Christmas at Nzoundou Chapel!

Yesterday morning (Friday) we had our Christmas service at the Nzoundou Chapel. There were 91 people at the church which was more than normal. We had two pastors with us. One of them gave the Christmas message and the other did a communion service. Normally it is us laypeople who take care of the church so the people were really happy to have Pastors at their Christmas service.

After church we had a Church Dinner. They had not had a dinner together for over ten years. Here are a few photos. First of the little service.



Now for some of the foods: fermented manioc (cassava) root, two kinds of green leafy veggies and rice. We also had chicken wings that are not shown here.







After the adults were given food, the children came up the the food table and I helped serve them. There was plenty of food for everyone present.



Today's Positives:
1. Two SparkFriends came over for brunch. I served an egg casserole and we had a coffee bread that another friend had given us.
2. I had a Christmas meal at 2pm with about 18 other Americans working here at the hospital.
3. Two days of days of Christmas eating are over and my eating will get back on track!

It is 10:30 pm Christmas night and I'm headed to bed. Good night.

Thanksgiving Celebration!

We celebrated Thanksgiving today, Friday. Fourteen of us met for a meal of turkey (mostly wings), dressing, corn, sweet potatoes, homemade bread, pies and other desserts. After the meal we read Bible verses on giving Thanks and each shared one thing for which he was thankful. We then were given a Thanksgiving Trivia quiz and each one was able to "win" a prize! The men went off to another room to watch a prerecorded Football game, one that had been played earlier this week. The rest of us played games, watched last years Parade and chatted. I played several games of Sequence with a couple of people. It was a nice day with my Missionary Family. This year marks 35 years since Dave and Becki Thompson and I started celebrating Holidays together. That's a long time!

A Sad Day Indeed!

It is a sad day indeed because the Ditchi restaurant closed for good this week. It opened about a year ago. It has been the favorite restaurant for us expats (foreigners). The problem? The owner/cook hardly had any other customers. A few or many of us would go eat at the restaurant every week or so but he hardly saw anyone else. I live in Gabon Africa in a small town in the jungle.  There are a couple of other restaurants in town but nothing that compared to this one. We are sad but understand that since business was bad, he had to close! A sad day indeed!

Update!

Time is flying by and I need to update you on a few things.

The Triplets are doing great, just waiting until baby Ely gains some more weight. Ben and Tom are growing fine. Here is a photo I took a few weeks ago.

Pastor Moukingui and the other two men who were tortured by people pouring kerosene on their feet and lighting their feet on fire are still at the hospital and undergoing skin grafts. Each has had skin grafts at least twice and their feet are heeling well. They are encouraged by all the prayers that are going up on their behalf from all around the world. I asked Pastor Moukingui about returning to their village and he said that he plans to go home quietly. The men and Christ will not be chased from the village! The men who did this to them have not yet been brought to justice though so please pray about that.

The Nursing Students are over half way through their first  Trimester of school. A couple of them are really struggling with their grades and at least one of those has very little opportunity to pull up his failing grades. Pray for all thirteen of the students as they finish up the trimester by the first week in December.

I've been teaching two new Nurses a one year course in Midwifery.  Annushka and Martine have been studying with me since June 14th. Please pray for Martine as she is having complications with her pregnancy. Her baby is due in January but it looks like she may deliver early. She has now been taken off of WORK until after the baby is born. Pray for a safe delivery and healthy baby. Martine is still in classes but but she will have to make up the practical work next summer after the one year course is over.

This week we received a truckload of food that various missionaries ordered from the States, Our Annual Food Order. Each household looks downloaded a current catalog from the internet and decided what to purchase. These items were trucked in the States to port then shipped to Libreville, Gabon then trucked down to us. It's fun having some new things to eat. Libreville is one of the most expensive cities in the world so buying our food in bulk saves us much money plus allows us to get some fun type foods that we would not be able to buy locally.

I've been sick for about six days.  It all started with a sore throat which lasted for two days and then the coughing began. I've been coughing so much that my ribs hurt. Yesterday I had a slight fever but today it was lower. I've been sticking pretty close to home so I do not contaminate already sick patients. Since I already have asthma, this "cold" has aggravated my asthma which had been well controlled until now. I have all the medicines that I need to get over this "bout" and since I live at a hospital, I have doctors available to treat me. Please pray that my asthma cough stop. Thanks.

On an upbeat note, the Nzoundou Chapel is having great attendance. There is a new nurse at the Government Dispensary at Nzoundou. His name is Parfait. He's actually a graduate from the Bongolo Hospital School of Nursing and he is a Christian who has started leading the Nzoundou Chapel. That small congregation had had no one who would lead the services, so it is really of God that Parfait was transferred to Nzoundou. There were 64 in church last Sunday. Praise the Lord.

Bongolo Hospital has continued to be very busy, taking care of patients from all over Gabon. Pray for our nurses who are getting tired. Pray for Strength and Joy for them in serving the Lord at Bongolo. There are a number of Personnel openings that are unfilled. Pray that we find just the right people to fill these positions. Thanks.

Your prayers are so needed and appreciated. Thanks too for your emails and news from the States.
God Bless you.

