Update from Rick in Doro

Yesterday (Tuesday) AIMAIR arrived in Yabus and I got on and played co-pilot (only passenger!) It was a great flight at 4000 feet over to Doro following the Yabus River. I was met by Grace Womack (from Austin, TX), Joanna Mansanti (from Roseburg, OR who had met with our team in Portland) and Joel Beckett (from Eagle River, AK). We walked 100 yards to a great lunch on the Doro living compound. In the afternoon short term PA, Sara Benson, gave me a great tour of the Village of Hope (nutrition village where Grace and Joanna minister), the medical clinic where a number of the missionaries work including our team member, Dr. Andrew Chang, the Community Health Workers school where Barb Hartwig and Vicki Beattie work and the BELC (Basic Education Learning Center) building where Stuart Lee is overseeing the completion of the grade 8 exams the next two weeks. I am so proud of the work Dean and Andrew have done here. Dean has been hard at work creating a portable outhouse using dormant welding skills that have proved very helpful. Joel told me that Dean has been a great help to him, tackling one project after another. Today he and I threw 50 pound bags of Sorgum into a new storage area he has organized in the workshop area. He has implemented his medical organizational skills and offered very practical suggestions for the organization and patient flow at the Medical Clinic as well. Veteran missionary nurse, Sandy Ewan, who oversees the clinic was so thrilled with Dean's ideas that she called a meeting yesterday afternoon to have him share his ideas with all those involved in the Clinic. I was so blessed when Sandy commented that she knows exactly why the Lord brought him to Doro. Andrew, likewise, has been an invaluable help and contributed significantly at the Medical Clinic. I visited him today and saw his gentle strength merging beautifully with the nurses and national workers in a compassionate ministry bringing help and love to many here. He and I are sharing a tent and thankfully we both got plenty of sleep last night!
Today the dust off the desert has swept in and blanketed us with a layer of brown but a cooling breeze we all appreciate. We called it Harmattan in Nigeria so it is like being home in Nigeria for me. At the end of our walking tour yesterday we visited the cemetary where Dr. Robert Grieve and his wife who were killed in a bombing raid by the Italians in 1941 and Dr. David Masters who passed away last April are buried. It was a sobering reminder that the spread of the gospel is not without sacrifice. What a privilege to be here to see the results of the sacrificial labors of SIM missionaries, past and present. I pray we as a team will be able to accurately communicate all we have seen and experienced and the value of the investment of those modern missionary heroes who are here today loving and reaching the people Jesus loves.