Often times, the days and months here seem to go by quite quickly. This has been true for us the past few months. The Lord continues to open doors for us to enter into the lives of people from many different backgrounds, cultures, and languages through their diverse medical needs. Each of us has a story, that God is writing. It really is a privilege to be trusted to walk with patients through some of the difficult times in their lives/stories and to be a part of how God is working in their lives. It's also amazing to see healing through compassionate medical care, that allows them to change the focus of their life from these huge medical needs that have consumed significant amounts of time, money and worry. Some of these needs we can treat, but others require a higher level of care not available at the Hospital of Hope or at other hospitals here in Togo. However through relationships with other medical missionaries whose missions hospitals have greater resources, we have been able to get the medical care needed outside of Togo. This is the case for the first two stories, we would like to share with you.
We mentioned a young female, Afi, in our last post who would be going to Kenya for resection of a large mandible tumor and facial reconstruction. Her procedure was more complicated than Nafi, so she required a bit more time in Kenya than expected. It's never a sure thing that a surgery will be successful, especially when there is a free flap which is dependent on blood supply coming from a small blood vessel that was sewn together. We are very thankful for the ability to partner with the team at Kijabe Hospital to be able to help our patients access this level of care. Afi had been looking for medical care for almost 10 years in multiple countries. While walking with her through this surgery over the past 4 months, Natasha and I and other colleagues have had great opportunities to help her in various ways and share Biblical truths. She stayed here in Mango for an additional 2 1/2 months due to an infection, and during that time she attended a Bible study with Natasha and some other women in our home and heard truth on many ocassions. She returned home just a few weeks ago with a wonderful cosmetic result and a new lease on life. She now has the opportunity to move beyond this health problem that had been the focus of much of her life and energy over the past several years. Please pray with us for her as she is at a major crossroads. She has already been able to be share with various friends and family about the great physical change that she has undergone, which is immediately visible upon seeing her, and we pray for her heart as well. Please pray with us for the head knowledge of salvation through Jesus alone to become heart knowledge.
We also ask for your prayers for a young boy named Abou. He recently made the trip to Kenya with one of our teammates to receive further care for a severe esophageal burn caused from drinking lye a strong base. Since his esophagus is completely closed, he has been receiving food through a g-tube for the past year. At the same time, some of his saliva has been going into his lungs causing recurrent pnemonia. When he arrived in Kenya after the flight, his saturations were dangerously low due to pneumonia. They are hoping to perform his surgery in the next few weeks at Bethany children's hospital which is located next to Kijabe Hospital. Please be praying with us for Abou, Katelyn, and the team at Bethany children's. Pray for wisdom as the team there as they decide the best timing for operation, as well as, for the many details for this surgery which is quite complicated.
Our PAACS program has been growing. We selected our next 2 residents to start in January of 2025. This years class includes our first Togolese doctor. We are excited to have Josue join our program a bit early, October 1, to start making the difficult transition from French to English. Our PAACS residents are required to do their testing in English, and this can be a problem for some of our residents coming from Francophone countries. This extra 3 months allows him to start now with that transition. Unfortunately, since our least letter one of our residents was also released for academic reasons.
In September, we were able to gather all of the residents and many of our faculty from both PAACS Togo hospitals in Kara for a spiritual retreat. We are thankful for the support and encouragement by PAACS to take this time together to study Gods word and worship together. We started with Revelations 21:1-8 to think about a future with God with no more tears, no more death, mourning, nor pain. The medical work here can be quite heavy at times as we see the severe suffering in our patients and friends. As surgeons, we often struggle with tough questions on what is best in our context, or what can and cannot be done. It's helpful for us today, to remember that this suffering and pain is not forever. We seek to treat and care for our patients to the best of our ability with compassionate care that models what Christ demonstrated, hoping one day they may dwell together with God as mentioned in verse 3.
One example of the physical suffering was a family from about 1 hour away who came with severe malnutrition and 2 young brothers of 7 and 8 with several holes in their intestine from typhoid. We were able to operate safely, and they both survived despite arriving at our hospital severely ill. Just as they were being discharged, a 3rd brother was brought to us with a less severe perforation containing only 1 hole. His name was Andrew, and he went on to tell us about his 2 sisters were also sick and were still at home in the village. One of our chaplains was able to join us for an impromptu visit to this village. The two sisters were indeed sick with fevers and abdominal pain from typhoid and returned with us to the hospital. The oldest brother introduced us to his father, and his uncle- the chief of the village. They were from an animistic background, though there was a small church in their village with a population of about 500 people. They allowed us to present the gospel there with the village and thanked us profusely for the care and support we had given to this family. The two boys are now nearly ready to have their intestines reconnected in the coming month. We have already had opportunities to rejoice in their improvement, but please pray for this family as they are still dealing with the many effects of severe illness.
