Where have all the workers been?

HELLO! We want to quickly say that the internet has not cooperated with us at all this past week. We are so sorry that we haven't been able to keep you up to date on what is going on. We have been living the fun and the frustrations of missions work, not only here in Koutiala, Mali, but also is Bobodiaoulasso, Burkina Faso.

We have had such a great time working and laughing and sharing with the missionaries and the Malians and in some ways it is difficult to believe that it is time to come home. God has blessed our team with a spirit of cooperation, which has grown into a love for one another and a deeper love for the Malians.

As we look back at the work that has been accomplished these past few weeks and it is truly miraculous at what the Lord has allowed us to do. ALL the boxes that had previously been stored in the Pediatrics Building has been moved, sorted and repacked if necessary and stacked on racks built as we worked in the new warehouse. It is amazing to see how much has been donated from our friends across the United States.

The x-ray room is completed and ready to have the x-ray unit installed, and none too soon because word was received just today that the x-ray unit is ready to be shipped.

Wiring of the warehouse is well underway and much can be left for the Malians to complete. The main trunk line to the new Women's Building has been completed but there will need to be much more wiring done in the future as the building is constructed. When we first came there were only a few of the support "cages" built for the new building, many, many more have been constructed in the time that we have been here.

The hospital staff, missionaries and Malians are feeling the pinch of the increase in the workload and are scurrying to teach/learn all the new things they need to learn about for taking care of pediatric inpatients.

There has been a total of three teams here while we have been here, each overlapping in one way or another. In addition to us, there is a medical team here offering support for Dr. Dan and the nursing staff as well as teaching ultrasound classes. There has also been a work team from Omaha here that worked on the fiberoptic cables for the computer system that will be installed at the hospital. Lots of work being completed.

Our devotions this morning were from Mark 6, where Jesus fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fishes. What I got from that lesson is there is much to be done and how the disciples must have felt so overwhelmed and frustrated when Jesus wanted to feed them, much like everyone at the hospital must feel with so much to be done. But we were reminded that Jesus can do this work all by himself, He doesn't need us (just like he didn't need the offering of the five loaves and two fishes) to complete His work, but He has allowed, yes, allowed us to be a part of the work, just like he allowed the disciples to be a part of feeding the 5,000, He is completing here in Koutiala.

Some of us traveled to Bobo in Burkina Faso over the weekend to visit a school in Dedougou and the Bible School at Pondue as well as to visit some of the work in Bobo. It was an eye opening experience to see the level of dedication from the pastors in the area and also to see their great needs. It seems that God continues to enlarge our territory every time we visit here.

Well, as a play on words from an old song, "all our bags are packed, we're ready to go, we're standing here inside the door . . . . . . "we're leaving on a jet plane, can't wait till we get back again, oh Lord, we hate to go." Yes, we hate to go, but we are all homesick and anxious to see our families and share with them the excitement that we feel seeing God's hand at work here in West Africa.