Missionary Updates

DEAR MedSend Friend:

“La doctorita! La doctorita!” The distraught blood-soaked man ran into the San Lorenzo clinic carrying his young son. A dog had bitten off the end of the child’s nose. MedSend grant recipient Dr. Jane Weaver realized she could treat the child, but his nose would be left seriously deformed – a mind-numbing disadvantage in that culture.
She knew they needed a miracle…

After surgery for the dog bite:
"It's hard to tell he was injured!"

As medical director of the San Lorenzo Clinic in Ecuador, Jane Weaver, MD – known as “Dr. Jane” – has seen a lot of miracles. I recently had the privilege of meeting this remarkable surgeon who has served for more than ten years in this town of 30,000 known mostly for its boiling heat, abject poverty and violent crime.

I saw firsthand how one MedSend grant recipient can bring far-reaching transformation to an entire community.

Over the years, Dr. Jane has expanded the clinic’s ministry to include services not previously available including eye care, dentistry, general medicine and general surgery. Thanks to Dr. Jane and a dedicated national staff, the clinic is now the preferred place to go for healthcare in San Lorenzo, with some patients traveling from great distances.

But the clinic provides much more than medical care. Staff work closely with the pastor of a church planted on the clinic property to provide spiritual follow-up for patients and also to run thriving outreach ministries for women and children. In addition, clinic staff pray with patients and tell them about the Lord.

“When we’re able to help people with their physical problems, they listen a little more intently when we present the gospel to them,” Dr. Jane explains.

A particularly memorable instance involved a patient under spinal anesthesia without sedation. During the hysterectomy, she asked the staff member comforting her to pray with her to accept the Lord.

“In the middle of the operation, with her belly wide open, this woman accepted the Lord!” Dr. Jane marvels.

Today the San Lorenzo Clinic is an oasis of hope. Where despair once ruled, there is compassionate medical care for those in need, as well as a flourishing church community and affiliated Christian ministries.

Your financial and prayer support of MedSend have made this possible.

Dr. Jane checking for river blindness infection.

Thanks to your partnership, MedSend gets Christian healthcare professionals who are committed to long-term service – physicians, nurses, dentists, physician assistants, veterinarians and others – to the mission field without delay by giving grants to repay their educational loans on a monthly basis. Without MedSend’s help, many would have to stay in the U.S. to work and pay off their loans.

“When I started thinking of coming to the field, I had no idea of what I was going to do with my educational debt,” Dr. Jane said. “Without the huge blessing of MedSend, I’m not quite sure what I would have done. I am very thankful.”

Dr. Jane’s gratitude is echoed by other MedSend grant recipients who serve in areas of deep physical and spiritual need, many of them in regions of the world untouched by the gospel. As healthcare providers, they are often welcomed in areas that are closed to other forms of evangelism. Grant recipients staff and run mission hospitals and rural clinics and are involved in training and mentoring Christian nationals as caregivers. Through extensive involvement in community health education programs, many grant recipients are working to transform entire communities.

Meanwhile, God keeps calling new workers to the harvest! Last month, our board approved grants for 18 healthcare professionals who are planning to serve the poor in the U.S. and around the world. Click HERE to meet MedSend’s Class of October 2011. I think you will agree with me that they are an exciting and inspiring class!

We are now working to raise the $720,000 needed to fund their grants – a challenge we can meet as we rely on God’s supernatural power working through faithful supporters like you. I hope that you will help us release them for service by giving a year-end gift. Just click HERE to make a credit card donation through our secure website.

Before surgery all children receive stuffed lambs.

Speaking of miracles… Remember the dog-bitten boy?

It just so happened that a nurse at the clinic felt prompted to go to the accident scene to look for the piece of nose. Amazingly, she found it and rushed it back to the OR where Dr. Jane reattached it to the boy’s face. Today it is hard to tell he was injured!

As we enter the holiday season, I pray that the part you have played in “writing” this and so many other stories in San Lorenzo – and around the world – will warm your heart, even as we celebrate the wonderful miracle of our Lord’s birth. May the Lord bless you richly this Christmas and in the coming year.

In Christ,

Rick Allen
President

P.S. I am excited to report that a generous supporter has offered to match your gift dollar-for-dollar up to $90,000! Just click HERE to donate securely online and be sure to check “match my gift.”

