Hello everyone, we have arrived safe and sound in Africa!! Have we had a day (or two) of travel!?! God has covered us with His favor right from the start. We knew that a couple of our bags were over the weight limit and were concerned with how it was going to work out at the airline scales. Well, He worked it out for us. The scale we weighed our luggage on was about 5 lbs. off in our favor! Our flights went well, although LONG! Only some of us were blessed enough to get some sleep, while others surely made good attempts but were not as fortunate! Ann made a new friend on the flight to Lagos – she was the temporary nanny for a Nigerian baby boy around 4 months old. She was in heaven!
The weather is hot and humid, just like home – nothing new for us! After arriving in Lagos we boarded a domestic flight to Benin City, short flight – only about 45 minutes. There, we were greeted by local friends of the mission, who drove us to our host home. Following a great lunch meal, we ventured out to tour the hospital and surrounding area. What an amazing place! We are going to be able to help so many people! After we went to the hospital, we went to a Nigerian clothing store (well, more like a hut) on the side of the road where everyone bought a native outfit for Sunday’s church service. Evening of day one (sort of), we are organizing all of the medical/dental/construction supplies so we will be ready for a full day’s work tomorrow! Please keep us all in your prayers that the people would see Jesus through our hands, words, and works.
Posted: March 18, 2009 at 11:32 am
Wow, what a successful day! We woke up and had breakfast at 7am and then headed to the hospital. Once we arrived there we were able to join all of the hospital staff and patients for their daily worship and prayer. How cool! Everyone has been incredibly welcoming and grateful to us for being here. The group split up today according to their different types of mission service. The medical team went on an outreach about 1.5 hours away into a neighboring village while the dental team and construction team stayed on the hospital grounds. Gretchen joined the local Nigerian dental staff and they were able to treat patients for cleanings, extractions, and removable dentures. The construction team was joined by a group of 49 eager-to-help Nigerian men. There were masons, laborers, carpenters, and electrical engineers, but I must say that they learned a lot from our construction team members. There were many obstacles to overcome yet they were super productive and are still on track to accomplish their goals by the end of the week. There was a surprise blessing in the form of an afternoon rain shower, which lowered the day’s temperature drastically.
The medical outreach team was able to see and treat 177 patients in the village. The patients in this particular village have never received any outside medical attention in the history of their village, until today. The village was predominately a Muslim community and one team member, Lynn Ricks, was able to pray with almost all of them. Praise God! Mark was able to present a Bible to a Muslim tribal chief, who was very receptive. In all, the team treated and prayed with 5 different tribal chiefs. In this same village, Church of God Mission (our host church) is planting a new church and they have begun construction on a new building. Before leaving the village, the team was able to pray over the construction site and it’s future congregation. Once the medical team returned to the hospital, we all returned to the host home for dinner where we were delighted to have Mama Idahosa join us. After dinner, there was a time of word and prayer as a team. We are all excited and looking forward to see what the Lord has in store for us tomorrow.
Posted: March 20, 2009 at 10:00am
I asked each of our team members to, in as few words as possible, describe today for you. We are having a great time in Nigeria, working hard but barely feeling it, as God’s grace is working in us. Enjoy… – Pastor David DeGarmo
“I worked in the Operating Room at Faith Medi-Plex today. Awesome!! In trying to keep it short all I can say is “Excellence with minimal available”, and with joy in their hearts.” – Julie Joyce
“I worked on the Medical Surgery floor. It is amazing how the Nigerian Nurses complete the same tasks as American Nurse, with a lot less to work with. American Nurses are spoiled having state -of- the -art equipment and supplies.” – Brad Joyce
“Nigeria rocks! The team is helping faith Medi-Plex grow literally as our construction team adds a floor to one of the buildings. Medical team visiting villages to share Christ’s love and free medical care.” – Paul Marquis
“The Lord has blessed us again today as we worked at the hospital and the medical team was able to spend a little time with the construction team. What a privilege to consciously treat each patient like Christ and see the smile on their face and appreciation in their countenance. Other highlights: PB&J, Pringles, and peanut butter cookies.” – Mark Babo
“What an awesome team – working with all their strength to bless the people of Nigeria through showing compassion for patients and working together with a large Nigerian construction crew to build a new women and children’s hospital wing. Patients, staff and the community are all abuzz with amazement at the hospital rising before their eyes. Thanks Church of the King for sending us and allowing us this blessing.” – Doreen Babo
“Wow! What an incredible experience this is my first mission trip and it has been spectacular. We have such a great team! We all get along so well and the people in Nigeria are so happy and nice I can’t tell you how many times I have been welcomed and blessed. They are just so joyful that the Lord is doing great things in this place. Love ya’ll and see you when we get back.” –Trevor Terry
“We serve a huge God as you all know! We have had two incredible days so far, serving and learning from the wonderful people in Nigeria. This trip has been a great blessing to my life. God has shown me so many new things and this team is so great to be with. It is great to see God move throughout the world, as evidence of His presence. As His word says, He is everywhere.” – Chad Brignac
“It has been an incredible two days. Our team has a great Nigerian construction crew that are so eager to learn new ideas in the construction field. They are so amazed at how much has been done in just two short days. It is a true blessing how so many men, meeting for the first time, can work so well together. God’s hand has touched each one of us in His own way.” – Anthony Lang
Posted: March 21, 9:40pm
Day four was the hottest so far. The construction team felt it the most, working primarily in the sun. The temperature on the deck where they were working was around 105F. Although there were no casualties, they certainly had to fight against becoming dehydrated and sunburned. Having said that, the construction is coming along great! Even the Nigerians are amazed at how fast we are progressing. The local workers still seem to be excited about learning new methods from our team that are speeding the process along. One more full day of construction, and by God’s grace, we will be able to achieve our goals for this phase of the project.
