To the many friends and supporters of Dr. Kristen Schmaltz and the Medical Mission of Compassion Evangelical Hospital in Guinea, West Africa,
Following is the latest news from Dr. Kristen. She and all the workers at CEH have been extremely busy since the Clinic opened last November, and email communication has been a challenge. Thus the delay in filling you in on the work and successes at this far-away place. God is at work here; please continue to remember them in your prayers.
Les and Lyn Schmaltz
Guinea, West Africa
August 4, 2008
Dear praying friends,
There is much to praise God about at Compassion Evangelical Hospital. We have had our first patient say she wants to follow Jesus and she is willing to do this if she is healed of her osteomyelitis or not. She will be under post op care at CEH (from the regional hospital in Mamou) for 6 months. As she lay flat on her back after surgery and thought of the Jesus film she has seen in the Pular language at CEH, the care she received for months by us the medical staff at CEH, she came to the decision by herself. A Dalaba muftal (church) friend of mine helped her state her belief by reading Romans 8 in Pular and told of this decision for Christ. What a wonderful happening and we thank God by His Spirit who has done this.
I am placing an internet order for more medicines from Holland now. We are having serious challenges getting meds in Guinea and now have funds to purchase more. This is practically the first internet connection I have had in a month. Well, last week I did too but as I was just connected, the son of Raymond our construction leader, Rodney age 4, became seriously ill in a private clinic in town with cerebral malaria and in full blown seizures. I had to leave to care for him. I was able to rally around him and get him stablized and transferrred to CEH at night (we opened as a full hospital for him just that night with a team of CEH quick-response medworkers). Rodney had a few scary moments with us but we prayed for his health and did our best to care for him with IV treatments. He responded well and went home with his dad and mom but the next few nights of home treatments in the dark were further experiences in trusting God as Mamou has not had power for 8 weeks in my quartier. I spoke often with Ray, sometimes every 15 minutes. It was a great joy to see Rodney running around playing last week when I made a home visit!
We at CEH have started a Bible study Friday afternoons with the Excelsis series. It is great to take time to discuss God's will for us in our homes, neighborhood, at CEH, and in church through this series called Taking Care of God's People (Prendre Soins de Peuple de Dieu). I learned about this course when I was in Gambia in May on a spiritual retreat.
I want to send you some photos but cannot do this right now. I have photos of Rodney and our osteomyelitis patient that I would like you to see. I hope that my normal internet connection which was struck by lightning three times will soon be fixed so that I can get on the internet with my computer. I am sending this from the town cyber cafe.
Thank you for your patience with me for being out of contact for so long. We cherish your prayers-- all of us CEH workers: medical and construction; patients and administrative staff.
To God be the glory in Christ
Dr Kristen Schmaltz, MD
