Peace Missions Team

Worship at Parakuyo and Farewell

2009-07-06T10:46:00.000-07:00

Sunday we were privileged to join our fellow Christians in the Masai village of Parakuyo for worship. Two Land Rovers departed LJS with our team and the Washington team for the 1 ½ hour drive, which veered off the highway shortly out of Morogoro and continued down a dirt road through the Masai range land. The scenery was very much as most of us picture Africa, with grasses interspersed with vegetation and trees.

We were greeted with wide smiles and warm handshakes as we were ushered in to tea. Services began once all the villagers had finished tending their cows and completed the trek to the church. Pastor Martin Geisler, who is German and has been serving in the area since 2001, presided over worship and was assisted by a local minister, Pastor Daniel. We were overwhelmed by the beauty of the music, which featured congregational hymns along with an adult choir and a children’s choir. When the choirs sing, they also perform choreographed dancing that further expresses their joy, which brought a smile to all our faces. In the middle of the service, Pastor Martin invited all to bring their children forward that wanted them baptized. Women with babies in slings on their back surged forward and, as the baptisms began, the crowd of people waiting for their turn increased as both children and adults came forward. More than 20 were welcomed into the body of Christ yesterday and their friends rejoiced with them at this momentous change in their lives.

By 3 pm we were on our way back to Morogoro; Doug, Cindy and Pati returned to St. Mary’s to join Dr. Makao and Mr. Wazuri for two more procedures and the rest of the team continued on to LJS. The second procedure was challenging for the team. Dr. Doug removed a gall bladder from a patient that was anesthetized with only a local anesthetic and IV sedation. This is normally done in the States under general anesthesia, which requires a breathing tube with oxygen, something that St. Mary’s does not have available. Since oxygen is not possible, all sedation requires that the patient continue to breathe independently. This also means that there is no relaxation of the abdominal muscles, so keeping the incision open wide enough to allow Doug access was very difficult. Mr. Waziri and Pati applied all their strength using retractors to manually keep the incision open. Doug had to call rest breaks several times to allow tired and shaking biceps to relax.

Many of our friends and family back home have wondered at our individual roles during this trip. Doug, as the general surgeon, performed all procedures. Cindy, our registered nurse, circulated in the operating room to bring anything Doug needed during the surgery. Mike, our family and sports medicine doctor, saw patients in clinic each day. After our first day, when it became clear that we would have to work without Arleigh, Mike pointed out that he has a person assigned "to his hip" at his office in Alaska. So Pati became Dr. Mike’s "hip", making notes in patient’s records during his exam and writing prescriptions as directed. This also allowed Mike to economize on time and help more patients each day. Dana and Glynnis worked in our pharmacy, dispensing and interpreting the meds for patients. Glynnis also managed our main records and directed the flow of patients. All of the team worked as an integrated unit and supported each other throughout each day. As we reflect back on these days in Tanzania, we all feel that this team “clicked” and we were all a blessing to each other.

Today we completed our last five surgeries and our last clinic. We said our goodbyes and were thanked over and over again by each of the fourteen staff at St. Mary’s and urged to return again next year. Dr. Nkya gifted each of the team with a unique Tanzanian kanga to express her thanks.

In all we estimate that we were able to see almost 220 people in clinic and we performed 24 surgeries. As we pack and prepare for the return to our families tomorrow, we know that this mission has been inspired by Christ, as He has allowed His love to equip us for this work. We bid all our friends in Tanzania “Kwa Heri” (goodbye) until we see them again and wish them God’s richest blessings.

We Say Goodbye to Dr. Arleigh

2009-07-04T12:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Dr. Arleigh made the wrenchingly sad decision to return to the states. Her health had been worrying her for several days and became enough of a concern that, after her consultation with Dr. Doug and Dr. Mike, arrangements were made to change her flight. Words cannot express Arleigh’s distress about being unable to continue as a part of the medical team, but, as an emergency medicine physician, she knew the importance of being close to her own medical facilities and physicians.

The operating room saw constant use as Dr. Doug and Cindy worked with Mr. Wazeri, the scrub tech, and Dr. Makao, the anesthesiologist. One of the surgeries was a hysterectomy and Pati was taught to scrub and assist with the procedure. Dr. Mike saw patients all day with the rest of the team assisting him in his exams and dispensing his prescriptions. After working at such a fast pace all week, the energy level on the team was not as high as it had been the previous several days, so work stopped at 5:30. As we left the clinic, we decided to play tourist for an hour or two. Barbara asked for votes, and the top two were fabric and BEER. Unfortunately, it was 5:50 by the time we were in downtown Morogoro and the grocery store where beer can be bought closes at 6. Therefore, obviously, we had to shop for fabric and then eat dinner at a restaurant where the second need could be met.

Barbara took us to her favorite fabric shop, which was a very narrow store front that revealed walls 12 feet tall proudly displaying every array of native fabric. Glynnis (the sewer) and Mike (the world class shopper) traded elbows back and forth as they pointed their choices to the shopkeeper. Barbara was kept busy translating the Swahili phrases on all the “kangas”, which are the Tanzanian bordered fabric.
Dinner was another visit to the Acropol and the team enjoyed a relaxing evening with conversation covering the gamut from Tanzanian culture and traditions to theological debates. By the time we returned to the LJS at bedtime, we were tired but content.

Before today, we had been working with four translators--two local pastors, Pastor William and Pastor Peter; our main translator from last year, Emanuel; and Barbara. Because tomorrow is Sunday, both pastors had to turn their attentions to preparation for services so we had only two translators to help us today. Four surgeries were performed and, again, Pati assisted with a hysterectomy. We were joined in mid-afternoon by Sue and Michelle, two members of the team from Washington State that arrived yesterday. Sue is an RN who works as a school nurse and was eager to see what our mission entails. We were eager for the extra help and immediately put them to work.

Dr. Mike was able to see and treat more than 20 patients with Dr. Doug seeing several surgical candidates during times when the operating room was being cleaned and prepped for the next patient. Our day did not end until 7:30 tonight and Barbara joined us for a late dinner at LJS. Diane Johnson, the leader of the Washington team, and Jill, another Washington team member, joined us in the dining hall to hear about Sue and Michelle’s time at St. Mary’s.

Tomorrow we will worship at a Masai village with the Washington team, after which Dr. Doug, Cindy and Pati will go to St. Mary’s to work on two more surgeries.

2009-07-04T11:52:00.001-07:00

Wednesday and Thursday at St. Mary's

2009-07-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

Peri had been living with pain from fibroid tumors for many years. She is a fragile, ethereal young woman and her increasing pain had been interfering with her ability to do even the most basic chores, including caring for her children. Dr. Doug performed a hysterectomy yesterday and we know that she will return to her family in several days with renewed vigor.

