Ivory Coast Medical Mission Trip 2009

Koumassi Church

2009-07-25T04:45:00.003-05:00

Yesterday we went to do medical work at Koumassi Church about 45 minutes away. It was at a beautiful location overlooking the Lagoon. (See picture above.) After we finished the village served us a wonderful dinner of rice, beef, and peppers as a way of saying thank you. It was such a fantastic experience.

Today we are going to do a puppet show for the children at the church. Today is also Marylyn's Birthday 14th birthday! :-) We are very grateful to have this day off after working for 5 consecutive days.

Just to keep you updated, here is our schedule for the remainder of the trip:

Sunday- Sunday School and morning worship; Evening Service

Monday- Medical work and evangelism at the clinic (3rd and last time)

Tuesday- Tour of Abidjan and Grand Bassam; Souvenir shopping

Wednesday- We leave for the USA

Thursday- We arrive home!!!!

What a blessing this trip has been!

Village Day

2009-07-23T17:19:00.003-05:00

Yesterday we went to Sebia Yao, a village about 30 minutes away from where we are staying. Here is a short video of our experience there. The song in the video is "Love (With Watoto Children's Choir)" by Chris Tomlin.

Tuesday...

2009-07-21T16:41:00.005-05:00

I know this is the 2nd post today... but I figured I would go ahead and update everyone. It is hard to believe we left a week ago! Time has gone by so quickly. Today we worked at the actual clinic for the first time. To be honest, we are all pretty exhausted. I wasn't able to get much video footage because we were so busy! Above are a couple of pictures. One is of some people getting checked out by Kristine and Dr. KB. The second is of one of the little girls we did extractions on. She is wearing a mask because we were trying to keep her entertained while we worked on her mother. Tomorrow we head out bright and early to the village. As I said before, this will most likely be our hardest day. So please continue to pray! Love to all!

What we have been up to the past couple of days....

2009-07-21T02:31:00.000-05:00

First Work Day

2009-07-18T05:34:00.011-05:00

Yesterday we ate oatmeal for breakfast at Kristine's. It was delicious. We then headed over to the Mach's at 7:30 a.m. to meet and head over to the church. Morgan Mach was up so we were able to give her the gift Elizabeth brought for her. (She fell asleep too early the night before.) It was a little stuffed puppy, she absolutely loved it.

We set up outside the church. Sara and Jessica S. were outside doing vitals, Kristine was also outside but she was doing triage. Dr. KB was right inside the church checking people that came in for a check-up and to receive treatment. Dr. Smart, Jessica C., and Kristi set up the dental station in the back right corner of the church while the Machs, Elizabeth, and Clara were working the pharmacy in the back left corner. Sorry we don't have a video, but we didn't have enough footage to make one. Once we get enough, I will put one together. I imagine we will after today.

Today we will be going into the village to invite some of the lady church members to the tea we are hosting next Saturday. Traveling into this village will be an eye opening experience seeing that we have been staying in the nicer area. The village is within walking distance (about 6-7 min) and is known as the "middle class" area.

Here is our schedule for the upcoming week. It is a busy one, so if I am not able to post or put much up, I am sorry. It is just a little time consuming to make videos and upload pictures because the internet is much slower than at home.

Sunday - Teach Sunday School, Morning Service, then Evening Service

Monday- Medical work at Grande Bassam church (Dr. KB's home church)

Tuesday- Medical work and evangelism at the Clinic

Wednesday- Medial work and evangelism at Sebia Yao (a village outside of town) and then evening service. This will probably be the hardest day because it is in a rural area and we will be working in tents that we have to set up. Please pray that this goes well and that there is no rain.

Thursday-Medical work and evangelism at the Clinic

Friday-Medical work at Koumassi church

The following week we will be working one more day (Monday) in the clinic, and then we will have Tuesday to tour the city and pick up some souvenirs. Then Wednesday we will be heading home. I am sure with how busy we will be that time will fly by. Keep praying for us! We know you are and that God is with us because since we have been here it has only rained once and it was a short shower. The forecast had predicted rain the entire week and this is the rainy season so thank God for that.

