My First Flying Experience!

Tuesday I left the hospital where I have worked for over 37 years to return to Omaha, Nebraska for eventual retirement. Friends came to the plane to see me off.



Here is a selfie of me sitting in the Co-Pilot's seat.



So why is this my "first flying experience"? We have had a Mission plane for a number of years but I have never flown it either to nor from the capital city. It is a 1 hour 45 minute flight. It was also my "first flying experience" because I got to actually FLY the plane (while the pilot took several photos of me).



Our flight was cloudy but smooth. I was able to see some of the terrain below.



Here is us coming into the city.



Oh, I was the only passenger. Here is the back of the plane.



When I got to the capital city, I was picked up by long time friends so we could go out for lunch. I had my last Vogene pizza! I don't think that Omaha sells them which is probably a good thing!! They are made of white sauce with cream, ham, bacon and an egg on top.



Tomorrow I will fly to Paris, then Atlanta then Omaha.

Today's Positives:
1. I had a great flight to the Libreville.
2. The Guest house where I am staying for a few days is having a Thanksgiving meal this evening... because there are three of us who are American and a forth who did College in America.
3. My flights to the States are tomorrow night!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all who celebrate it!!

Retirement Ceremony and Service Award!

Sunday afternoon November 9th, at 2pm, the Bongolo Hospital held a retirement celebration in my honor. It was held in the Bongolo Church. At the same time there was an official government service medal ceremony where about 30 of us were honored for 10, 20 or 30 years of service.

Here was the program (in French of course).



The Hospital staff and students sang a special song.



Almost all the Hospital staff were there, plus some people from the church.




The Administrator of the hospital then the Medical Director both gave speeches then I did too. I shared Psalms 71:17-18.



I was give a beautiful Mbigou stone placed on glass wall hanging. It will be a challenge to pack it in a suitcase as it is so wide and fragile!



I received a gold medal from the Government for having served at the Hospital for 30 years (actually 37 years).



A dinner was held in my honor, and to honor all those employees who received medals from the Government.



The cake says "Merci" or "Thank you". The outfit I am wearing was a skirt and top sewed by a local tailor, with material that had been given to me as a farewell gift.

My Farewell Tour Continues!

Each Sunday I visit another Church/Chapel to say farewell. I am moving from Africa to America next month, at the end of November. I have lived and worked in Africa since 1977.

On September 21st I said "Goodbye" to the Yisinga Chapel.





On September 28th I visited the Bilengui Church. I had never been there before but had promised Pastor Moukingui that I would visit sometime before leaving Gabon. The trip to Bilengui was through the mountains but of course I could not take photos in the mountains as I was driving.





These are the two ladies who went with me to Bilengui.



After church we went a bit further up the road to visit (and say goodbye) to an old "Mission" where missionaries lived when I first went to Africa. You can see some of the mountains in the background, like the ones we went up to get to the little village of Guevede.






We had a good day as we traveled to Bilengui and Guevede.
This weekend I will be traveling to a little village of Mouyamba.

I only have a bit more than seven weeks left before moving back to the States. I will be teaching a Pediatric course in the Nursing School during that whole time. I try to make constant progress in finishing many projects plus getting rid of EVERYTHING in my home.

Farewell to Yisinga!

During my more than 37 years in Africa I have worked with many churches and village chapels. I have now started a tour on Sundays moving from village to village saying farewell to those in the churches/chapels. So far I have been to two villages and I have two more "booked". I have others trips yet to arrange.

Here is Yisinga, where I was last week. I have ministered in this chapel many times over the years. Money from my friends in the States helped pay for the building of the chapel building (hangar type). Last Sunday attendance was 72 people. There were twelve who stood up at the end of the service to pray to accept Christ.  Praise the Lord!

After lunch on Sunday I was invited for a meal at the home of the Deacon and Deaconess. Villagers also gave me a gift of stalks of sweet bananas, cooking bananas (plantains) and also taro to take home with me.