Joti is a 4 year old boy from a remote village with solemn black eyes that gaze stoically out of his beautiful face. His parents waited with him more than nine hours before meeting with Dr. Arleigh. Joti has a birth complication that will result in cancer if not corrected surgically. Although this surgery is not a good fit with our doctors, we have consulted with the Tanzanian pediatric surgeon and have arranged for the procedure to be done Sunday. His parents repeated echoes of “Asanti, sana” (thank you very much) showed their relief and their renewed hope.

Yesterday we saw Peri and Joti and more than 40 other patients. Our list had more than 60 names before 9:30. Tanzanians will wait endlessly without complaint to see us. As the sky darkened, we reluctantly sent the last 20 patients home for the day at 7:15 and told them to return early the next day. With any mission trip, the unexpected can trigger changes and inventive adaptation is required to meet these challenges. Our anesthesiologist was detained and did not arrive until two hours later than expected. And we discovered the gasket to the sterilizer at St. Mary’s was broken so we did not have the ability to sterilize instruments between procedures. Working through these problems cost us precious time, which slowed our ability to see patients. We also lost Barbara as a translator around 1 pm, because she had to leave to drive to Dar es Salaam to pick up another mission team arriving from the States.

After Dr. Arleigh and Dr. Mike had met with patients, any candidates for surgery were directed to a different area to wait for Dr. Doug to examine them during his breaks from surgery. We asked the head nurse at the hospital, Mama Ana Msumari, if she could find a room for Dr. Doug to use that was separate from the two being used for clinic. She pondered the problem and applied amazing Tanzanian ingenuity and arrived at a wondrous solution. There is an outside area where we had taken our lunch breaks that resembles a large open courtyard with a small covered area on the side. A tattered sofa and two arm chairs were stored underneath the slanted roof. She directed the staff to clean the furniture and carry a desk out, which was covered with a sheet. More sheets were suspended from the eave of the covered area to create a long curtain that concealed this seating arrangement from casual view. And so Dr. Doug’s office was created!

Today we were greeted with warm smiles by the 20 patients from the day before who were sent home. Although we were delayed by a complication that required the doctor’s time to start an IV, Mama Ana was ready to help us and the patients were quickly organized and happy to see the doctors. We also began the day with an additional 13 patients that had arrived from the village and were referred to us by the Asbury medical team. Throughout the day people continued to arrive and were added to the list.

Barbara arrived back from Dar mid-afternoon and brought with her a new gasket for the sterilizer. This will make such a difference in our ability to do more surgeries in subsequent days.

Unfortunately, we met with a bit of government red tape that pulled our doctors away from clinic for more than an hour. Somehow, our mission hit the radar of an agency that decided that the proper paperwork had not been filed. If we did not remedy the problem before Friday, we were told that we would be shut down and subject to repercussions for the work already done. We suspended clinic and surgery while forms were completed and the doctors travelled to a shop to have their photos taken. We were due at Faraja Trust, a home-based heath care that works with families with HIV and Aids, at 4 pm to see patients. Because the doctors were not back at St. Mary’s until after 5, we again did not have enough time to see everyone on the list and an additional 11 people were told to return tomorrow.

Dr. Doug and Cindy stayed at St. Mary’s to continue surgeries. The other four team members arrived at Faraja Trust, only to be told that everyone had given up hope of our arrival and gone home. However, they agreed to come to St. Mary’s tomorrow and we will be sure that we are able to see them. All was not lost, though, because we left many Tanzanian shillings at Faraja Trust in exchange for the beautiful hand-dyed batik cloth that they produce, which is their main source of funds.

Afterwards, a stop was made at a local grocery store and we browsed the shelves wondering at the different foods. The owner of the Acropol hotel happened in to the store while we were there and helped us spend even more shillings as we eagerly accepted her recommendations for snacks and goodies.

Mkulazi and St. Mary’s

2009-06-30T11:31:00.000-07:00

Several times Sunday we were asked about our schedule. We were puzzled when the news that we were traveling to Mkulazi on Monday was met with sniggers, knowing looks and rolling eyes. When Barbara explained that the road to Mkulazi is known as one of the worst in the area, we were not concerned. How bad can it be? We’re tough. We’re American, after all.

6:30 am saw us all piling back into Barbara’s Land Rover. We were joined by Kilatu, who works for the diocese and is responsible for community development, including Mkulazi. Barbara shares the front seat with one person, three of us cozy into the middle seat and the rest of us sit on two parallel benches in the back, cargo area. Two inches of foam line the seat and back rest on the benches and we interlace our legs to extend them so our knees are somewhat below waist level.

Our first hour was back down the Morogoro-Dar es Salaam highway to a dirt road. The few bumps in the road had us looking at each other and smiling. Barbara clearly exaggerated the poor condition of the road. However, after we passed through the small village of Ngere Ngere we began to understand the sympathetic laughter from Sunday night. It took two full hours to travel 35 miles and the terrain was some of the worst any vehicle has ever attempted to traverse. In the rainy season, we are told that the road is impassable, leaving the village of Mkulazi completely isolated from the world. The close quarters were tolerable in the front and middle seats. The back benches were barely endured and we rotated seating to manage the trip.

We experienced a completely different view of Tanzania. Stick huts with mud plaster and thatched roofs were scattered in the bush. Water must be carried from remote sources and life follows the cycle of the sun with only a rare kerosene lantern to prolong the day. Our progress was halted often by men herding cows or goats down the “road”.

We were greeted with much ceremony by the village elders in Mkulazi and proudly served tea, soda and biscuits to refresh us after the dusty road. The diocese has just completed installation of a solar powered electrical system that is a marvel throughout the area and is an addition to an earlier water collection system that makes running water possible in the immediate few buildings. Mkulazi is a village of 3500 people that encompasses many sub-villages in an area with a 10 kilometer circumference. We were there to see patients at the dispensary who had conditions that had not been resolved after consultation with the local medical clinician. Before we could begin our work, though, the formalities were to be observed. In Tanzania, relationships are far more important than results. Although we were eager to see patients immediately, it was important that the village council honor us with formal speeches and introductions.

Our work began shortly after 1 pm and we met with 23 patients, treating those we could help, caring for those we couldn’t help, and sharing love with all.

The trees awakened us today singing and dancing in the uncustomary wind that ushered in cooler air. After a brief visit to the diocese offices to formally meet with Bishop Mameo and his staff, we approached the hospital and the line of people waiting for help stretched out the door and down the street. A quick 30 minutes for organization saw us divided up into work groups as we began seeing patients. Many were referred to us by the Asbury Methodist medical team, which proceeded us by two weeks. At the end of the day we had seen 35 patients and performed two surgical procedures.