Niger: A Day in the Life of Dr. Zoolkoski

Ever wonder what it would be like to be a medical missionary? Click HERE to read about a typical day for MedSend grant recipient Chris Zoolkoski, MD.

Gabon: The Blind See

“Lord, I want to see,” he replied.
Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God. Luke 18:41-43

Every day at the Bongolo Hospital eye clinic in Gabon scenes from the Bible seem to come alive.

In one room, a man blinded for years by cataracts and infection sits stunned after the bandages are removed from his eyes. Then, rejoicing at his newfound sight, he raises his arms and praises God while his wife dances around him in praise. In another room, a patient whose sight is restored simply weeps in gratitude.

In this country with few ophthalmologists, patients often travel for days to reach the clinic headed by MedSend grant recipient and ophthalmologist Gwen “Wendy” H.*, MD. Dr. H. sees patients, performs surgeries and trains and manages the nursing staff. In addition, she is training an African doctor to be an ophthalmologist. But physical sight is not the only concern of Dr. H. and her staff.

“No patient leaves without hearing the gospel,” Dr. H. explains. “Currently, about 100 people accept Christ each month through the work of the hospital.”

Dr. H.’s MedSend grant was recently renewed for another term. MedSend is now working to raise the money to fund her grant so that she will be free to continue bringing physical healing and the light of Christ to Gabonese people in need!

*Name withheld for security reasons

Healing Hearts in Honduras

Raul in the arms of "Dr. Sheree"

With his big eyes and winning smile, five-year-old Raul quickly stole the hearts of everyone he met. Unfortunately, his own heart was slowly killing him.

This painful knowledge made Raul a priority for MedSend grant recipient Sheree Lynch, MD. Dr. Lynch, whose grant was just renewed for a second term, has served over seven years in a Christian clinic in Honduras with patients who often travel for two-to-three days to get medical care.

Among her many responsibilities, Dr. Lynch coordinates a pediatric surgical program that arranges care for children like Raul who have medical conditions not readily treated in Honduras. After many months of planning, she was thrilled to schedule Raul for corrective open heart surgery with a U.S. medical team visiting Honduras in 2009. Even though the surgical site was ten hours away, Raul's single mom had been able to raise funds for the journey by working overtime.

Unfortunately, routine blood work done before the surgery indicated that Raul might have leukemia. The subsequent barrage of painful tests yielded good news: no leukemia. But by that time, the life-changing heart surgery was no longer available.

So another year of prayer and waiting passed before Raul was given a second opportunity for surgery last September. This time, Dr. Lynch accompanied him.

"I was able to be with Raul as he received some mild sedating medication in his room and climbed comfortably into my arms," she said. At the entrance to the operating room, Dr. Lynch prayed with Raul and his mom as the child's eyelids became heavy.

"We were blessed when the cardiothoracic surgeon volunteering from the U.S. asked the entire OR staff to bow their heads and pray over Raul before starting," Dr. Lynch said. God answered those prayers with a successful surgery. When Dr. Lynch went to share this good news with Raul's mother, she was doubly blessed.

"There was Raul's mother on her knees praying for the mother of the next patient scheduled to enter the OR," she said. "Not only did the Lord give us the opportunity to witness His work in Raul's life through the years of waiting and praying, but we also got to see the fruit of the spiritual changes that had taken place in the family as well. It is a privilege to serve the Lord the way we do."

Relationships like these are among the many advantages of the long-term missionary service MedSend supports.

"MedSend has always focused on enabling the service of healthcare professionals who feel called to career missionary service," said MedSend President Rick Allen. "As such, we are glad to see an increase in the number of MedSend missionaries like Dr. Lynch who are seeking grant renewals. These experienced missionaries already know the language and culture of those they serve and they can be especially effective in bringing transformative change through healthcare and sharing the gospel."

Without the MedSend grant, Dr. Lynch could not have left for Honduras until her educational loans were paid off. Her life – as well as Raul's and the lives of thousands of other patients she has cared for – might be very different.

"If it were not for MedSend, I don't know how I would be here now," she said. "So many people told me I was going to have to work in the U.S. for ten years -- that I was a fool to think otherwise. I just can't express to you the relief and excitement I felt in knowing that the last door that seemed to be blocking the way for me to serve in the way that God had called me had been opened!"

