My mission trip to Mali, West Africa

I know what I can give on my short-term mission trip to Mali

One more hot bowl of oatmeal with craisins tomorrow morning and I'm off to start my short-term mission trip in Mali, West Africa with Francophone Ministries for Christ in Port Huron, MI.

For the past few weeks, I've tried to do an inventory in my mind about how I could plug into a drastically different culture far from my comfort zone in mid-Michigan.

I combed through my memory-bank of Bible stories.  I did a review of doctrine from Luther's Small Catechism, just in case.  I even pounded a few nails, just in case I get involved with some of that.

All that stuff is important, but it became clear to me during our worship service this morning that the answer was right in front of me.

My local church family is Our Savior Lutheran Church in Lansing, MI and for several weeks people have been showing their love and support and their prayers for my trip.  I have felt their love.  They have verbalized it and they have demonstrated it.

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Francophone Ministries for Christ medical team in Mali right now

These are the medical team members for Francophone Ministries for Christ who are in Mali right now.  I got this in an e-mail this morning.  They must be posing on the porch of the mission house in Bamako.

They see hundreds of patients each day who are in need of medical care.  Team members put in long hours in a variety of settings and under some pressure from seeing just one more patient.

My daughter, Krista, a Registered Nurse, was part of the medical team a year ago at this time.  When I posed the opportunity of my going to Mali this year.  She told me to go and not give it a second thought.  Her heart had been touched.  It sounded like she left a chunk of it in the country.

Tags: Mali, short-term missions, medical missions, Francophone Ministries for Christ

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Getting our clothes washed in Mali

We were told that we would be able to have our clothes washed while we were at the mission house in Bamako. 

Because we only have room in our carry-ons, that's an important issue.

This morning I got this photo in the e-mail from our group of medical missionaries over there right now.  They are treating hundreds of people everyday.

But, notice what appears to be their clothes dryer.  I love it.  Natural air is the way to go. 

Tags: Mali, medical mission, short-term mission trips, Francophone Ministries for Christ

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Meet Bamako missionary bloggers, Thom and Amanda McMurray

Last night, I was searching on Technorati, the blog search engine, for blogs written by missionaries in the West African Country of Mali and I found Thom and Amanda McMurray who are serving with a mission organization based in Bamako, the capital of the country.

Since I will be going to Bamako in about a month and a half, I read their blog with a great deal of interest.  After reading many of their posts, I felt like I knew them and I left with the hope that I can meet them when I get over there.

They are great examples of how this new channel of communication is being used by mission groups.

Technorati Tags: Mali, FrancophoneMinistries, Bamako, blogs, WestAfrica