Tomorrow we will be able to start several hours earlier and have four surgical cases scheduled for the day. Our work yesterday at Mkulazi and today at St. Mary’s has helped us refine a system that will allow us to see larger numbers and we are hoping to see more than 50 patients in clinic tomorrow, some of whom will be surgical candidates. This work is rewarding and energizes all of us as Christ opens our hearts to our Tanzanian brothers and sisters.

2009-06-28T10:48:00.001-07:00

Africa, Tanzanian Style

2009-06-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

As the first rays of sun radiated across the horizon yesterday morning, we arrived at Mikumi National Park after a 1 ½ hour drive in company with the team from Asbury Methodist. Our guide was skilled at finding wildlife and pointed out animals we would have missed. Although Simba (lion) eluded us, we were enthralled at the sight of countless giraffes, zebras, elephants, water buffalo, and hippopotami, just to mention a few. The photographers on our bus bounced from side to side as our tolerant driver waited for us to signal our readiness to continue our tour. Because the Asbury group needed to be back to LJS to prepare for their return home, we still had half a day left after our safari.

Barbara ferried us in to Morogoro, about 15 minutes away, giving us our first look at the city. The doctors were eager to tour the hospital and work out logistical problems they might encounter. We were welcomed with open arms and broad smiles when we greeted the staff, who refused to allow us to carry the bags of supplies into the hospital. Once they had arranged the suitcases in one of the rooms we will be working out of, we tackled the task of unpacking and organizing almost 400 pounds of supplies for our mission. Our tour of the simple facility caused some concern when we saw that the area we will be using for surgery was in the midst of a facelift. The dust and debris made the area completely unusable. A worried conference with the hospital administrator, Mama Tosa, eased our concern when she assured us that the job would be completed before Tuesday, our first day scheduled at St. Mary’s.

Barbara joined us for dinner at LJS and the conversation lingered long after the meal as we discussed our schedule for the next couple of days. Every time we are with Barbara, we learn so many new things about the people of Tanzania and how we can best integrate into the culture. We know that God wants us to be here, doing His work. Our prayer is that we will be able to soften our American ways so that we will not detract from His mission and Barbara has become an invaluable guide to help us in that effort.

Today we joined the Bungo congregation for worship at the cathedral, which was led by Bishop Mameo. Bungo is a congregation in Morogoro and is part of the Morogoro diocese. When the ELCA was first established in the diocese more than ten years ago, it started as a single small congregation at the diocese headquarters. There are now 45 congregations throughout the diocese, 10 of which are in Morogoro. We sat in two pews, clustered around Barbara, who translated the service so we could follow along. Some parts, like the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostle’s creed, we spoke in English. Other parts, like the hymns, we stumbled through in Swahili, reading from the Swahili hymnal. Throughout the service, we were blessed to worship with our Tanzanian brothers and sisters as we joined them in their joy in our love of Christ.

The elders of the congregation honored us with lunch at a local restaurant. Bishop Mameo entertained us with some of his stories of the culture differences he has experienced in his trips to the U.S. After lunch, a trip to the pharmacy to supplement our medicines was completed. We will be travelling to a remote village tomorrow to see patients who have problems that have not been resolved with other medical consultation. If we find we are able to help any of these patients with a surgical procedure, we will be seeing them early enough in our trip to make arrangements for that surgery. These patients live more than 2 ½ hours away and must use a bus to come to Morogoro. As there is only one bus a day that serves their village, they will need the extra time to make arrangements.

We will be closing the day today, again, with a team devotion. Dana Pennie, Cindy’s husband, accepted the job of preparing our daily devotion and we are all grateful to end our day remembering why we are here.

2009-06-27T03:01:00.001-07:00

Waking on the shores of the Indian Ocean

2009-06-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

A weary crew arrived into Dar es Salaam airport last night after 27 hours of travel. The Arkansas and Oklahoma team members met up with Mike in Amsterdam, which united the team for the first time. Our three hour layover flew by as the discussion of our trip swirled around us, excitement mingling with enthusiasm.

The final leg into Dar es Salaam saw us arrive around 8 pm. After visas were issued for the team and we cleared customs (with all 15 bags intact!), we greeted Barbara Robertson, our Tanzanian liason. Barbara is originally from Washington state and has lived in Tanzania for 10 years, working for the Morogoro Diocese for the last 3 ½ years. Her fluent Swahili is such a help for us, as is her wisdom about some of the differences between our two cultures.

It was dark when we tumbled into bed at the Pentecostal Guest House, a local lodging for weary travelers funded by a Swedish outreach program. The light of the morning sun revealed the beauty of our surroundings for the first time. We were treated to a light breakfast on a shaded porch overlooking the Indian Ocean and watched a trio of monkeys watch us.

Barbara was our driver on the three hour trip to Morogoro, using the time to further educate us on Tanzania and answer the myriad of questions that were triggered by the surrounding countryside. On the way, we stopped to visit with Jenifa in her home. Jenifa , who was one of our patients from last year, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer that has spread to other parts of her body. The team raised the funds last year to allow her to begin her treatment and it was a blessing to visit with her and see the improvement in her condition. She is a widow and lives in a very modest home in the country surrounded by the fields she farms for food. Native chickens roaming her dirt yard are evidence of her efforts to have a business that will not only feed her family, but provide a source of income that will outlive her. She is a witness to Christ in her life and testifies that she knows that all healing comes from Him. Her joy in Christ was an encouragement to us all.

We have settled in to our rooms at the Lutheran Junior Seminary and will meet up for dinner with the team from Asbury Methodist that has preceeded us. The Asbury team has been screening candidates for us to consider for surgery and their last day here will be tomorrow. They will join us for the half-day tour through Mikumi Game park before they begin their return home. During this evening and our trip tomorrow, the doctors from both teams will be able to compare notes as Asbury hands off the medical baton to our team.

(By the way—our laptops are not working well yet. Dr. Mike wants the office to know that if they need to get in touch with him, send a message through this blog.)

2009-06-04T19:17:00.001-07:00

We meet for the first time! 2009

2009-06-03T18:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, May 30 & 31, your 2009 Tanzania Surgical Mission team met for the first time. It was so exciting for all of us to get together and share how God has called us to this mission. Peace Lutheran Church was proud to host a commissioning for the team at each of the 3 services during the weekend, after hearing Cindy describe last year’s mission and what we foresee for this year. At the same time, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Fayetteville was learning about the mission from Dr. Arleigh Trainor, who is a member of Good Shepherd.