Nursing School Retreat!

Friday noon September 5th through noon today we had a Spiritual Retreat for the 14 Nursing students and us four professors. A Christian Pediatrician from another city came to be the speaker. It was a great retreat and God Spoke. Here are some photos.

Dr. Albert Schweitzer's Hospital!

While at annual conference in Lambaarene some of us took a tour of the Schweitzer Hospital. It continues to function today but the old buildings are now a museum.  I remember studying Albert Schweitzer in grade school but I kept getting him mixed up with David Livingston. Well, since 1977 when I moved to Africa and first got to tour the Schweitzer Hospital, I will not get them mixed up again!
Here are a few photos:

Dr. Schweitzer's home plus nurses' dining hall(now a museum), piano (no I was not touching the piano) and some of his microscopes:







Dr. Schweitzer's operating room and maternity delivery room:





Dr. Albert Schweitzer's original hospital buildings, grave (he died in 1965) and cemetery:







My trip to the Schweitzer Hospital last week was my last before I leave Africa in November, to return to the States for retirement.

Today's Positives:
1. After about 45-50 minutes of a wild bird flying around in the Nursing School office, a yardman finally got him OUT of the office!
2. I took a short walk outside today.
3. I sold some more clothes that were left over from my earlier garage sale.

Blowout!

On August 11th, on the way to our Annual Team Forum conference at Lambarene, my car had a blowout! I was able to control the car ok. I can no longer bend my knee enough to change a tire. Friends started to help to change the tire but those tires are SO heavy so everyone was glad when a man in a passing car stopped and did the actual tire change. We drove about a half hour to a town where I could buy a new tire before we headed on our way.







After buying the new tire we traveled another hour and a half to get to the location of our conference. I ate lunch then went to get my car washed. While there two different people told me that my new tire had lost a lot of air!!! Next I drove to a close by tire repair shop where a hole was found in my new tire, like it had run over a nail!!!! My new tire was already flat!!!!! It was then repaired.



Praise the Lord that no one was hurt, that the man came to change the tire, that we were able to get to Mouila to buy a new tire and that we were able to get to Lambarene before the next flat tire manifested itself!!!

I was exhausted that night!

Puzzled!

Puzzled, or should I say finishing a puzzle that was started many weeks ago. My neighbor Deb and I sometimes put together jigsaw puzzles on my dining room table. When (not if) I have company over for a meal I first put a plastic table cloth on the table, then a cloth one. My company do not even know that I have a puzzle hiding underneath. This past week of my vacation we finished this puzzle that had been "in hiding". Putting together puzzles is supposed to be good for the brain. :-)

Shopping at the local food Market!

Saturday I went grocery shopping "in town". Here is the main intersection in our town of about 10,000 people.



Here I am in the market which sells mostly fresh veggies.



A few of the veggies that are grown here: cooking bananas, peanuts, taro, winter squash and sweet potatoes.









Dried fish is also sold in the market.



There are many small stores in town too but the market is the only place where local veggies are sold.

My African TWIN!

 

I met Louise over 30 years ago in a distant village where I went once a month to encourage those in her Church. She was in my Bible Study for those years I visited there. As our hospital grew, Louise would come periodically to us to have a baby or get other care.

One time I had a piece of material that I took to a tailor for a dress. When I went to pick it up he proudly handed me Two DRESSES of different models. Since there had been more material than he needed for the dress that I  ordered, the tailor decided that I could get two for the price of one! Well, I really did not want two dresses with the same material so I gave the second one to my friend Louise. We had our photos taken. Since then she has referred to us as TWINS.

Louise knows that I will be leaving the country at the end of November for eventual retirement. She ordered nice quality material from a neighboring country and had it with her this time she came to visit the hospital. She paid for the material and I paid for the tailor. Today we had a number of photos taken in our TWIN dresses!! This was Louise's goodbye gift for me. I'll print up several of the photos so she can have our photo as a "souvenir" as they say in French.