Joyfully serving,
Carolyn

Triplets!

Yes, Triplets were born just after noon today. It was the first time we've had three LIVE triplets born since I arrived in Africa in 1977. There have been a couple of cases where one or two babies did not live but all three of these BOYS are doing fine.

Weights: Baby A- 1kg520, Baby B- 2kg050 and Baby C- 2kg170. To change these weights into Pounds, multiply times 2.2.

The local Television station came and filmed the babies, Father, Pediatrician and the head Midwife. The father and Head Midwife are hoping that the family can get some government subsidy for their family. They have four other children.

I came home at 2pm, exhausted from running around. Legs aching. I canceled the Midwifery class for 3pm since my two Midwife students got a great experience already today.

Praise the Lord that mother and boys are fine. Please pray for Mom as she recovers from surgery and the triplets that they will grow big and strong. Thanks.

Bible Study on Jesus and the Kingdom of God, Jesus Walk Bible Study Series

Bible Study on Jesus and the Kingdom of God, Jesus Walk Bible Study Series

Nursing Students Arrive!

September 6th the Bongolo Hospital School of Nursing accepted 13 new students into the Class of 2010-2013. A 14th student was unable to come to school because of the death of his Father just the week prior to the start of school. Meet the new Class:

The first day of school students got registered, payed their student fee, learned about the school's policies, signed their contracts and got a tour of the hospital.That afternoon they started a two week intensive Orientation Course which included Techniques, Pharmacology and Primary Health. Tomorrow they will finish this accelerated course. On Monday they will start their regular fall quarter.

Gabon Field Forum

Every summer we attend a Field Forum. It is like going to family camp. For the past ten years Field Forum has been held in Lambarene, Gabon. This year the FF was held at a Hotel just south of Libreville. My brother Pastor Larry Thorson was asked to be the Speaker and arrived in the country on August 11th, along with Dave Zimmermann who came to work with our Youth during the conference. See my previous blog entry about Larry and Dave's trip to Bongolo Hospital.

August 16th, my Birthday, Larry, Dave and Karen Fitch drove back to Libreville to attend Field Forum. We stopped at the Equator for a photo shoot!

 
Field Forum lasted from late afternoon on Monday through Saturday breakfast. We were lodged at an old, but nice one story Hotel complete with air conditioned, private and semi private rooms, swimming pool, work out room, sand volleyball court and a quality dining room. Wow, did we have a buffet feast on our first night of the conference! Meetings were held each morning and late afternoon in a large, freshly painted, air conditioned conference room. Many of these things are taken for granted in the States. I merely want you to get to picture that we were doing Fine at FF! This hotel even had wireless, at least Part of the time! There was a problem with hot water though. Some of the rooms almost never had hot water. Can't ask for everything, right? Well, we'll see if we chose another hotel or not for next year's conference!

Pastor Larry preached on "Joy" and we were blessed. Several times we broke up into small groups after the messages and had discussions on various topics. At these times the three young people met in a group with Dave Zimmermann.  We also had team building exercises directed by Pastor Scott Wakely, from our team's Pastoral staff at Allegeney Center in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Field Forum ended on Saturday morning and Larry, Dave, Deborah Walker and I went  to downtown Libreville to show Larry and and Dave the city. They were able to go to the "African Village" which is an open air souvenir market. We went to lunch at a nice cafe that was new to me.

Deborah and I returned to Bongolo on Sunday August 22nd. That was the same day that Larry and Dave flew to the States. Before flying out, Larry was able to preach at two services at a large church in Libreville. It was good that Larry and Dave got to see a small village church the first Sunday in the country and a large city church the second Sunday. It was so much fun having them here!

Now for the others in my family to visit!!! :-)

My brother Larry's Arrival and trip to Bongolo!

My brother Larry, who is Pastor of River Valley Alliance Church in Watertown, Wisconsin, came to visit! WooHoo! He is the first member of my family to visit me in the 33 + years I have lived in Gabon. He came with a friend from his church, Dave Zimmermann. Dave is a High School Music teacher. They arrived August 11th, on Larry's Birthday. I took them out to eat at Tivoli's Italian Restaurant that was very close to the airport. At the right find Dave and Larry in front of the Tivoli's Pizza ovens.

August 12th we drove down to the Lebamba where I live and work at the Bongolo Hospital. We stayed for four days, three nights. I took them on a tour of the hospital and also of the town.  We stopped at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital on the way down country and Dave got to sit at the Dr. Schweitzer piano. NO, he did not touch the keys.

On our tour around the Bongolo station we saw the Bongolo waterfalls, where Larry and I stand in the next photo.

 

In town they got to try some BBQ chicken wings from the vendor in front of the local Barak Obama Restaurant.  We also ate at the Ditchi Restaurant to celebrate the Eric Hofman and my Birthdays. Eric grew up in OMAHA!

On Sunday August 15th we went to the Nzoundou Chapel where Dave shared some thoughts and then Larry preached. Four young people accepted Christ that day. Larry Prayed for them after they had done so. Larry and Dave also met one of the Village Chiefs, Inono.

