Dear friends and partners in our Lord’s work at CEH,
God is worthy of our praise continually! Let us come into His gates with thanksgiving and let us enter His courts with praise. Thanksgiving and Christmas are annual reminders to have this attitude. It's my precious personal habit to reflect in this way before the Lord in this season. May this letter help you do the same as we reflect on God’s wonderful work at CEH and may God bless you and your families in these holidays.
You may recall that Guinea had a coup d’état on 9-5-21. We are thankful it was primarily peaceful and most normal daily functions resumed after just two days of shut down. The military replaced all civilian leadership at the top three levels of government with military officers and then allowed the fourth rank of civilian officials to resume activities but not to initiate new programs until clear lines of authority were established. Mining contracts, which are the main source of government funding, were allowed to continue until they can be reconsidered in the future. There is still unease about the future of the country. Religious foundations are unchanged: 88% are still Muslim, 10% are animist, and 5% are at least nominally Christian; though the evangelicals are only 1%. There is a large overlay of syncretism with a predominant ethno-religious/animist world view superimposed on these major religious groups. Remember that Guinea is located at the southeast corner of the 10/40 window where most of the least-reached people groups of the world reside, and where the fewest Christian resources are currently invested. They are as sheep without a shepherd both politically and spiritually.
Matthew 9:36-38 (NIV) says: "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.' "
That has been the strategy in personnel recruitment since the beginning and God provided 60+ staff for whom we are thankful!
This year we prayed for several positions specifically and God provided laborers:
We prayed for doctors: God provided Asaph, a new intern who graduated from Conakry Medical School and was a leader of the University Bible Study Group.
We gave him a scholarship there for six years. After one year of general internship with us he was accepted in the Ophthalmology three-year residency program at the capital after which he plans to return to us in that specialty. He works well and is eager to learn from the senior doctors. The staff respect his medical and leadership skills.
We are so thankful!
We prayed for a nurse anesthetist: God provided Dosso, a Christian
nurse who was trained in Conakry by the country’s only Christian anesthesiologist, Dr. Joseph. He runs the country’s only school for nurse anesthetists. Dosso interned with us as a student for three months in the spring and returned now since October. The new anesthesia machine Autumn Ridge Church (ARC) provided this year was recently installed and we can give improved surgical care now. Previously all were cases performed under spinal, Ketelar, Versed, or local anesthesia. This will allow for better handling of more delicate cases.
We are very thankful!
We prayed for a godly pastor and wife: God allowed one of our M
IAPE couples, Moise and Deborah, to be trained back in Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast/CDI) to maintain and expand these ministries. They
returned in August and their work is thriving both in the MIAPE chapel and in the hospital chaplaincy and follow-up ministry. Their godly behavior, theology and initiative strengthen and stabilize CEH’s global ministry. They were gifted a new motorcycle to facilitate their local ministries.
We are so thankful!
We prayed for a technician who could help us with IT and
electrical issues. God provided Ezeckiel who is trained in these areas and is a close friend of Fassou our BioMed tech. They also work together in discipling a whole group of student technicians who are training in the Telico Technological University across town in Mamou. About 20 attend their Bible Study weekly and the MIAPE Chapel.
We are thankful!
We prayed when we couldn’t send our American electricians and plumber team to wire and plumb the pharmacy, nursing school and
Community Health Program (CHP) office due to travel restrictions. We discovered two young Guinean electricians from eight hours away and the best local plumber. They were able to follow the instructions sent out by George and our American electricians to set up the three buildings. We are thankful! We are starting now to instruct them on setting up these utilities in the surgeon’s house, our major construction project this year. George and our American construction missionaries are hoping to go this spring, 2022 to complete details on the projects.
We prayed for other Christian general surgeons to come along side Dr. Paul to share the work and train our other doctors in essential surgical services.
In November we got an email from Dr. Allison that she and her husband Daniel are being sent out from MBI (Southern Baptist) as missionaries to Guinea with departure planned for this January 2022. They would like to be placed at Mamou with us after one year of language study in Conakry. We are thankful! Daniel may be placed in church planting evangelism ministry to the Pular people group (5,400,000) who surround the area. They could work mutually with the MIAPE chapel and Moise in these ministries.
We are still praying for other western doctorsto reinforce the work. Dr. Brendon and Dr. Angela contacted us to seriously consider serving at Mamou. He is a general surgeon and she a family practice doctor! They could give direct patient care and both be involved in developing CEH as a Christian residency center for West Africa. They are willing to make a vision trip to Mamou for three to six months in March 2022. We are so thankful. Please pray with us for them!
We are also still praying for adequate nursing instructors at the new nursing school built at CEH and had plans to launch in January 2022. The classroom building is now completed. The opening will be delayed since it is a “new initiative” and needs clearance from the new government officials. It was scheduled with the prior government’s Ministry of Superior Education at it’s opening. A green light will allow Elizabeth S. to recruit up to 20 new nursing students, most of whom will be Christians. The curriculum will have a core of Christian principles integrated into the science and training. Pray!
Doris N., a part-time registered nurse from CMA for the past four years, plans to be the Clinical Nursing instructor, but is currently in the USA due to health issues for her husband, George. He is the key Pular Bible translator. They served in Guinea for more than 30 years. Please pray for these veteran laborers. They contribute stability to all the other fellow servants. Some of our current doctors and nurses will also participate in the teaching. We hope that new fiber optic cable for internet connection being installed adjacent to CEH, will allow us to use RN teachers from the United States to participate in some of the didactic teaching through translators. Some of you may be among these. Pray!
We pray for the children: Christ also said, “Let the children come unto me.” Early in our ministry the Fresh Rosée School was founded to minister to children in the area. It now has 325 students, Pre-K through 8th grade. It grew 10-25% each year because of the excellence of the work. 90% of the students are bussed daily from Mamou city eight miles away. We share the four busses the hospital purchased and make several runs. Another bus is needed which will cost $12,500.
Four years ago, we installed a small playground at the school donated by Pottersville Reformed Church and their nursery school which thrilled the children. This year we received two larger playground sets shipped as a free donation from Kids Around the World which are ready to be installed ($7,000). Lord willing, we will install one in the elementary area of Fresh Rosée and the other in a new child evangelism center close to the hospital and our soccer field. ARC provided $27,500 funding for this center in November. We hope to expedite these projects early next year. Some of the CEH staff and the MIAPE team developed this ministry vision and will launch it. We praise God that He accomplishes all this by His power, well beyond any one of our dreams! Praise Him!
We pray for continued learning: Training our staff for improved medical excellence is a constant priority. We had to cancel our ARC/Mayo Clinic Medical Evangelism conference in Mamou due to COVID travel restrictions both in 2021 and 2022. Since this serves medical professionals from all across West Africa we will try again in
2023. However, this year we sent Dr. Paul to Cameroon for Sign Nail orthopedic training. Dr. Jean Paul finished a six month OB/GYN fellowship in Mali at the CMA Women and Children’s Hospital. Dr. David and Dr. Tankiano, two lab techs, our biomedical tech, along with two nurses went to Conakry for training sponsored by the German Embassy. The Embassy also promised respiratory and lab equipment early in 2022. All of these staff members are very appreciative and their training will help serve the patients with the goal of providing medical excellence according to the means that God provides.
We are so thankful!
Let us remember in this season: He is the Lord of the harvest. He was moved with compassion. He told us to pray. He said all power and provision is from Himself. He promised He would be with us always while we are doing His work. He came at Christmas. He is coming again. Praise Him!
Your fellow servant,
Dr. Dwight E. Slater
CEO of CEH
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