Happy Christmas from Cameroon

Merry Christmas! In Cameroon, the more often used term is actually Happy Christmas. Our family genuinely hopes that you had a great Christmas Day, and we hope you got to sit down and think about the true "reason for the season".

We began the festivities on Christmas Eve by caroling through the hospital. It was a great blessing to see the patients smile.

The kids handed out toys at the pediatric ward.

Many of the kids were able to be discharged home for Christmas, but some still had to remain. Emory also passed out some candy.

Baby James' first Christmas!

There was definitely no shortage of food! 

We went over too the Bardin's house for dinner with the other missionaries. The kids enjoyed running around in the yard with the frisbee and soccer ball.

To end the night, we read the Christmas story as the kids acted it out with the nativity scene and sang a few Christmas carols. Merry Christmas!

Meet Ebude

Ebude is a 14 year old girl who I saw last week. When I met her, she hadn't been able to swallow anything, even water, for 2 days. For many months, she has been struggling to find medical care. Almost a year ago, Ebude contracted a serious infection in her esophagus that scarred her shut, making it impossible to swallow. When her problems began, she traveled around Cameroon seeking hope. She was told it was caused by an evil spirit. She began to cry as she explained that her family is eating less because all of the finances go to her. Her Aunt (Ebude is an orphan) said she shouldn't cry because God has blessed her with life. Thankfully, a colleague and mentor of mine was able to open up Ebude's esophagus here at Mbingo a few months ago. However, her struggle persisted.

Ebude has been trying to get here for continued treatments, because her condition requires dilations of the esophagus for months. Due to social and financial issues (food and transport cost) Ebude often arrives too late, just like when I first saw her. By that time, her esophagus has closed off again.

However, by God's grace we were able to get her open yet again. We don't have access to all the modern equipment here at Mbingo. Therefore, we had to explore her esophagus blindly, not knowing if we were actually in her esophagus, or veering out into her chest near her heart and lungs. As we proceeded during her surgery, I merely relied on God as we moved very carefully toward the stomach. We were taking a risk, but there was no choice. By the end of her procedure, we still didn't know if we were successful or not. We performed a followup procedure a few days later that verified we had successfully reached her stomach! She left the hospital today.....able to swallow!

Ebude will require at least another 4-5 treatments. To our supporters, Sherwood Church of Christ, and James Island Christian Church: Thank you all for your generosity. Your giving will allow Ebude to travel and return to Mbingo to receive the remainder of her treatments so she can be healed of this problem. Please pray for this sister in Christ, that she will once again be able to eat well and be free of this condition.

My Wife

Happy Thanksgiving! Since 1863, today our country celebrates a national day of "Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficient Father who dwelleth in the Heavens" (President Teddy Roosevelt). This Thanksgiving, I'm so magnificently thankful for something I couldn't help but write about....my wife.

I cannot tell of the beauty of my wife. Be it inward or outward beauty, I have no utterances that could describe either adequately. However there's a fairly famous chapter in the bible, Proverbs 31, that describes the worth of an excellent wife. My wife of nearly 10 years is certainly excellent.

"She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life." My wife's constant self-sacrificing and eye for the eternal constantly supplies good in my life. She never gives up, and she always makes sure she is providing for the needs of her husband and children, no matter the cost.

"She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong." My wife was an All-American and world champion soccer player; her physical strength is often unmatched.

"She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy." My wife is always bringing opportunities before me to give more to the poor. Just tonight she was already talking about giving more to some workers we've hired around the house so they can have more for Christmas. She's always looking to give more.

"She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue." Kelly's speech fervently dwells on kindness, as she passes this wisdom to the next generation (our children). She has a huge heart for educating our children and works to model kindness for them. This morning she was nursing our 2 week old while teaching Isaiah to read, leading Emory in a notebook, and keeping track of our rambunctious toddler, wow!

"Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." Kelly's steadfast faith motivates me as I see her faithfully walk in the fear of the Lord, even with all the struggles that presents in a place like this.

My wife moved to a Africa in her third trimester to faithfully serve God and as an act of submission to her husband. A wife submitting to her husband seems pretty old fashioned nowadays. It is! Wives have been supposed to submit to husbands for the whole history of marriage. When Kelly took this step of faith to come here, it was very humbling for me. I knew she was doing this out of submission and following her call, not her own desires. When I speak about serving the poor in the developing world, I seem to hear a very common response, "My wife would never do something like that." Well, let me assure you, mine wouldn't either. That's why it took an act of God to allow her to follow God and her husband to the third world. Husbands, if this is your response, you need to man-up. Don't short-change her, as certainly she has the capacity to serve her creator in any setting. Just lead and love your wife well.

