Phyllis and I arrived home today after traveling 1,900 miles by car. Last weekend, we were in Maryland at the Germantown Church of God for a special missions emphasis which included an area missions dinner on Sunday night. On Monday night, I joined the team meeting of the Germantown group preparing to go to Haiti soon. Pastor Mark Hosler is leading the group November 15-22.
On Tuesday, we drove on to Boone, NC where we stayed with friends who grew up in our church in Mt.Carmel, IL in the early 1970's. He is now interim chief operating officer for Samaritan's Purse. Ron and Susan are special people! We enjoyed a private tour of the home office and operations on Wednesday. That night, we were in Hickory, NC renewing friendships with a couple who were teens in our youth group in the Chicago area in the late 1970's-early 1980's. Tim & Tracey have been blessed with four children, and we enjoyed spending time with their family and catching up with "old times."
It was on to Columbia, SC on Thursday in preparation for my D.Min class at Columbia International University. The class was "Major Issues in 21st Century Missions" and was held in conjunction with the Lausanne III Congress in Cape Town, South Africa. Two of our professors were in Cape Town and connected with us on Skype. Two other professors were with us in South Carolina and helped us process what we were seeing and hearing. Cape Town was such a monumental gathering for the sake of the kingdom that there were major cyber attacks on the Congress early in the week. Adjustments were made in linking up with sites around the world. While video for many of the sessions are now uploaded and ready for viewing at http://www.lausanne.org/cape-town-2010/schedule.html, additional resources are still planned. Please pray for the 4,000+ delegates who came from 200 different nations that God will continue to pour out His Spirit on their commitment as the whole church to take the whole gospel to the whole world.
Before we left Columbia, Phyllis and I took Josh & Patty Brickey and their two children out to dinner on Monday night. We were excited to meet this couple who are preparing to plant a church in NE Columbia next year. If you have friends or relatives in the Columbia, SC area, I know the Brickeys would love to meet them. Learn more at www.venuechurch.tv.
Steve & Shirley Mossburg arrived in Haiti last Saturday. Steve sent this report today:
Last Wednesday I got the news from Haiti that we would once again be involved in dealing with another disaster emergency--this time a cholera epidemic. Fortunately we had a medical team scheduled to arrive in Haiti on the same day we arrived, so we loaded them up with IV fluids and antibiotics for cholera. Starting last Friday, a cholera ward was set up at our Pierre Payen health clinic and, as of yesterday noon October 26, we had treated 112 cholera patients. Our medical surgical team has also been training our Haitian staff how to run the ultrasound equipment and been doing lots of ultrasounds a health procedure that has been lacking in Haiti till now. We also have a gynecologist on this team, and she is examining lots of patients. Our surgeons have also been busy in general and ortho surgeries. I have been between our two compounds as we prepare to start hosting work teams on Saturday, and Wayne Hlavaceck arrives to work with our accountant doing an audit. We will also have two containers here in Haiti by Friday that will need cleared from customs.
One of the things that really bothered me was the death of a young 12 year old on Monday. She was referred to us from the Mission of Hope Hospital back towards Port-au-Prince. The young lady had fallen off a donkey about 2 weeks ago and had not improved. Our head surgeon did a quick exam and determined she had a broken or fractured femur and possibly a lacerated liver. Since she had survived two weeks, he felt the liver was not the issue and had scheduled her for an x-ray and ultrasound. When I left to eat lunch she was sitting in a wheelchair eating a cracker. 15 minutes later someone came to tell me she was dead. I couldn't believe it, so I had to to go see for myself. Our surgeons later determined she had a blood clot that broke loose during her 45 minutes ambulance ride and this is what quickly took her life before they could start treating her. It only points out how fragile life is here in Haiti for the majority of those living in poverty.
Keep praying for the people of Haiti during this cholera outbreak. The spread of the disease seems to be diminishing. Pray for the USA medical team now there to assist during this crisis. Thanks!!
Blessed to be a blessing,
Don Dennison, Director
CGGC Cross-Cultural Ministries
missions@cggc.org