The Little Girl in the White Dress

The heavily intoxicated man had been shot in the thigh and for MedSend grant recipient Renee Kusler, MD, and the surgical team in the Honduran mission hospital where she serves, treating the verbally and physically abusive man was a trial.

"He was a mean drunk, yelling and cussing at everyone including me," she explains. The emergency surgery to save his leg and his life took until 3:00 a.m.

No one paid attention to the eight-year-old girl sleeping in a corner chair.

The next morning, a pastor who counsels hospital patients did notice that the child's red dress was filthy. He had just received a clothing donation and gave her a little white dress that fit her perfectly.

That afternoon as Andrea was leaving the hospital, a staff member noticed a red stain on the back of her new dress. Andrea was brought to Dr. Kusler and a nurse. After they gained the child's trust, she admitted that she had been sexually abused by the man with the gunshot wound, her stepfather.

"We examined her and saw with tears in our eyes a large perineal tear and bleeding. Did I mention that her stepfather is HIV positive? These are the times when your heart breaks and your head aches with the unleashed tears welling up."

The child's mother was sick with AIDS and unable to care for her. So the staff brought Andrea to the ministry's Children's Center where she would be safe. She was also started on medications to prevent HIV.

If it hadn't been for the white dress, Andrea would have gone back to the same abusive situation and would likely have gotten AIDS and died within a few years. Instead, she is loved and cared for and doing well.

"I'm sure the person who donated that little white dress had no idea what an impact it would have on a child's life!" Dr. Kusler exclaims.

Dear MedSend Friend:

When two-year-old Simon was brought to the remote Ugandan clinic infection ravaged his small body. Yet what most concerned MedSend medical missionary Travis Johnson, MD, was a small dark spot on the child’s hip – at the very point where the “traditional healer” had injected a questionable medicine.

Dr. Johnson’s fear that the festering wound was necrotic was soon confirmed as the spot grew to a nine-by-nine inch area of dead tissue.

“Each day we came in and watched the area grow and tunnel beneath his skin across his buttocks and down his leg,” Dr. Johnson recalls. “We tried different medicines. We treated the wound and removed dead tissue. I was certain we would at least have to amputate the leg and wondered if this child would lose his life to the spreading infection.”

Although Muslim, Simon’s terrified mother asked the staff pray to Jesus for healing.

“We prayed. And we prayed.”

Prayer has been Dr. Johnson’s bedrock since he arrived in this remote region of Uganda, where a newborn is greeted with “Webele Kwejuna” -- “Thank you for surviving” -- and two in five children die before age five. As one of only two physicians serving a population of 300,000, he finds the need overwhelming.

Thankfully, after a few weeks, Simon’s necrotic tissue miraculously began to heal. Just five weeks after arriving at the clinic, the wound closed almost completely and Simon could walk again.

That’s the good news. But the sad news is that far too many children in our world simply have no access to medical care.

“My heart breaks every time I enter the health center,” Dr. Johnson says. “Children are brought here starving. Their skin is swollen and peeling from the lack of proteins. They have no muscle and you can see their hip bones where their bum should be.

“Other children suffer from TB, HIV, or sickle cell disease which eats away at their nutritional base. Still others suffer from chronic infections of malaria or intestinal parasites. The result is a high death rate and children who are anemic and stunted in growth and brain development.”

“Most of this would be preventable if the resources and workforce were available,” he lamented.

Last month, one of Dr. Johnson’s most heartfelt prayers was answered when MedSend approved the grant of Jessica Ankney, DO. Dr. Ankney trained with Dr. Johnson in the U.S. and she is a family friend. As soon as her grant is funded, she will join Dr. Johnson on the field. In addition to caring for patients, Dr. Ankney will help plan and implement programs that can bring about sustainable change in the region.

“Having Jess as a medical partner will make it possible to strategize how to best meet medical and public health needs and really make an impact,” Dr. Johnson explains.

Dr. Ankney’s grant is just one of the 19 MedSend grants and renewal grants that were approved last month. When fully funded, these grants will release into service a group of healthcare professionals that includes physicians, veterinarians, nurses, physician assistants, and physical therapists. They will serve in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Central America and in the U.S. (To read more about Dr. Ankney and the Class of October 2010, click HERE.)