Day 1: Market

2009-07-17T01:54:00.006-05:00

First off, click on the pictures to make them bigger. It was taking way to long to upload bigger versions.

Yesterday we packed some of our supplies for the clinic. As you can see in the pictures, we spent some time separating the medicine pills into plastic bags and stapling labels to them to make it easy to dispense from the pharmacy.

We all got the chance to go to the market today as well, but we had to be separated into groups because not everyone could fit in the car. We all got the chance to buy fabric to have African dresses specially made by a tailor that the Mach family uses. We then walked back to the Mach's house which took around 20-25 minutes. Once we got back, Jessica got the chance to play basketball with Bobby Mach and a few of his fellow basketball teammates. After dinner we were all blessed with the ability to gift the Mach family with some gifts from the U.S. What a treat. You can see from the photos above. Mr. Mach loved those butterfingers, haha.

Today we get the chance to finally work in the clinic! We will keep you all posted! God Bless.

Video of our trip here...

2009-07-16T09:01:00.001-05:00

We Made It!!!!

2009-07-15T17:37:00.005-05:00

We made it in!!! Everyone is all safe and sound, including Jessica S. who we finally got to meet up with in Newark. Aside from a little confusion about baggage, had no problems. All of our flights were on schedule, and getting through customs was a breeze. Thank you for all your prayers! We all can tell that God is definitely with us. The Ivorians are some of the nicest people we have ever met, but the craziest drivers that we have ever seen. We will be posting a video tomorrow of the adventure (trip) here along with a more detailed write up of our experiences. We are just too exhausted to do that tonight.

Tomorrow morning we have the luxury of sleeping in, going to the bank to exchange money, and some of us are even going to buy fabric to have an African dress made specifically for us. Tomorrow evening we will be unpacking and setting up all of our supplies at the clinic, so we can start doing medical and dental work on Friday.

We are having so much fun! Keep the prayers and comments coming! Love to all! God Bless.

We Are Leaving!!!!!!!!!!

2009-07-14T00:04:00.001-05:00

The first picture above is of our team, minus Jessica S., after evening service. (Left to Right: Grace, Kristi, Jessica C., Clara, Sara, Elizabeth) The second and third pictures are some of our supplies that we will be taking with us! Thank you to all who helped us gather these supplies by your generous donations. We are truly grateful!!! (Just in case you didn't know, you can click the pictures above to make them bigger.)

The team leaves THIS MORNING! YAY!!! We will departing for Newark, New Jersey at 10:15 a.m. Followed by a flight to Brussels, Belgium and then finally to Abidjan, Ivory Coast. We should get there around 4:45 p.m. (11:45 a.m CST) on Wednesday. That's over 24 hours of traveling, so please keep us in your prayers! Also please remember to pray that we don't have any problems with our flight plans or getting our supplies into the country.

Finally, the team (minus Jessica S.) along with the women church members prayed for God's blessings and protection during our trip. If you were not able to be with us, you can view a video of it below.

Navigating Our Blog

2009-07-13T10:28:00.000-05:00

A wonderful request was made for instructions to be posted to help you navigate our blog and how to receive notifications of our updates. To help you make it easier to use, follow these instructions:

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Trip Details

2009-07-05T18:22:00.000-05:00

Trip Dates: July 14th - 30th, 2009

Trip Mission Statement: To share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the Ivorian people and to meet their physical needs through nursing and medical care.

Destination: Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Purpose of the Trip:

To Provide learning opportunities and experiences in medical missions for nurses who are interested in expanding their own knowledge and using their skills
To be a blessing to the missionaries with whom we will be staying and to be a blessing to Dr. KB with whom we will be working and from whom we will be learning about medicine and nursing in Africa
To impact the lives of many Africans who are not able to afford excellent medical attention from state hospitals or clinics by volunteering our time and efforts to meet their needs.
To share the love of Jesus with whomever we are able whenever the opportunity arises whether through actions or words.
To provide medical supplies for Dr. KB's clinic to help provide for the needs of the African people.

Purpose of this Blog: To keep everyone updated (with photos and blogs) on what is going on during our trip.

For more information visit the trips website at: www.icmmt.com