After a quick dinner, we gathered at the home of Dr. Doug & Glynnis Treptow. Dr. Mike Orzechowski joined us from Alaska by phone for a lengthy conference. We learned that we will have about a half day to enjoy the sights of Africa as we adjust to the time change. After that, we are eager to begin our mission, which will include a day in one of the more remote districts before we begin clinic and surgery at St. Mary’s. Your team spent several hours brainstorming, combining what we learned last year with the experience the team has acquired in other ways. Some of the problems we considered are:
• What kind of patients do we expect to help?
• What supplies should we bring with us?
• What can we purchase in Tanzania for our mission?
• How can we organize our clinics to help the greatest number of people?
• How should we allocate the team supplies that we are packing to minimize the damage if a bag is lost?
• What are our options in Tanzania if we need anesthesia beyond a spinal block?
• How can we help the most when we are doing clinic in the remote district?

As we ended the evening, the Arkansas members of the team made plans to meet again a day or two before departure to pack the team bags together. Cindy and her husband, Dana, are flying out of Tulsa. The Arkansas members, Dr. Arleigh, Dr. Doug, Glynnis and Pati, are flying out of NW Arkansas and will join up with Cindy and Dana in Minneapolis, where we all fly to Amsterdam. Dr. Mike is flying out of Alaska and meets up with the team for the first time in Amsterdam. We are all looking forward to continuing the bond that was formed with each other as we travel on to the work He has waiting for us with our brothers and sisters in Tanzania.

We ask for your prayers for our safe travel (for us and our luggage!) and that God will guide us in His mission in Tanzania.

If you want to be a financial part of this vital mission, you can send your check to ELCA A-Ok Synod, 6931 S. 66th E Ave, Ste 310, Tulsa, OK 74133-1760 and put “Tanzania Surgical Mission” on the memo field.

BWANA ASIFIWE! (Praise the Lord)

Worship with the Masai slideshow

2008-08-29T04:36:00.001-07:00

Offering at Masai worship

2008-08-29T03:40:00.000-07:00

Worship with Masai

2008-08-29T03:28:00.000-07:00

animals from mikumi

2008-08-29T03:17:00.001-07:00

We're on our way back home!

2008-08-26T22:23:00.000-07:00

Although it is midnight at home right now, it is 8:16 am on Friday and our bus will be here any minute to pick us up and begin the long trek to Dar es Salaam and, ultimately, back to you, our friends and loved ones.

The money you so generously gave after we made you aware of our need here allowed us to do another full day of clinic Monday. We saw an astounding 75 patients!! And it may even be enough to cover all of the surgeries we identified.

Please check back after we are home—there are two wonderful videos of the worship from the Masai village that will be uploaded after we have access to a faster connection.

Bwana Asafiri! Praise the Lord!

Worship with the Masai, Sunday

2008-08-24T10:38:00.000-07:00

Worship with the Masai

Dr. Karen and Dr. Michael left early to be at St. Mary’s by 8 for the surgery that got bumped yesterday. The rest of the team had the luxury of sleeping in—we did not have to leave for church until 9:30—which was heaven!

The village we went to for worship was about 40 kilometers away. We arrived at 10:35 and church was supposed to start at 10:30. But, as we have been warned, this is Tanzanian time. So 10:30 means sometime after that, but before lunchtime. The service began a few minutes before 11 and lasted until 1:30. We were mesmerized and energized by the joyfulness of the service. Even our one-hour Lutheran sat through the service and was glad she came.

There were 2 choirs—a childrens choir and an adult choir. Each choir performed many songs and we enjoyed the same type of joyful procession for the offering as we witnessed last Sunday at the cathedral.

The Masai villagers did not know we were coming to join them for worship, but their welcome was overwhelming. The pastor asked Emmanuel to interpret for him during the service, when he told us they loved us and they did not want us to think of the village as our home, but that it WAS our home and we were their family. We’re pretty sure the Tanzanians were puzzled when we got the tissues out and started dabbing at our eyes. What in the world was wrong with these Americans?

After the service, the procession outside again formed a circle for the auction. Today there were only 2 items to auction: a watermelon and a green, 3 gallon plastic bucket with lid. The bucket was empty but would be used by someone to haul water. One of our members, knowing the money would go to the church, determined to buy the bucket for any price. The bidding started at $1,000 shillings (about 80 cents) and went up to about $4,000. Our team member gave Emmanual a $10,000 note and asked him to bid for us, which he did. Being a very sharp man, the pastor saw that and he upped the bid to $11,000! The man was bidding against us! Not to be outdone, we added another $10,000 note and won the auction. The congregation went wild at the price we paid for an empty bucket but we were so happy to present the bucket and the money to the pastor.

In Tanzania, hospitality is a must. There is never a time when you would visit someone and they would fail to offer you food and drink. Most people travel a long way, for a long time, so it is assumed that you are hungry and thirsty. Unlike in the US, there is no such thing as a quick visit. If you do not have time to enjoy the hospitality, you do not make the visit. So we were treated as honored guests and followed the pastor a short way to a collection of homes, called a “boma”, which are all inhabited by an extended family. In this case, it was a grandfather, his 5 wives and all their children and grandchildren. Each wife has her own identical home. We were ushered into the home of the head wife and seated with the pastor in their front room where one of the wives went to each of us with a basin and a pitcher to pour water over our hands to wash them before we ate. Remember, these people did not know we were coming and they suddenly were faced with feeding an extra 10 people. But, as the pastor said, please eat well, because there is plenty of food! We were served a simple meal of rice, beans and stew. They proudly presented each of us with a bottle of Pepsi to go with our meal and ended with the pitcher and basin to wash our hands again.

Emmanual translated conversation for us during the meal as we asked the pastor about his ministry and the congregations he pastors. The church we were at is a central church and there are many branches that are served by an evangelist. As he is the only pastor, though, he must go to the churches for baptisms, weddings and communion. The area he serves is about 120 kilometers by 40 kilometers with many branch churches, which is necessary because the Masai all walk to church, so church must be reachable on foot within a couple of hours.

Our goodbyes were heartfelt and our welcome was reinforced many times. They were so happy to have us there, and we were filled with joy to be there.

Surgical day at St. Mary's, Saturday

2008-08-23T23:22:00.000-07:00

Surgical Day at St. Marys

Emmanuel, our main interpreter, told us a story this morning that brought tears to many of our eyes. Last night, Friday night, he received 3 telephone calls (everyone here has a cell phone). Every one of the calls were from people we had treated in clinic that day and they wanted Emmanuel to tell “the American doctors” that they felt the Holy Spirit and saw Jesus standing beside our doctors during their clinic visit. That is the reason that we are here: so that others will see Jesus through us and our actions.

When we committed to 5, possibly 6 surgeries for Saturday, we knew we were committing to a long day. Although we had some concerns that the anesthesiologist and the OR tech did not understand us when we told them how late the work would go, our fears proved unfounded. We arrived at the hospital at 9 am, after a stop at the local bank to get money. All of our surgical patients were sitting on the slatted wooden benches lining the hall at St. Mary’s.

