Dear friends and partners in our Lord's work at CEH,
We pray that you are well and protected by our Sovereign Lord as we walk through these difficult days in the common paths of life. Our Lord is our creator, our sustainer, our joy, our purpose giver, and our refuge in any day of trouble. May He be with you and give you peace today, in the years to come, and ultimately through all eternity.
Many years ago my parents inscribed my Bible, "The Christian must have horizons that extend beyond the view of most. The physical and spiritual needs of mankind are multitudinous. The world that God allows us each to touch is relatively small in comparison. Yet in that setting we are to be God's Ambassador. That is the supreme privilege in life and man's highest calling."
In life one of my personal great joys is to partner with you and with others in the CEH ministry for the glory of God. When we first dreamed and prayerfully started CEH, Guinea was the ninth poorest nation in the world and was named by Operation World as the second most spiritually dark nation in Sub-Saharan Africa. It was on the lower westward 10-40 window lintel where the vast majority of all unreached peoples of the world live. We mutually desire that God be glorified in this world and throughout eternity by some people from each of Guinea's 43 tribes who come to know Him as Savior and Lord. We did not hide any of our purpose of giving high quality medical care and clearly sharing the Gospel from the local people nor from government officials. Though it's a nation of 89 percent Muslim people, we were granted permanent permission to build the hospital for that purpose. God gave us, through the hand of their government, the land close to the nation's crossroads where all people could come for medical care and we have the privilege of sharing the Gospel with each of them. The initial cost of purchasing 75 acres of land in 2005 and securing the definitive deed was only $15,000. Together we invested more than 100 times that amount in CEH's capital development since then and God raised up a small but complete and efficient hospital to care for the Guinean people. Toward that end CEH is one of the most effective ways of sharing God's light in that nation. We sought to build the best hospital for the poor people of all the nation's tribes. It is an attractive place of beauty and compassion amply equipped in a sparse land.
Again, may God bless you and keep you, make His face to shine upon you and give you peace.
Remembering how God provided water to CEH In 2010 we experienced a crucial need for adequate water for the function of the hospital. We used a European company to drill for water where they thought was best without success on two attempts. They then suggested that we drill off our property near the merger of two surface streams and pipe it back to the compound. I was concerned that water might easily be contaminated with the stream water, full of fecal and agricultural runoff. On a "white night" when God seems to not let me sleep when I need to listen to Him, God seemed to say to me, 'You asked for land with water when you asked for this land. I have given it. I have already shown you where it is." When we bought the land, five years earlier, it was rocky and sparse with two small streams that ran across it. I noted about 10 large trees and I asked that they all be preserved for their beauty and shade. A peasant farmer who previously farmed that land sought to harvest a huge tree prior to the sale of the land to the hospital. He stripped 80% of the bark around its girth. I do not know why he did not complete that task, but for God. I found this out on my next trip and protested to the governor and mayor. They promised nothing else would be touched. Five years later the tree was still standing and mostly green. I told Etienne to drill the next attempt within 10 meters of the base of that tree and God would give us water. He soon called and stated they struck a vein of water which bubbled up through the pipe. It was an artesian well and it had to be capped to control its supply. It was tested and was very pure. It continues to serve us without fail these 10 years since. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Sharing the Water with our Community As the community around the hospital increased about 20-fold over these years, it outgrew their source of water from the hillside spring on their side of the road. Community leaders asked us for assistance with water, so we shared ours. Women who culturally carry the water for their families came to our tower to procure their family needs. They also asked for assistance with a well and small water tower at that time. Etienne and I felt that when a person asks for (a cup of) water, we are to provide this to them in Christ's name. We also felt we should allow them to pick the site, and that God would again provide. They selected the courtyard of their prayer room/mosque directly across from the CEH Hospital entry containing dry rocky ground. God again provided water. Two years later this new well is still serving their community effectively. We helped build a water tower and spicket where all are served. Being on the main national east-west highway, many taxis and trucks also stop to find fresh water before entering our town of Mamou. It is now an acknowledged rest stop. These people hear the stories of how the "Christians" helped provide this water in Christ's name, as well as the recent stories of patients whom we successfully cared for. God provides, He is glorified.