In a world increasingly hostile to the gospel, some will serve in areas closed to traditional forms of evangelism. That’s why Christian healthcare workers are vital. And why your help today is so important.

It will come as no surprise to you that the developing world urgently needs healthcare. Or that spiritually dark areas of our world urgently need the liberating and life-transforming love of Jesus Christ.

But what many do not yet understand is that increasingly, only medical missionaries will gain access to many of these areas.

That’s a great challenge to traditional missions, but a wonderful opportunity for MedSend.

Quite simply, it’s an opportunity that you and I have, in partnership with MedSend grantees, to touch and transform desperately needy lives in powerful ways. Not only in the months ahead, but for years to come.

But current MedSend grantees around the world are on the field only because friends like you care… And Dr. Ankney and others will now get to the field only as ministry partners like you help to make it possible.

That’s why I’ll ask you to please take a moment to prayerfully consider supporting MedSend with a gift. Then, recognizing that your simple act of generosity today can help to make a radical difference in the lives of “the least of these” for many years, simply click HERE to Donate Now using your credit card through our secure website. Or if you prefer to send a check, you can click HERE for mailing instructions. Either way, we are excited to announce a $100,000 Matching Grant Challenge that will match all year-end gifts dollar-for-dollar, up to $100,000! Simply request check "Match my gift" or write it on your check.

By helping these committed healthcare professionals to get to the field, you will answer the prayers of tens of thousands of needy people around the world for healthcare. And you’ll also have the deep satisfaction of seeing lives – like little Simon’s – saved.

May God bless you abundantly this Christmas for the transformational ministry you help to make possible in so many lives.

I pray that your heart will be warmed when you realize the critical part you have played in Simon’s story – and so many others. May the Lord bless you richly this Christmas and throughout the New Year.

In His service,

Rick Allen
President

P.S. Just as God’s gift to us in that Bethlehem manger 2,000 years ago transformed the eternal destiny of millions, so too can your gift this Christmas transform the lives of those waiting for the help that together we can bring them. For all that you make possible in our work together, I’m profoundly grateful.

It Started With a Sick Sheep ...

Good News for the Gumuz

How do you serve people who don’t trust you? For Medsend grant recipient Barry Schwenk, DVM, the answer came in the form of an “old woman” and a little girl.

Almost four years ago, the Schwenks went to Northwest Ethiopia to serve the Gumuz, former slaves who live in clans and eke out a living by hunting and farming. But the Gumuz are deeply suspicious of outsiders and initially resisted the Schwenks’ ministry, which includes land and livestock management, literacy, health education, leadership training and evangelism. READ MORE.

See Dr. Schwenk discuss ministry to the Gumuz. Click HERE.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Brown,

I saw firsthand how one MedSend grant recipient can bring far-reaching transformation to an entire community.

“When we’re able to help people with their physical problems, they listen a little more intently when we present the gospel to them,” Dr. Jane explains.

A particularly memorable instance involved a patient under spinal anesthesia without sedation. During the hysterectomy, she asked the staff member comforting her to pray with her to accept the Lord.

“In the middle of the operation, with her belly wide open, this woman accepted the Lord!” Dr. Jane marvels.

Your financial and prayer support of MedSend have made this possible.

Meanwhile, God keeps calling new workers to the harvest! Last month, our board approved grants for 18 healthcare professionals who are planning to serve the poor in the U.S. and around the world. Turn to the center pages of this letter to meet MedSend’s Class of October 2011. I think you will agree with me that they are an exciting and inspiring class!

We are now working to raise the $720,000 needed to fund their grants – a challenge we can meet as we rely on God’s supernatural power working through faithful supporters like you. I hope that you will help us release them for service by sending a year-end gift using the enclosed reply card and envelope.

Speaking of miracles… Remember the dog-bitten boy? It just so happened that a nurse at the clinic felt prompted to go to the accident scene to look for the piece of nose. Amazingly, she found it and rushed it back to the OR where Dr. Jane reattached it to the boy’s face. Today it is hard to tell he was injured!

In Christ,

(signature)

Rick Allen

President

P.S. I am excited to report that a generous supporter has offered to match your gift dollar-for-dollar up to $90,000! Just check “match my gift” on the enclosed reply card and return it with your check in the enclosed envelope. Or go to www.medsend.org to donate securely online and be sure to check “match my gift.”