Pre-op care is very different here. When the doctors are nearing time for the surgery, the patient is taken back to a bed, told to disrobe and wrapped in a sheet. Then an IV is started. For all of you medical personnel, the IV is very simple—a tube line with a black plastic butterfly-shaped paddle at the end, followed by the needle. The needle is inserted into the vein and the butterfly paddle is taped to the arm. No syringe is used.

Once the doctors are ready for the surgery to start, the patient walks down the hall and into the OR, gets up on the table and lays down. The table is covered with a heavy green canvas, which is topped with a red rubber sheet. Almost all of our surgeries are being done with a spinal, not general anesthesia, so they are awake and alert during the surgery. Also, there is no monitoring of the patient like we are accustomed to in the US. They are not connected to any device, other than their IV. We have continued our buddy system and the person who was their buddy/helper/advocate through their clinic visit is in the OR with their patient. We stand at their head, where they can see us, and hold their hand, smooth their hair, pat their arm, and murmur to them encouragingly. Of course, they do not know what we are saying, but we believe they take comfort from having the same person with them.

After their procedure is finished, the patient is lifted onto the (only) gurney by grabbing the edges of the green canvas. The gurney is wheeled down the hall to the room where the patient will receive their post-op care and, again, lifted from the gurney and carried into the room using the green canvas. This usually requires 4-5 people: two on each side and one to hold the head if the patient is not awake. The buddy is then in charge of post-op care, taking vitals every 15 minutes, then once at 30, then a final an hour later. All of our non-medical helpers are the buddies and have been taught to take vital signs. It gives the team a strong connection to the patient. The RN or the doctor comes to the buddy to ask questions about their patient, so the buddy sticks pretty close until the final vital is taken and we know that they are doing well.

Unfortunately, Barbara’s foot worsened overnight, so she was one of the 6 procedures that we did yesterday. The general surgeon drove here from Dar es Salaam (3 hours) and we used general anesthesia for Barbara so he could lance her wound and drain it. That bumped our 6th (now 7th) case to Sunday morning, so two of our doctors are going to St. Mary’s this morning to do that procedure and to assist in the surgery for the two little boys, which the general surgeon is doing.

By the time we finished our last procedure last night and made sure all of our patients were stable, it was 8:30—far too late to get dinner at LJS. We opted to revisit the Acropol Hotel and invited the general surgeon, the anesthesiologist, Emmanual, and our driver to join us as our guest for dinner. The food was wonderful and we all enjoyed the treat of the American-style bathroom! By the time we were delivered to our beds at 11 pm, we all felt it had been a very long, but rewarding day.

St. Mary's Hospital

2008-08-22T12:01:00.001-07:00

Clinic is growing Thursday and Friday

2008-08-22T10:03:00.001-07:00

Clinic is growing

Word has spread that the American doctors are here and are helping women for free. On Thursday we saw 35 new patients and several rechecks from patients we saw on previous days. The rechecks were patients we gave medicine to who we asked to come back so we can tell if the medicine is working. Now remember, none of our patients speak English. So the exam is very long because everything said by the doctor or the patient must be repeated by our translators. And, although our translators are very good, there are many words in both languages that do not translate. For example, Swahili does not have a word for “to have”. The Swahili for that is, literally, “to be with”. So you do not have a cup of tea or a home. You are with your tea or your home. And when that is combined with the heavy accent of our translators, it is easy to see why an exam can take 45 minutes or more. It was 6:30 before we finished with our last patient Thursday and we were all very tired, but had a wonderful feeling of accomplishment. We helped 35 people! And some of those 35 people will have surgery Saturday.

Today, Friday, we held clinic only in the morning and left the hospital to go to the Faraja Trust. On of our translators, Mamma Epi, is the director of the Faraja Trust, which is dedicated to helping children and adults who are HIV positive. The children are from 1 month to 15 years old and the adults are from 25 years old and older. The youth, in between those ages, are helped by a different organization. They currently have 120 children and 70 adults they are helping. They make visits to each home bi-weekly to see how they are doing—are they taking their medicine and eating well—and to counsel them on how to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.

We toured the simple facility and then split into three rooms to see their patients. Part of the team went with the doctors, and the others played with the children and talked with the patients waiting. Although we did not have the availability of lab or a pharmacy to dispense medicine, we met with them to listen to their problems, examined them and gave advice and wrote prescriptions. And we loved them. Mwanaisha is one of the patients we examined and she shared a story of faith with us that touched our hearts. Thursday night, she prayed that God would help her—that He would give her hope and healing. When she slept, she dreamt that she saw a lot of people and they were all doctors and, during her dream, she felt healing. She then told us that after seeing us, her dreams had come true, and she was filled with hope. God is great! All the time!

The primary source of funds for the Trust is from the batik fabric that the women make to sell. Your mission team seriously depleted their stocks, so some of you will know that the gifts we bring you are helping support these people who so desperately need our help.

Tomorrow is a very, very full day for us. We ask for your prayers as we will be performing 5 or 6 surgeries. The sixth surgery will be determined by the hospital staff—whether the anesthesiologist and the OR tech will agree to stay late and whether there are enough beds for the patients. St. Mary’s has only 8 beds for inpatients and when we left today, 3 of our surgical patients from yesterday and Tuesday had not been discharged.

People from the hospital

2008-08-21T13:18:00.001-07:00

Working at the clinic, we’ve got our act together!

2008-08-21T11:05:00.000-07:00

An impromptu yoga class has formed and some of the team are starting their day with a class led by Dr. Karen outside under the Baobob tree. They begin before sunrise, doing sun salutations to the accompaniment of crowing roosters and braying donkeys. And, of course, the song of African mourning doves. Dr. Andrea has even designed a custom, African mourning dove jig.

We learned so much about what not to do Monday and had a meeting Monday night where we organized and came up with a modified game plan. It’s worked!

We saw 20 patients Tuesday (with just one doctor) and did 3 surgeries (with the other 2 doctors). Our system was to buddy up one of our helpers with each patient and to triage each patient for vital signs and a description of why they want to see the doctor before they went in to see the doctor. The buddy stayed with their patient through triage, to lab, to see the doctor and to get the medicine from the dispensary that the doctor prescribed. That allowed the buddy to hear everything about the patient—remember, everything we do is going through a translator because none of us speak Swahili (although Kayla is our linguist and is learning about the language very quickly!)—and allowed the buddy to know the whole problem and help explain to the doctor. It also had the added benefit of allowing each of us to bond with our patients as we attempted very basic communication with sign language while we waited during each stage of their visit.