Water to Share
Our New Pharmacy
We are thrilled to report the construction team completed the new pharmacy to serve our patients. Getting medication is always a challenge in the developing world. We used two relatively small areas to store the medications and dispense them to patients. We established channels with the best-known pharmaceutical providers in the nation, always paying cash for the medication stocks. Most of the national hospitals buy on credit and later have difficulty repaying those providers. By paying cash we earned preferential service. Storing medications safely from both theft and heat deterioration is also important. This new pharmacy allows us six times more space for storage and service of the medications. Each day we serve 30 to 80 patients in the clinic as well as the 40 who are hospitalized. The pharmacy includes a partially underground room and AC to keep the most heat-sensitive medications cooler. This will all be operational in August. Praise God! We thank many of you who again generously contributed to His work!
New Pharmacy Building
Projects next up ...
Our Community Health Administrative Building and roughing in of the Nursing Classroom Building were accomplished this summer. Another $11,000 is needed to complete it. We praise God again for each of these.
Our next two projects are to expand and update the Laboratory in the space vacated by the prior pharmacy rooms to facilitate better diagnoses and treatment of patients. This will cost $14,500.
Community Health Building and Nursing Classroom under construction
The second project is related to our new Surgeon and Administrative Assistant. We are blessed to have Paul S. as our new Surgeon. He more than tripled the volume of surgery we are doing, with more room to grow this service. Many patients' lives are being saved. Also Elizabeth S. came alongside Etienne as a wonderfully competent Administrative Assistant helping in HR, staff motivation, and training areas. They are both very valuable parts of the team. They came as missionaries from CDI through our sister mission MIAPE (Inter African Mission for Evangelization). We hope to build them a new missionary home on the compound so they may be easily accessible to the hospital whenever needed. This house will cost $55,000.
We would love to complete these three projects this year.
Praying for our Staff
The Hospital land, infrastructure systems of water, electricity, sewage, the associated Christian School, and each of the buildings for patient care and education of our staff are each very important. Yet I know before God that the provision and quality of our staff are perhaps an even greater gift from Him! They are the backbone of the daily ministry, the hands that serve, the minds that diagnose, and mouths that comfort and witness. They are the daily living reflections of Christ to this community in Guinea, even as each of us is in our own community. I pray daily for their continued maturation, purity, harmony and love for one another, and growth in the knowledge of Him and His will. Pray with me constantly for them. In this way we deepen our partnership with them and with God.
MIAPE Missionaries
"Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth." (3 John 5-8, ESV)
Our nine MIAPE missionaries are such missionaries. They left their homeland for the name of Christ. They do not draw a salary from the hospital, from the revenues of patient care, from any government or secular institution, but are fully supported by CEH as missionaries. They are essential to the medical and evangelistic work at CEH. Every month their salaries are the highest priority of the funds which we send to Guinea as supplied by your donations. It is a total of $7,004 monthly for these nine fulltime workers. Each receives his/her fair and honorable salary. I believe these are some of the best spent funds for the glory of God in Guinea. None of us can directly touch all the world tangibly, so to be effective we can and do support workers in other places. Guinea is where God called me and some of you to touch our world for Him, yielding eternal fruit. Thank you partners, for supporting our MIAPE missionaries!
MIAPE Missionaries
(Seven of the group of nine)
Cheerful Giving
CEH is blessed to receive donations from many sources. These gifts allow the ministry to continue and grow. We thank God for the many ways He provides for the work!
Beyond gifts from individuals, churches, and foundations, we are grateful to receive memorial gifts. Memorial gifts for at least a dozen who are now at home with our Lord Jesus and some who named CEH in their wills, are deeply appreciated. Involvement in a ministry for God's glory during our lifetime through prayer, service, and giving can continue after we leave through memorial gifts and/or designation in a final will or trust.
We always seek to use funds as designated and to honor memorials appropriately. The exact mechanism of this should be worked out with your attorney and with your family. If you desire to do so, we are grateful for such consideration, and we promise to be faithful stewards.
Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7, ESV)