Last Saturday, a dental team arrived from the U.S. Con and Hien are
Vietnamese. Con is a dentist and Hien, his wife, is a doctor. They
have two wonderful daughters that came with them. Also on the team, Mar
who is from Burma and works in an E.R., Brittany who works in health
care, and Matt and his wife Kara. Kara is a secretary at her
church and Matt works with computers. On Sunday I had the incredible
opportunity to travel with them to Tougan. John and Betty Arnold, Pete,
and Larry supervised the operation from the Burkina Faso end. We
arrived Sunday evening and were treated to dinner by the local church.
We started early Monday morning and Con finished the last patient for
the day close to 1 a.m. Tuesday morning. Pulling teeth began Tuesday
around 8:30 a.m. and by the time we finished at noon, Con had pulled 68
teeth from 38 villagers! Some of the teeth came out easily, while
others were difficult and very painful for the patient (and all of us
watching). We packed up and headed back to Ouagadougou in time for Pete
to catch his return flight back home. Early Wednesday morning the team was back at work in Sector 30. There is no electricity or running water in Sector 30 which presents special opportunities but everything went smoothly. With no electricity, it was necessary to end before dark and head back to the mission house. Today, Friday, we were back at Sector 30, and at 3:30 p.m. Con had one more patient to see before closing down and packing up.
Last night our team had a Thanksgiving dinner complete with turkey, dressing and stuffing. The dental team joined us and we had such a nice evening. Before coming, the dental team asked what each of us would like for them to bring to us. We sent one or two items that we either were missing from home or would be useful in our ministry. I asked for a water bottle, and scissors with white thread for Tabitha House. They went above and beyond in bringing not only what we requested but other gifts as well. It was like Christmas! This team is made up of very special people that I have become close to in 6 short days. We'll all be sad to see them go.
Celebrating Thanksgiving in a country that does not celebrate the same holiday was strange. It didn't feel like Thanksgiving. It's hot, there are no advertisements for the holidays, and no black Friday shopping. But it was an enjoyable day and nice to spend the evening with our team and friends.
Only through God's blessing and guidance, Tabitha House continues to be successful. We were told today that people all around the Sector 30 area are talking about the work there. It's amazing to watch these women who don't know how to read, write, or use a pair of scissors, beam with pride when they learn a new skill and are anxious to learn more. I really struggled with capping the number of women that could come at 50, but we had no more room. The goal now is to love and train these 50 women to have the ability to carry the work on by themselves, and to give them the skills to go out and teach others about Jesus and the Good News.
I missed my daughters and their families on Thanksgiving - that's for certain. But I'm really thankful to be here and a part of this work.
Claire, the woman who works here at our house, lost her sister this week. She was 18 years old. You can see the sadness on Claire's face. Please keep her in your prayers. And just a note about Claire -- last week after my French lesson with Daniel, she went running after him as he was leaving. They talked for a few minutes and then Daniel came back to the house with her. Claire wanted to know if it was o.k. for her to call me "Mammie". In their culture they call women who they respect "Tantie" which means auntie. Claire wanted to know if she could take it to the next step and call me Mammie. It was really touching. Claire is a very gentle, kind soul. With it being so hot here, I've fallen back into the bad habit of drinking Coca Cola. Whenever I drink one I fix half of it for Claire. When I offer it to her, you would think it was a gift of gold.
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