Tanzanians are a very beautiful and loving people and they are so grateful that we are here. They love to touch and always shake hands on greeting and on saying goodbye. When they are particularly moved, the shake involves a handshake, followed by a grasping of thumbs-kind-of handshake, followed again by a regular handshake. By the time they left, most of our patients gave their buddy the triple handshake to say good bye. We were all very moved by it.

A little explanation about how things are working here: as you all know, we came here to do surgery. Before you can do surgery, though, you must do clinic, which (for us lay persons) is basically seeing all patients and treating them for their various needs. Some of that treatment involves surgery, but some does not. Many of the patients we are seeing have needs that can be helped with some of the most basic of medicines—things we all take for granted.

There is such a need here for modern medicine and everyone is so grateful that we have taken the time to come and try to help them; that we are touching them, talking to them, looking at them, and spreading God’s love with our works. Most of the time when they need treatment, they see the “clinical officer” at the hospital who is not a doctor or a nurse, and who does not actually examine them, but listens to them and prescribes medicine. We are touching, smiling, caring, and our love for them is returned tenfold. They are just so grateful.

We arrived here with about $2,000 to spend on clinic and surgeries. Of course, our team is not being paid, but we must pay for any medicine we prescribe, for any lab that is ordered, and for the anesthesiologist and the OR tech for the surgeries we are performing. We are seeing about 25 patients per day in clinic and have 9 surgeries scheduled so far, including those we performed yesterday. It costs about $5 per patient for labs and medicine in clinic and about $175 for each surgery we perform. That seems ridiculously little for us, but it is so much more than these people can pay. Most people here live on $1 per day.

At our current rate, we will run out of money on Saturday. If God provides the funds, we can do clinic on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and we may be able to do more surgeries as well. We are asking that you open your hearts and seek God’s will in this and, if you feel moved to contribute, that you call Ida at the ELCA AR-Ok synod office at 918-492-4288 today. There is no credit here in Tanzania. We must have cash to pay for the work we are doing.

Jesus tells us that when we care for those in need, we are caring for him. That is what is happening here, in Tanzania. And it is our prayer that when we tend to their physical needs, their spiritual needs will follow.

In His service,
Your Surgical Mission Team in Africa

St. Mary's Hospital, Monday

2008-08-18T10:27:00.000-07:00

St. Marys’ Hospital, Monday

Working in Tanzania is described as “letting the flower unfold”. You can look at the bud, but you do not know what you will get when it is open, or how it will open. Organization means different things to Tanzanians and Americans.

Today was spent working with our interpreters and the hospital staff as we attempted to see the patients and decide what we could do to help them. The vast majority of our patients today were from the Masai tribe and most were in traditional dress. The women are garbed in beautiful fabric tied around them sarong style, most of them with babies slung on their backs. The jewelry in their ears tells one what their status in their tribe is. For example, they do not earn the right to string heavy jewelry through their lobes, creating large swinging holes, until they have their first child. They all shave their heads and are a very beautiful people. Many, but not all, of the men wear sarong style clothing, also and have carved clubs hanging from their belts.

It did not take very long before our doctors and other team members decided to take control of the flow of patients. Because our doctors are gynecologists, there are many surgeries that are not in their skill set. Many men came to us with hernias, genital problems and health issues that were amplified after their frequent bouts of malaria. Because so many sought treatment, it became clear very early that we had to prioritize the patients and see those that had the highest likelihood of being a good match with our doctors—the women. There was a bit of confusion and stubbornness from the Masai men as we made this transition, but doing so made it possible for us to triage all the women who came to us today. We have surgeries scheduled for tomorrow and will continue to do clinic with one doctor while the other two are in surgery.

2008-08-18T10:26:00.001-07:00

2008-08-18T10:21:00.001-07:00

Worship at the Cathedral, Sunday

2008-08-18T09:22:00.001-07:00

Worship at the Cathedral

Note: the internet is hit and miss here, so although I will write about our mission daily, I can only upload to the blog when we can get access. pati

Our primary American contact here in Tanzania is Barbara Robertson, who is originally from Washington state, and is employed here as an assistant to Bishop Jacob Mameo. Bishop Mameo is the head of the Tanzanian Diocese of the ELCA, which is a sister synod to our AR-OK synod. His home church is known as the Cathedral and is in Tanzania proper. Barbara transported us Tanzanian style to worship—all eleven of us piled into her Range Rover for the 10 minute drive to the cathedral.

The cathedral is a building that is hexagonal and about 400 people worship each Sunday. The roof is suspended above the walls but there is a gap of about 12 inches for open air flow and fans are mounted on the ceiling to fight the African heat. The doors are open and inviting, welcoming all to worship. Vivid green drapes behind the altar draw the eye as you enter, accenting a white neon cross suspended behind the drapes. Although mixed seating is not taboo, the slatted wooden benches were filled on the left with women and their older children only while the right was populated with men and only a handful of women sitting next to their husbands. The younger children are in Sunday School and do not join the congregation for worship until they are confirmed. We arranged ourselves in the back on two rows so all could hear Barbara translate from Swahili to English.

Worship began with several songs of praise sung by the “youth choir”, a group of about 30 ranging in age from 18 to 35 years old. We were all uplifted by the stirring African rhythms as Barbara translated the words for us. She continued to explain the service to us, which followed familiar liturgy set to African music, including confession, the Apostles Creed, Collect, Song of Praise and the Kyrie. The psalm was 125 and the Gospel was the part from Matthew about loving your neighbor. The Assistant to the Bishop was presiding and his message was very inspiring.

Offerings are much different here. There were three during the service, each for a different purpose—the pledge, building development and then a thanksgiving offering. During each offering, the youth choir is singing and the entire congregation gets up and processes to the front to place their offering in a large woven sisal basket. When the choir goes up, they continue singing as they perform a rhythmic unison dance procession.

Bishop Mameo invited us to the front of the congregation and introduced each one of us. We were made to feel welcome and invited to come back for any reason, after which every face was wreathed with smiles as they applauded us.

As is traditional here in Tanzania, service finished with a song, during which all processed outside and stood in a group. Once we were all assembled, an auction was held. At the auction, sometimes people who are too poor to make an offering will bring something to sell at the auction and the money gained is credited to them as their pledge. Other times, people will bring something and will designate that the proceeds go to a particular fund or person. And usually the buyer does not keep the item, but gives it to someone else. At this auction, two bundles of “machici”, a spinach-like vegetable, and a bag of meat pastries were auctioned off. The comments of the auctioneer garnered much hilarity from the congregation.

After church, we enjoyed brunch at “The New Acropol Hotel”, which is very unremarkable from the exterior, but adorned with placemats, linen napkins and other similar luxuries inside. This was quite a treat before our visit to the hospital for orientation.

