August Nattier NEWS

It's been a while, since our last update.  To be honest, we have wanted to write since our return to the USA, but it's been a whirlwind in may ways.  As you all have no doubt also experienced, COVID 19 has had a great effect on many aspects of life for us and our work.  It has definitely had a drastic impact on international travel.  As a result of this, from the outset of the pandemic, there has been a great deal of uncertainty about the future of the medical work in Togo, especially due to the challenges for short term volunteers to come.  Initially, it was unclear whether or not flights would continue to depart from Togo.  They stopped from some of the other countries in our area, but they never did stop completely from Togo.  However, passengers were no longer allowed to come to Togo from the USA.  As a result, our teammates were unable to return as planned in April.  This lead us to consider delaying further our return to the USA.  Ultimately we kept our return flights which were purchased preCOVID.  Our teammates were able to return to Togo about 3 weeks later, which was a huge answer to prayer for us and our team.  The border to Togo has now reopened to returning passengers with some modifications like COVID testing on arrival.  Please continue to pray with us for our teammates, especially our surgical team pictured below.

Our last several weeks, ended up being very full with packing up our home and working until just before our departure.  However, we had some special times saying goodbyes to many of our friends.  It was interesting seeing this part of the culture, which is a bit different than our culture of origin.  We first visited them in their homes, and then they would come visit us in our home up until the day we left.  We are thankful for these relationships that God has allowed us to develop over the past 3 years.

Since arriving here in the states, we spent a couple of weeks quarantining in SC, before we moved into our home for the year.  This was a nice time to rest and decompress a little.  We had a few days to move into our home in Greenville, SC, and then we hit the road for variety of trips to see as many of our friends, family, and supporting churches as we could before school started.  This was a special time which included meeting two new nephews.  Natasha was able to be in VA for the birth of a 3rd nephew.  After helping with some training at our mission's headquarters in PA, we headed to OH to reconnect with our sending church. We greatly enjoyed meeting the new staff and many new members of our home church, UBC, in Beavercreek, OH.  

We have been extremely excited to catch up with so many over the past few months.  We could probably even say we have been in a state of euphoria.  However, with the arrival of a new school year with many changes due to COVID, I'm starting to wonder if we are going through a little reverse culture shock.  It's hard to know if everyone is struggling to figure out what their kids are supposed to be doing while e-learning or if it's just us, but this has been a significant challenge while trying to get settled. We've noticed how technologically behind we are. 

Prayer Requests

Our family - Please pray for our family, as we readjust to life here in the USA for the next year.  This may not be news to some of you but, our family is excited to announce that we are expecting our sixth child, a boy!  Both the boys and the girls are excited for arrival one more boy in the family. Please pray for Natasha and a healthy last trimester of her pregnancy.  She is due the beginning of December.  

Our stateside ministry - With the current pandemic and school starting, we are trying to find a healthy way to share about what God is doing in Togo.  We have a few events planned in the Fall, but we will probably wait until the Spring for a big trip to visit a number of churches in Southern Illinois and the Peoria area.  If you would be interested in having us come and share with your church and small group, please contact us at bnnattier@abwe.cc.  

Our team - Our surgical team recently welcomed another new surgeon and family- the Chmil Family.  Please pray for them as they get settled and begin ministry in Mango.  Please pray with us for our medical providers as well. They have a serious shortage until the arrival of two families early next year.  If you are a medical doctor and would be available around a month or more, please let us know.  The current quarantine in Togo, makes shorter trips too challenging for the moment, but we hope this will change in the near future.

  

April 2020 Nattier News

Hebrews 12:1-3 New International Version (NIV)

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

I have always found the comparisons of the human life and experience to a race to be quite accurate.  "The race marked out for us" mentioned in verse 1 is never compared to a sprint like a 100 yard dash.  It's never said to be without obstacles like if we were running around some kind of 400 meter track.  Quite the opposite, life is much more like a marathon.  The courses of marathons are quite variable.  The course is marked out, but it can vary depending upon the circumstances and weather of that particular day and time.  

This verse from Hebrews encourages us to keep our eyes fixed on someone who has already run this race, Jesus.  He endured all the challenges life has to offer including all kinds of opposition even to the point of dying on a cross.  He conquered death, as we recently celebrated His resurrection during Easter.   This text says to consider Him, so that we do not grow weary and lose heart.  

This particular scripture encourages me when I'm struggling with challenges, fear or uncertainty.  I'll be honest, the current COVID-19 pandemic has given us here in Togo and the rest of the world plenty of uncertainty.  While living overseas we try to plan a break about once a year.  Since we are living in a challenging climate and environment this would preferably include traveling outside of Togo.  This month we had planned to attend a medical missions conference in Greece.  Unfortunately for us, and many colleagues all over the globe, this conference and any kind of travel quickly became impossible.  Some of our colleagues here in Northern Togo were asked to evacuate, since we did not know if flights would be possible to return to the states for an extended period of time.  

Here at the Hospital of Hope, we began making preparations in March for receiving patients with COVID.  Togo closed its borders and significantly limited travel within the country shortly after having only one positive case.  However, over the past month, the number of cases here have started to climb.  As of today the country has registered 109 confirmed cases, with 7 deaths and 64 patients who have recovered.  We are thankful that the outbreak here in Togo has not been worse, since we have no ventilators and are always in a resource limited medical system.  There has only been 1 case diagnosed in the northern region of Togo.  While that was nearly a month ago, we have not seen any further cases in our region.  We are a little more isolated here in the north compared to the capital city which sees many international travelers.  This may be analogous to the rural areas in America who have not been effected to the extent of large cities.  We do not know what the coming months will bring here in Togo and throughout the rest of the continent of Africa.  However, the current travel limitations will significantly impact us and most other missions hospitals ability to have volunteers come and help.  In reality, missions hospitals provide a significant amount of the medical care across the continent.  We will all be looking for ways to continue providing compassionate healthcare during these changing times. 

