A Second Week in Vanga

Dr. Howard exams a child's burned arm.

The team’s second week in Vanga began with a church on Sunday morning and then a boat trip down the Kwilu River. Kathy Rice shares, “I spent Mother's Day with Tim and friends on the Kwilu River in a pirogue (dug out canoe) poled by two very strong Congolese men. Since the hippos haven’t migrated yet, we jumped into the river where the current going down river and up river formed and eddy. It’s the original lazy river and Jungle Cruise that inspired Disney!”  

Anna reflected on some of the week’s events, “Yesterday we had breakfast with some German missionaries, then some of us had a tour of the feeding center for malnourished babies. The program they run is wonderful, but certainly leaves room for improvement. Again, I am shocked at how similar some of our American health system needs are to those here! People are people no matter where they are!” Anna shared she is “learning” three languages simultaneously: French, Lingala, and Kituba.

The team marveled that sometimes God uses extraordinary means to bring healing and health is restored unexpectedly. Sometimes God uses ordinary means to bring healing like a friend feeding a malnourished child with proper diet or someone with malaria receiving the proper medication to cure malaria. Dr. Howard examined a young child’s arm that was nearly unusable due to a burn. Dr. Rice commented, “It seems to me like an extraordinarily, miraculous event that God is going to use a relative minor surgery by Dr Howard here at Vanga DRC to restore complete function to this child’s withered arm.”

On Friday, May 17^th four of the St. Louis team members flew back to Kinshasa on a MAF flight. At a departure dinner the night before, the team in Vanga expressed their deep gratitude for the encouragement that the St. Louis team members brought. Dr Brother Reinhardt's 77th birthday was also celebrated at the dinner. Dr. Reinhardt is a German doctor that has been humbly and faithfully serving in Vanga for 33 years. He shared verses including Lamentations 3:22-23 reminding us that God's mercy and forgiveness are new every morning.

Pray for safe travels and that God would encourage the teams (STL&Vanga) as they return to their normal routine. Pray that they would be reminded of God's daily faithfulness and love.