Dr. Lucy Nkya is the benefactor of the hospital and also holds a position in the national government. She joined us at the hospital and spoke with us for quite a while about the hospital, the people of Tanzania, and what she hopes to accomplish to help the people. We were mesmerized by her testimony to the point that we opted to turn off our ceiling fan and endure heat so we would not miss a word.

The tour of the hospital was very short as it is so small. During the tour, a patient was brought down the hall from surgery. Because the quarters were too tight for the gurney to fit into the hospital room, it was parked in the hall and a crew lifted her by grabbing the corners of the blanket and shifting her into the room and on the bed. Such challenges are going to be an example of what we will be dealing with as we begin our work tomorrow.

It was a welcome change to take a walk to the orphanage after we got back to LJS. Our walk went through a village and we were eagerly greeted by the families, and especially the children, as we passed through. Many children were eager to have their pictures taken because they delight in seeing themselves in the camera afterward. At the orphanage, we played with children and held babies. There were many tears as we had to leave and the children clung to us, making for a wrenching separation.

2008-08-17T05:05:00.001-07:00

Personal notes to friends and family

2008-08-17T04:53:00.000-07:00

We will use this message to send personal notes from team members. Check it each time you visit our blog, as this message will change from time to time.

From Andrea:
Hello family and friends! Today was our first full day here in Morogoro and we are spent- and it is only 2:30 p.m.! We awoke at 4 am to prepare for our first African safari and guided trip through Mukumi National Park. I was so excited and the day was amazing. We truly were blessed to see so many mammals- Zebras, elephants, giraffes, water buffalo, wart hogs, wildebeests, baboons, impalas and red bucks and other local antelope, hippos, crocodiles, and a ton of birds. For my husband, I have a long list of birds on my expanded “life list.” Oh my gosh, you could not believe the variety of birds. Hornbills, yellow billed storks, superb starlings, red-breasted sunbirds, pied crows, and so many others I hate to bore you all. Let me assure you that I have been working on converting my fellow travelers to be birders. And Dad, my new camera was a great idea! The telephotos of the animals were amazing! We met with our local missionary last evening and she is on her way here to take us to St. Mary’s hospital. We have been told we have enough surgeries lined up to keep us busy for a week. We will be taking all of our medical supplies and meeting with the hospital administrator. I am so pleased to be here and am looking forward to 10 more busy days. Keep us in your prayers and enjoy everyone’s stories. Peace-Andrea

Mikumi National Park, Saturday

2008-08-17T04:52:00.000-07:00

Mikumi National Park

Our day began at 5am with slabs of home-baked bread and m ugs of hot tea. Although we were moving slow because of the hour, we allowed Andrea to round us up and off we went! As we drove through the dark, pre-dawn hours, we united in praise to our Lord with acapella versions of our favorite hymns. What a joy it was to fellowship together as we journeyed to Mikumi National Park.

As the sky gradually brightened, the animal life was abundant even before we entered the park. Once we reached the park, we were joined by our guide for the day, B’nina, who enriched our day with her knowledge of the animals and her ready laughter. Throughout the day, our bus was filled with oohs and aahs as we spotted elephants, giraffes, baboons, water buffalo, hippopotami, impala, crocodiles and birds and even more.

At the hippopotami pond, we made the acquaintance of a very hungry baboon. B’nina prompted our driver to feed it a banana. The greedy creature leapt for the fruit, teeth bared, as the laughter spurted from her at our reaction to his aggression.

We arrived back at LJS early afternoon and immediately dug in to begin organizing all of the equipment from our eleven team bags. Once we had sorted, categorized and inventoried, a part of our team moved our gear to the hospital to get oriented to the facility.

This evening we gathered together in the common room to view a slide show from the photography of our day and were joined by our brothers and sisters who are here studying at LJS; people from Germany, Switzerland, Tanzania, and Korea. The Swiss were a family with three small boys and their exclamations as they watched our pictures of the different animals brought smiles to our faces.

Tomorrow we are worshiping at the Bishop’s church here in Tanzania, the cathedral. We had our choice of two services and will be attending the 7 am service, instead of the 9:30 service because, as we were told, it is better attended, it will be cooler and we are guaranteed it will not last more than 2 ½ hours. Vernetta, a self-declared one hour Lutheran, cast the deciding vote.
After service, the entire team is meeting at the hospital to be briefed on the medical and surgical plan for the week. We will have an opportunity to ask questions about the resources available to us for this work. Although we were warned to expect primitive conditions, it was sobering for our doctors to actually see where we will be working. We know that you are all praying for us. We would ask now for specific prayer for our team as we move into the medical portion of our mission.

one half ton of luggage!

2008-08-17T04:49:00.001-07:00

Arrival in Tanzania

2008-08-15T04:06:00.000-07:00

God told Jeremiah, “Up on your feet! Go to the potter’s house. When you get there, I’ll tell you what I have to say.” Jeremiah 18:1-2

When God sends us, He doesn’t tell us why, or what will happen when we get there. He wants our obedience. “Yes, Lord.” And He gives us the tools to do His will.

These are some of the thoughts we shared last night, Thursday, when we finally arrived in Dar es Salaam, more than 30 hours after we began our journey early Wednesday morning.

We began the first leg of our trip from separate cities and it was a joy to have the team united in Minneapolis. And thanks to Rhonda and Andrea’s first-hand knowledge of Minneapolis, our 5 hour layover was spent making a visit to the Mall of America via light rail transit. Most of us welcomed this last chance to stretch our legs before the long flight to Africa, instead of squirming in an airport chair for 5 hours.

We want to thank all of you for your prayers for safe travel. We arrived at Dar es Salaam on time and with every one of our 22 checked bags intact, something we certainly did not expect. It was a weary wait at the airport last night for our visas to enter Tanzania, but we were so thankful to have arrived with all of our luggage that the trip to the guest house where we spent the night seemed very short by comparison.

We were greeted this morning with our first sight of the Indian Ocean as we shared a light breakfast in an open-air patio and then boarded our bus for the final leg of our trip—200 kilometers to the Lutheran Junior Seminary (LJS) in Tanzania. The 3 ½ hour drive was filled with the sights, sounds and smells of this beautiful east African country. We arrived at LJS shortly before lunchtime and will spend the afternoon unpacking and settling in. Tomorrow, Saturday, we will see Mikuni National Park, just a 2 hour drive from here. Armed with cameras and binoculars, we will have many stories of the day to bring home with us. When we return in the afternoon, we are all looking forward to our first visit to the orphanage. The following day is Sunday, when we will have the opportunity to worship our Lord with our African brothers and sisters, before we begin our preparations for our surgical mission, which starts Monday morning.