Today the medical team spent their third full day in the remote villages running free medical clinics. Most of the people in these villages have never received any sort of medical care. They saw 140 patients and were able to pray with all of them in addition to attending to their medical needs. Witnessing the living conditions in these areas has been a life changing experience for the members of our team.
Gretchen, our dentist, has commented how impressed she has been with what the local dental staff is able to accomplish with their limited equipment and resources. She was able to see several more patients today including another root canal!
Pastor Dave spoke twice today. First, in the morning devotional at the hospital and again, at Benson Idahosa University for the campus chapel meeting. Benson Idahosa University is a fully accredited university founded by the same founder of the Faith Medi-plex Hospital we have been working. There were about 1,000 students and faculty who attended at the university. He did such a wonderful job, the students asked for him to speak again on Sunday afternoon.
Posted: March 25, 2009 at 1:59 pm
This is the final blog for Team Nigeria 2009. For the past several days we have been unable to connect to the Internet to send a blog, so I’m going to summarize the last few days for you. Here goes…
On Saturday, Lynn Ricks and Brad Joyce joined the construction team for a day to try to push the last few projects to completion. They were able to erect a tent to help protect the guys from the merciless heat of the sun. It was a long day, as they worked from 7:30 AM until the sun went down around 7:00PM.
The medical team put on a free clinic in a small, remote village that was at the end of a dirt road that looked more like a dirt bike trail than a road. Next time we’ll have to remember to bring a four-wheeler. We saw over 170 medical patients, as well as about 20 dental patients. Gretchen Juncker, our team dentist, joined the medical team to provide the villagers some basic services.
On Sunday, the team attended service at Faith Arena in Benin City, then traveled back to the same village we had served on Saturday, to attend a worship service with the local pastor and his congregation. We had a fantastic time worshiping with them, even though all of the music was in one of the many indigenous dialects. It’s amazing how the sense of God’s presence is the same, regardless of the language and culture. After the service concluded, Lynn and Ann Ricks renewed their marriage vows in a very unique service officiated by Dr. Mark Babo, Pastor Benard (one of the Nigerian pastors) and Pastor Dave. Sunday evening, Pastor Dave spoke again at Benson Idahosa University, to 150 student leaders, including chaplains and resident advisors. It was a busy, but rewarding day filled with many special memories.
Monday morning all of the team members went to Faith Medi-Plex Hospital, where we wrapped up a few final things before departing for the first of four flights that would bring us safely home. I am writing these final thoughts on the flight from Detroit to New Orleans with a team of 12 exhausted, but very fulfilled and joyful missionaries. God has done so much in each of us, stretching our faith, getting us out of our comfort zones, teaching us how much we each have to be thankful for, and most of all, humbling us by showing us how big He is and small we are.
We are so thankful for our family, friends, and church family at , who have encouraged and supported our endeavors. All of these things would not have been possible without your love and faith in us. We, and hundreds of Nigerians will never be the same because of what God has done through our lives in the past eight days, and we owe it to you.
Thank You…
Drs. Mark and Doreen Babo, Dr. Paul Marquis, Lynn and Ann Ricks, Brad and Julie Joyce, Gretchen Juncker, Anthony Lang, Chad Brignac, Trevor Terry, Pastor Dave DeGarmo
