We hope you had a good Thanksgiving.  We had a nice Thanksgiving meal with our team, and then a good long weekend away which we enjoyed with some of our teammates.  During our time away, we celebrated our 16^th wedding anniversary (November 25^th).  Thanks to our teammates, we enjoyed reenacting the cutting of our wedding cake.

This past week has been a tough one for us as we’ve had to say goodbye to Dr. Simplice (a Gabonese surgeon who had been here off and on since 2009) and to Jeff and Amy (American teammates who had been here for over 6 years).  Goodbyes are never easy, but we’ve done our best to struggle through them.  Since Dr. Simplice had been the Medical Director, Wendy was asked to step into that role, which is proving to be quite challenging and time consuming.  In the past week alone, Wendy has been dealing with situations related to tetanus, measles, possible monkeypox, and HIV!  We’ve also had cases of malaria, TB, and sleeping sickness (the first 2 are normal here; the latter is rare).  And with Amy leaving, a big hole has been left in the finance department.  So we are feeling these departures both on a personal and professional basis. 

And now for a testimony from the eye clinic!  Below is a photo of Yacinth, a 55-year-old man who heard our chaplain’s message at the eye clinic about how “the Lord died on the cross for all of humanity.”  Yacinth says, “the message touched the depths of my heart, so I gave my life to the Lord.”  Everyone who receives Christ at the eye clinic also receives a Bible if they don’t have one already. So Yacinth is equipped with the Word too.  By the way, Sonia, our chaplain, is recovering well from her injury.  Praise the Lord for answered prayer!

The best way to participate in this work is to talk to God (who is in control of all things) on our behalf.  Thanks for your prayers!  Have a great week!

Love,
Eric and Wendy