Team members

2008-08-15T03:53:00.001-07:00

Tanzania Intinerary

2008-08-01T16:27:00.000-07:00

The team for Tanzania is just 12 days from the start of our mission. We are now 11 members--3 doctors, 4 nurses and 4 helpers. The first team meeting was held last Saturday, July 26th, at Peace Lutheran Church in Rogers, AR. It was uplifting to be a part of that meeting for the eastern half of our team. All of the helpers and one of our nurses (and our leader, Cindy Pennie) were at that meeting and each expressed willingness to help the team in any way--including learning any new skills, medical or otherwise.

The second team meeting, for the western half of our team, is scheduled for tomorrow, August 2, in Edmond, Ok.

As the date nears, we are excited about this opportunity to serve our Lord and to see His will at work in our lives and in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Africa.

We invite you to join with us in lifting this mission up in prayer. So that you can pray for us specifically on each day, here is the tenative itinerary for our trip:

8/13, Wednesday--leave Tulsa, OK @ 7:10 AM Oklahoma time (2 team members will be flying out of Little Rock at about the same time and joining up with us in Minneapolis)
8/14, Thursday--arrive Dar es Salaam @ 9:40 PM Tanzania time, spend the night at the Catholic Guest House
8/15, Friday--travel to Morogoro by bus/van, arrive early afternoon, unpack, get settled in
8/16, Saturday--early morning trip to Mikumi National Park, back to Morogoro mid afternoon, possibly visit orphanage, St. Mary’s Hospital
8/17, Sunday--go to church out in one of the villages (Pr Herb will help line up), visit hospital again to get organized and prepare for Monday
8/18, Monday--through 8/23, Saturday--surgeries, maternity clinics, whatever they have for us to do, worship on Wednesday evening, more visits to the orphanage, etc
8/24, Sunday--another opportunity for worship in another village, more at the hospital
8/25, Monday--more surgery and clinics (maybe just clinics since we will be leaving soon)
8/26, Tuesday--last day to finish up at St. Mary’s
8/27, Wednesday--pack, travel back to Dar in afternoon, flight leaves @ 10:50 PM Tanzania time
8/28, Thursday--arrive Tulsa, OK @ 4:36 PM Oklahoma time

We will be in transit to Morogoro more than 33 hours. So our first prayer request is for safe travel and for all of us to arrive (and our bags) with the energy to be at full capacity when we start work on Monday, August 18.

While in Morogoro we will have access to internet so we will be able to see personal emails on the internet from time to time, as energy allows. However, you can also send us comments on this blog site and they will be shared with the team each day. Just look at the end of each blog and click on the picture of the envelope. That will generate an email that will go to Peace Lutheran Church and then be uploaded to the blog.

In His service, Tanzania Surgical Mission Team

2008-07-21T18:29:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Haiti! Wow what a day! Where to start? Well, our street ministry was interesting to say the least. Just short of rioting at times. Lesson learned: When more then a handful of Haitian children present DO NOT present candy or even attempt to reach for a piece! lol. But after that experience we got things under control and made bracelets, polished fingernails, and did some Evangelising. But the bead ministry was a disaster. Nest lesson: never turn your back on a tub of beads surrounded by Haitian women. Adults and children alike filled their pockets and hit the road. I would say truthfully w/ in 15 seconds all the beads were out of sight. But it settled down and we had a good ministry in the church. We prayed and it brought tears to the pastor to see us up there ministering to the people. He felt the need to walk us back to our house and we settled in for lunch. After lunch we took a dip in the ocean since we were wet with sweat anyways. We came back and played soccer and frisby with all the kids when we were pleasently surprised when compassion representatives arrived. They had brought our youth group sponsored child Rosie to meet us!! All the children are beautiful but i have to say Rosie is the most trebelle or beautiful! We were not prepared any way shape or form but it didnt matter once we got to spend time with her. She was a little shy at first but quickly warmed up to us. We took her on her first trip to the ocean! She loved it. We gave her and her mother gifts from the team that also brought a HUGE smile to her face. We explained to the translator that we were sorry we didnt have more to give her bc we didnt know she was coming but he said the most important thing for her was to meet us and know that we care about her. He said showing love and giving hugs to a haitian child is very important bc things like that come few and far in between. But our day is coming to an end and we are preparing to say boodbye to another staff member that we all have come very close to. But god bless and thank you for your prayers and continuos support.

Sincerely,
Haitian mission team

2008-07-21T06:23:00.000-07:00

Monday in Mole. We had two Church services yesterday that were good. Today we are off to another church to do street ministry with the kids. We are going to make bead bracelets for the children. Another beautiful sunny day. Whew!! We are all making alot of new friends, one of the staff members had to leave today to go to another town. She had to take her baby/our baby, it broke our hearts as well as hers. She took baby Julie to raise when Julies mother past away. We put together funds we had and gave them to her. She was very appreciative and the tears were flowing. There are so many kids here it is just unbelievable. As I write this from on top the balcony kids are yelling our names and asking for us to come play. We leave in about twenty minutes. We are bagging up candy and loading supplies. We will keep you updated. God Bless.

2008-07-18T18:46:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone. The team all made it to Haiti safely! We spent our first night in Port Au Prince in the baptist house. The ride from Port to Mole we all got a window seat in a six seater plane. This plane was flying at only 5000 feet elevation when a normal plane is at 35000 feet, so we got to see all the scenery. Mole has a population of about 10,000 ppl. When you are walking around it does not seem like there are that many ppl here. They are scattered so far. We have had many new experiences so far. We ate goat for dinner and got the opportunity to drink coconut milk out of a coconut fresh off the tree. Today was pretty much like a free day for us to unpack the supplies and get acquainted w/ the town ppl. We went to the ocean and did some snorkling and swimming w/ the naked young haitian children. :) Talk about new experiences! lol. We will start the ministry aspect of our trip tomorrow. We plan on going prayer walking in the morning and handing out supplies. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Sincerely,
Haiti mission team

2008-07-03T13:14:00.001-07:00

Peace Missions Team

2008-06-11T11:43:00.000-07:00

As the Global Missions Team of Peace Lutheran Church expands its ministry, we are always looking for ways to interact with and support our church family. We are, therefore, pleased to announce the creation of our Peace Missions Blog! The blog will be used to keep readers up to date on the activities of the Global Missions Team. And as we prepare to send members of our church to Haiti and Tanzania on mission trips, they will be able to record their experiences to share with us. And we will be able to send them messages and prayers in return. What a great way to support our missionaries! So stop by frequently to check out the latest updates.

We encourage everyone to attend the 10:00 am service at Peace on July 13 as we commission our first group of missionaries heading to Haiti. How appropriate since that Sunday is also Mission Sunday and we will be hosting a Tanzania-style worship service. Please come to experience something truly unique and to give our Haitian mission team your support and prayers.