We are still planning to return to the USA in June.  With the current restrictions and social distancing, we will be flexible in considering how we can best communicate with you.  We hope that will be in person, but we will wait and see what life looks like there!  We hope to communicate some of the events that have happened in the past 5 years since the opening of the Hospital of Hope.  In February we celebrated all that God has done here in the first 5 years.  For this occasion, there was even a song written in the local language which was God honoring and a lot of fun!

Prayer Requests

Our family

Many of our plans for our furlough have been affected by the current pandemic. The uncertainty of the housing market has affected our ability to find housing for the year and we are still in need of a vehicle. We know the Lord will provide, but it is difficult to make plans while these two key pieces are still largely unknown. Please pray with us for the Lord's provision in these areas. Please pray with us also for guidance as we seek to use our time back in America to rest, reconnect, and prepare to return to the work and ministry here in Northern Togo.

Our team 

As mentioned above, the changing travel environment has affected our team greatly.  The next 6 months will be short in many areas with limited options for short term help.  Not having volunteers also affects our ability to get supplies.  Please pray with us as we look to find alternative options to continue the work here.  Please also pray for our coworkers and patients who are currently fasting and praying during the day for their holy month of Ramadan.  We hope to minister to them well, especially during this time. 

     

January 2020 News

We hope you had a Merry Christmas and happy New Year.  We had a nice time with our family and friends here in Mango.  We were also thankful for several opportunities to share why we celebrate Christmas with some of our local friends.

It is a bit hard to believe that we have now entered into 2020.  I can remember thinking of this year as extremely far in the future and wondering what the world might be like.  You may have read some of the predictions that had been made for things that did not come true like flying cars.  This has given a chance for us also to reflect back on all that God has done during this past decade.

The Hospital of Hope

It's mind boggling to look back at the changes that have occurred here in our area of Mango from the time the ground was broken for construction in 2009, to the inauguration and opening in 2015, to today.  This year will mark the 5th anniversary of the hospital opening.  There have been some extreme highs and lows for the team here during that time, but we are thankful that God is faithful and still at work here in our midst today.  During that time, over 56,000 patients have been treated.  There have been over 5,000 surgeries performed.  We have seen God bless many with healing, both physical and spiritual, that would likely not have been possible without this ministry.

Surgery Department

There have been many challenges in our department to include the death of our leader and visionary, Todd Dekryger in 2016.  We have seen our department go from dependance on those who could come for weeks or a few months, to three full time surgeons for a time this year.  We also anticipate the arrival of two new surgeons this next year from language school.  This has allowed us to do 50% more surgeries this past year than any prior year on record.  We are especially thankful for the faithful work of our Togolese colleagues who have been the real stability and solid foundation of our department.  We have been able to add two OR aides this past year, and we hope to soon add another anesthetist.  God has definitely sustained us, and we wait in anticipation to see what these next years will bring.

Our family

In 2010 we were living in Augusta, Georgia while Bryce finished his last year of surgery residency.  It was during that year at the medical missions conference in Louisville, KY that we first learned about the work going in Togo and met Bob Cropsey and Todd Dekryger.  In 2011 we traveled to southern Togo for the first time to see what missions looked like in a mission hospital.  After 3 years in the military and 1 deployment, in 2014 we returned to Togo and were first able to visit the Hospital of Hope while it was nearly finished with construction.  After 3 more years of preparation, including 18 months in France learning language, in 2017 we arrived to work here in Mango full time.  During the past 10 years, our family has experienced quite a number of challenges and changes.  It is only by the grace of God's work in our lives that we have been able to overcome the many obstacles and participate in what God is doing here in Northern Togo.

We are looking forward to our upcoming furlough during 2020, and the chance to share with many of you in person more details about God's work here.  Please let us know if you would be interested in hearing more in person.  We are planning to travel back to the states to Greenville, SC in the middle of June.  We hope to travel to our sending church, University Baptist Church in Beavercreek, OH and visit others in the midwest (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois) the end of July and first part of August before school starts for our younger children in Greenville, SC.

Prayer Requests

Our Family

Since we will be traveling back to the USA in 5 months, we have already started making preparations for the work here during our time away.  Togo has in many ways become our home, and it's hard to imagine being gone for a little over a year.  Please pray for us as we prepare to hand over our ministries to others.  It's a good reminder to us, that this is God's work and it will go on without us.  However, we do desire to have as few disruptions as possible and smooth transitions for our Togolese colleagues who don't take these long times away. Please also pray for us as we make preparations to live stateside- housing, vehicle, schooling for our children, etc.

Our Team

We have continued to see an ever growing number of patients, many with very complicated problems.  Often times these patients have been to other hospitals and come to us in the late stages of their problems, or after all other options have been exhausted.  We are thankful for this opportunity to help them in their darkest hour and time of need.  This past month, intermixed in a record high number of surgeries, have been many such complicated and challenging cases.  Please continue to pray for strength, endurance, and patience for our team here, both Togolese and expat.