Greetings friends! We so appreciate your help in the ministry at the Bongolo Hospital. Not only the items that you send, but your prayers. The Bongolo Hospital is a shining light in the country of Gabon, but that means the enemy is also at work!
I thought I would give you some prayer and praise items:
1. Pray for wisdom for the new Over-site Committee for the Bongolo Hospital, composed of some former medical missionaries, American and Gabonese pastors and others. Their role in to guide the medical work at the Bongolo Hospital.
2. Pray that the head of the Gabon pharmacy will allow medicine orders from Europe to enter the country. She wants them to only use non-generic medications, which are coast prohibitive.
3. Pray for a project manager to coordinate construction and infrastructure projects.
4. Pray for the health of Meladee Davis. Paul (the director of maintenance for the hospital and mission station) have had to resign due to her health. Pray that another person would be found to replace Paul.
5. Praise the Lord that Steven and Alace Straw have returned to Gabon to restart the aviation ministry which was on hold for 3 years. They are living at Bongolo.
6. Praise the Lord that Renee Valach is recovered from her repeated bout with Dengue which necessitated her being sent to Rochester, NY in mid- December. She is back at Bongolo. Pray she won't have any more bouts with this tropical disease. Pray she'll gain strength.
7. Praise the Lord that Dr. Deborah Walker (pediatrician at Bongolo Hospital) will be speaking in the Toledo, OH area in March. For those of you in this area, try to go and hear her.
8. Pray for the PAACS program, the Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeons. It is a 5 year program that is accredited in Africa and the States. Look up on the web to get more information about his program that trains Christian surgeons. One of the new residents, Dr. Abraham is from the Hope Medical Center in Guinea, West Africa (missionaries Jon & Anja Erickson serve there).
9. Prayer/Praise that there are new medical missionaries coming to help in the work at Bongolo Hospital, some through Samaritan's Purse for 2 years. Pray that they may continue on as missionaries after that.
10. Pray for the hospital finances. The Gabonese health insurance hasn't paid for a long time ($500,000) and it was decided by the Oversight Committee that if they didn't pay by the end of the year, the hospital wouldn't accept it. A corrupt official from the health insurance has stolen a large sum of the money. Now they are not accepting the health insurance. Pray that the government will pay their debt.
11. Praise the Lord that people are hearing the Word of God and accepting Him as their Savior.
12. Pray for another missionary nurse to join as an instructor in the Bongolo Nursing School. There was no school this year, but one will start next fall. Pray that just the right student will be accepted in to the school. As some of the existing nurses retire, there is a need to replace them.
THE 2020 GABON SHIPMENT:
The packages for the Gabon shipment this year should be sent to ARK Transportation from February 1-28th. The 2019 -2020 Bongolo Hospital needs list can be found on the Alliance Women (Great Commission Women) web site. The list below are the most urgent needs. We still don't need empty pill bottles.
1. 3 or 4" wide rolled sheet bandages. Please use a narrow length of sheet to secure them. They are almost out of these, so please put them as a PRIORITY.
2. Dr. Wendy Hofman needs lubricant eye drops like Artificial Tears, Systane, Soothe, Theratears, and Moisture Eyes. Please, no drops that have naphazoline or "red out" in them.
3. Blue OR towels
4. Centrum (or similar with all the trace minerals) for adults and children. Please don’t send the round or gumball Centrum children, but the chewable ones.
5. Benadryl (generic is OK) pills. Make sure that the expiration dates on medication is a year out.
6. TUMS or Rolaids (with Calcium)
7. Delivery room or operating table covers made out of flat sheets (see instructions below*)
8. Sterilization wraps, especially 36" x 36" and 48" x 48" (*see instructions below)
9. Washable, reusable sanitary napkins
10. Money to buy dependable watches for the nursing students. I will buy them, but 'need money to help pay for them. There will be about 15 students and the watches I have been looking at are about $35 each, which means it will cost $525. My home address is 41366 Scenic Highway, Bovey, MN 55709. For those who help with this project, I will send you an e-mail showing what I bought.