The River Valley Alliance Church ladies had made some dresses out of pillowcases and Larry and Dave brought some with them. I got the fun of handing out some of these dresses at Nzoundou.

More about Larry and Dave Zimmermann's time in Gabon in another blog entry!

LOST, SAVED, SAFE!

Thursday afternoon I went to the other end of the city to visit colleagues for the evening. We had a committee meeting for the conference we're having later on this month. I spent the night.

Now about Friday morning. I ate breakfast, finished using the internet and then started my drive across town. My objective was to go to a new "American Store" in town and then to the main grocery store. I knew that there was a large hole in the road going into that part of town so I took the "express...NOT..." way to another cross road to get back to the road I wanted. As I was going into town all the traffic got diverted away from that road. I did not know what was ahead. Cars were bumper to bumper. It took at least a half hour to go several blocks. I wanted to get back down to the main road that goes along the waterfront but kept going parallel to it. Then I finally got a view of what looked like a marching band where I wanted to go, a parade! I decided to turn to the right and worm my way, eventually going north again, but the roads do NOT go north and south. They seem to go in circles.

I got royally LOST in winding roads, in a mixture of residential and business areas. It was noon so the sun was straight up and I didn't know if I was going North or South. I just knew if I made the choice to go on a road that led DOWN a hill, it would likely lead me back to where the parade was! Eventually I got to exactly where I did NOT want to be, near the busiest open market in town! I was lost though because I would get to an intersection and have NO idea which way to turn. I have never been so lost in the city before. Normally I AVOID this section of town but I had no choice today.



Finally, after sitting for awhile at one long line before an intersection I asked two men who were walking by to tell me which direction I should turn to get to Mbolo, the store I was aiming for. They said, "Left". When I got to the corner I found a policeman directing traffic. I asked him and he said "RIGHT". I went Right! I did get to a familiar intersection and I was able to make my way to Mbolo, arriving about 15 minutes later. I had been SAVED by the Policeman who directed me in the correct direction. He was an answer to my prayers!



I made it home to the guest house safely. With all that traffic, cars going in and out with very little semblance of lanes, there was much potential of having an accident but the Lord helped me through it all and kept me and my car SAFE. Thank you Lord!

Nzoundou Chapel Seminar!

Friday through today we had a three day seminar at the Nzoundou Chapel. All three mornings I taught a illustrated Bible lesson, not only to the children but to the whole congregation. Friday and Saturday I taught a health lesson. On Friday it was on AIDS and on Saturday it was on brushing teeth. In the photo Mrs. Louise Ngora is showing everyone how she thinks teeth should be brushed.

The main message each morning was was taught by a different person from the Bongolo Church. On Friday Pastor Jonathan Ngora taught the subject "The Deity of Jesus, Our God". On Saturday morning Mrs.Louise Ngora taught on the subject, "The Humanity of Jesus, Our Savior". This morning Evangelist Patrice taught on "The Life of Christ, Our Model". Three of the Ngora sons came with to help out with the music so most mornings we were a team of eight people who drove the 15 minutes from Bongolo to the small village of Nzoundou.

We had attendance of 43 on Friday, 66 on Saturday and 85 people this morning! See some photos that were taken during the three day seminar.

During the weekend we had fourteen people make decisions for Christ. On Friday there was one young person, on Saturday there were  four people and today there were nine people who accept Christ into their lives! Praise the Lord.

After each morning session  Village Chief Inono and his wife Marie had us over for lunch. Here they are standing outside their home.

Just before leaving the village today we saw a pet monkey, tied to a tree. I had not seen him before in this village. Yes, I do live in Africa!

BBQ in the Tiki Room!

On July 4th the Mission family had a BBQ on the new porch made on the second level of the QuadraPlex. It is outside between Paul and Meladee Davis' home and Karen Fitch's home. Paul and Meladee named their new screened in  porch the "Tiki Room"! It was a great place to have our Independence day BBQ. See some photos.

Happy 4th of JULY!

On the Bongolo station we had a July 4th Parade today! It was complete with instruments, a drum and a Vuvuzela! Americans and Africans participated. Tomorrow we Americans will have a BBQ lunch together. Check out the photos.

I’m a Survivor!

Today is my 6th Anniversary of being an Ovarian Cancer Survivor!

Most women with ovarian cancer do not find out about it until they are in the later stages of the disease. I had a very rare type (composite thecoma granulosa) that produced Estrogen hormone. This extra hormone in my body gave me symptoms, leading to early detection of the disease. In fact, I had surgery for another reason and did not find out I had cancer until the laboratory report came back AFTER the surgery. Then my symptoms made sense.

I had had a friend and colleague die of ovarian cancer so I was blessed to have had it found early, in stage one. Praise the Lord! I had no radiation nor chemo-therapy was necessary.

Today's Positives:

1. I am a 6 year ovarian cancer survivor!

2. I have almost 10,000 steps in today and it's not supper yet.

Entrance Exams 2010!

Today the Nursing School had entrance exams for determining the next class of students. Twenty six people took the exams. About a dozen will be selected to start Nursing school in September. Here are some random photos from today.