the weeks to come. I was a great opportunity to share the Good News and the love of Jesus with him.

Brian

Tom Linder and I will be returning to Africa to continue our work. We will train new people to the program and reinforce the training with the original group. We leave February 25 and return March 8.

There were so many things that went right on the last trip to make it a success. So many of these things were beyond our control. I covet your prayers for this next trip, and I thank you in advance for doing so.

Please pray for us now as we prepare for the following:

• time management to accomplishment all that needs to be done
• that we order everything needed
• that we get all of the equipment, instruments and supplies from the vendors in a timely manner
• wisdom and clarity of thought as I make the edits for the second edition of the training manual

Please pray for those associated with ministry partner who are preparing for our arrival:

• for wisdom in selecting the right people for the training
• for clear communication regarding the travel arrangements (i.e. that someone will be there to pick us up at the airport)

Please pray for us during the trip:

• that everything arrives in a timely manner undamaged
• for safety
• for clear communication and understanding of training material
• for encouragement for the students
• for the right patients needed during the clinical training
• for success of the treatment
• for wisdom to incorporate the new skills into the church planting ministry.

Thank you,
Brian