Dear Family and Friends,
“When morning gilds the skies,
our hearts awaking cry;
May Jesus Christ be praised!
In all our work and prayers,
we ask his loving care:
May Jesus Christ be praised!”
This song came to mind as I (Debbie) was watching the sunrise with its beautiful reddish, orange hue across the sky as we settle back in Lexington, South Carolina for a few months. That is our prayer that Jesus Christ be praised in all our work and our daily lives!
Our time at G2 (Guinebor 2) flew by and we have now been back for three weeks already. Time does not stand still, does it!
Our flights back were uneventful, and we were wonderfully welcomed home by our dear friend, Gail Ferguson. We have settled back into “our” home in Lexington.
Philippe and Brenna were able to come and surprise us the weekend we got home!
On the 19th of March, we were able to celebrate with Joël being accepted into the ENT residency program at The University of Louisville. He and Jenny will be living there for five years.
Heidi, Petter, and the children live in Australia and we have not been able to see them for a year and a half because of COVID.
The work at G2 continued at a fast pace. January is usually a very busy month for the hospital as the governance board meets yearly. This year was lighter as we did not have any guests due to Covid, and so we met on Zoom with people in six different countries. We were so grateful that the internet worked well during the meetings! New partnerships are developing which will allow the hospital to grow with more specialties.
Other exciting news is that some of our patients and others in the village have accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior! PRAY as they are being discipled and that they will stand strong in the Lord even through difficult circumstances.
Meet Musa- (name changed to protect the individual). Musa had come to visit his sick sister at the hospital and while he was there, he picked up one of the New Testaments, in Arabic script, that are in the ward. As Musa read the New Testament, he was impressed by who Jesus was. Our Ethiopian chaplains visit the wards daily, talking and praying with patients and their caregivers.
It was during one of those visits that Musa started talking with them and asked to know more about what he was reading. During one of these talks, Musa accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior!
He could not wait to tell his family and friends about the joy and peace that he was experiencing. He encouraged them to accept Christ as well. That did not sit well with this Muslim family!
Musa was thrown in jail by his older brother, who was an officer at the prison, for over 4 months because of the family’s anger towards him because of his change of faith. Four months later, he was released from prison. While in prison, the chaplains and other Christians visited him, encouraging, and discipling him in his new faith.
After his release, he visited with Bert and told him that nothing could take away his newfound faith and joy! Unfortunately, Musa was again found by his family. They kidnapped, beat, and tried to kill him.
During a machete attack, Musa put his hands up to try to protect himself. The tendon in his left thumb was severed, leaving him with a useless thumb and a mangled hand.
Through it all, his faith in Christ remained strong and he was finally able to escape and return to our area. Musa returned to the home of a local pastor who had discipled him prior to being kidnapped.
All along, Bert had asked about news of Musa, but didn’t have any until this pastor friend called Bert and told him the good news that Musa was still alive, having escaped from his family, standing very strong in his faith even through persecution, and what had happened to his thumb.
Bert met with Musa and was so excited that he was continuing so strongly in the Lord! Musa repeatedly told Bert that he would never deny Christ no matter what!
Surgery was scheduled a few days before we left Chad. It was a success! He can extend his thumb again. We all praised the Lord!
PRAY for Musa as his faith continues to grow stronger and that he continues to not be ashamed of the gospel.
Another issue is that all his legal documents have been taken by his family and now he needs to get them replaced which isn’t always easy in Chad. Without them, he can’t legally travel, get a job, etc. PRAY for wisdom for our team as they help Musa navigate through this issue!
Plans for a new women’s center at G2 Hospital are being made so that the women of the area can have more accessibility to care especially when it comes to breast cancer. Breast cancer is often not detected at early stages in Chad because of the lack of knowledge. Patients tend to go the traditional medicine route first, they lack funds to pay for surgery, and some are too far from the
hospital.
Bert has a passion to teach others about the importance of breast checks. He would like to train a team of women to go into the communities and teach the locals how to check themselves.
Mel Spears and Jackie Chilvers will be restarting our community health later this year and will also help with this new program. The new center will have an outpatient component, a breast cancer detection room, and an office for our OB/GYN, Claudia Wahl.
The inpatient component will have a new maternity ward with six beds for labor patients, six delivery rooms, an operating room, an antenatal, and a post-partum ward. A women’s ward and two private rooms will also be part of the new center.
Our plans are to be in the States till June/July and then return to Chad for a season. We would love to catch up with you to share what the Lord is doing in Chad. Thanks again for your continued prayers and financial support!
In Him,
Bert and Debbie | Ephesians 6:10