So men, today tell your wife how thankful you are for her. In fact, I wouldn't stop there if I were you. Check yourself as to how thankful for her you think you are. Are you sacrificing anything for your wife? Are you truly loving her? Are your aspirations at work meant to honor God and bless your wife, or simply for your own gain? The answers to these questions may be difficult to swallow for some of us. Myself included, the husbands of the church can all live more sacrificially for our wives to give God glory. Yup, this means we might even have to give up fantasy football! We might have to actually be open to discuss having more children. You may have to actually be intentional about reading the bible to your wife (that's a tough one). You may have to address her needs even if you've had a tough day at work. Whatever it is, this season of Thanksgiving should be a good chance for all of us men to consider and weigh just how thankful we are for our wives based on our deeds, not just our words.

God thank you for my beautiful wife....mother of our four children....the woman I love.

Baby is here!

We are so thankful and excited to announce the arrival of James Michael Schmedes into the world. Born November 11, at 2:09am, 7lb 11oz at Mbingo Baptist Hospital. We thank you so much for your prayers. God has given us a precious gift, and we are in awe of His grace and mercy. Baby and mommy are doing very well!

Vanity Fair

Most of us pray, few don't. Some believe in a god, some don't. Some of us are Christians. The vast majority of us will pray in some fashion at some point in our lives. The more time I spend here, the more I'm learning about a certain kind of prayer that the bible speaks of, "For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." This encourages me because I'm finding myself more and more confused how to pray.

I've been reading a book entitled Little Pilgrim's Progress to my children. It's a kid version of Pilgrim's Progress, written in the 1600's about a man named Christian that embarks on an allegorical journey to reach the Celestial City. Along the way, he encounters a city Vanity Fair....

"The Wicked Prince filled the great city with everything that was pleasant and beautiful. It had broad streets and handsome houses, and the stalls in its market were covered with glittering wares. All day long the people were passing busily up and down. They wore fine clothes and spent their whole time in pleasing themselves, and the Wicked Prince took care to give them plenty of things to enjoy so that they might never have a moment to spare in which to think of the King whom they had forsaken."


I have fine clothes and plenty of things. I spend much of my time seeking comfort. I'm accustomed to praying for comfort, to keep everything nice and glittering in my own Vanity Fair. I pray for things to go easily for me. So many things here are broken and many people here are hurting. Today I saw my third patient this week with a cancer so big that it's literally pushing the eyes out of socket, as I'm reminded about the state of brokenness in which most of the world's population lives. I don't know exactly where modern day Vanity Fair may be, but I know that my vantage point has certainly changed.... I find myself constantly praying a simple three-word prayer, "God please help." As I struggle to live here cross-culturally and day after day see my brothers and sisters come to the hospital with dire problems, I simply ask God to somehow help.

I may not know how to pray here, but thankfully the Spirit intercedes for me. I'm changing my prayers of convenience to prayers of desperation. Instead of praying for things to go well, avoiding trials, I'm merely praying for God to be with me.

In typical fashion, I'm including some pics of what we've been up to. Thank you all for your continued support! Here's the fam visiting daddy's clinic.

Hiking around beautiful Mbingo, at the air-strip.

 The kids are loving working in the new garden and playing with daddy.

Surgery at Mbingo

To my surprise, my first patient was not Cameroonian. She was a tiny 13 month old girl from Gabon. She had a bilateral cleft lip and palate, and was born into a country with no surgeon that could help her. Her family brought her to Cameroon on a 2 week visa in hopes of receiving surgical care. This struck me because my own son was born with a congenital condition requiring surgery. I had a host of surgeons to select from, just 15 minutes from my front door. Thankfully, her surgery went well and she's already gone home.

Last week a boy came to the hospital in a large brimmed hat and sunglasses, his face completely hidden. Behind this veil, I discovered an infection in this boy's face that had been ongoing for more than 1 year (ever since he'd undergone a prior surgery). I wasn't quite sure what I could do to help, but we took him to surgery.  I found 2 large pieces of gauze that had been accidentally left inside his sinuses. They had been the cause of the infections and we were able to remove them! This may have been the most minor procedure I've performed during my time here, but turned out to be the most rewarding because I know how much it will help him and I thank God for the opportunity to help him.

On the home front, it's still difficult settling in and adjusting. However, we are finding some time to get out and enjoy this beautiful place. Here are the kids pointing out a small herd of goats.

 Behind us and to the left you can see Mbingo. We've discovered a great way to get the kids to sleep well....take them on a hike up a mountain!

As we continue to live life here, I'm learning about needing the mere presence of God. The thought of being at a place like this without God is overwhelmingly frightening to me. What keeps us going here amongst all the struggles is simply knowing he's by our side. God is teaching me, albeit in a very miniaturized way, what Jesus went through on the cross. It wasn't about his physical pain. Anyone can die on a cross: courageously or cowardly. What Jesus did that nobody else could was to bear our sins, becoming separated from God for the first and only time. While living in the US, I did not truly fear separation from God (even though I should have). In some ways, I convinced myself that I didn't need God. Truly I have found that I need Him in all circumstances, both the mountains and the valleys. Thank you all for your support and prayers!

“Mommy why are you crying?” The small voice took me by surprise. The emotions of the past few weeks had just overtaken me and I couldn’t control the tears.

 “Isaiah,” I replied through the sobs, “shouldn’t you be in bed?”

“Yes, but I’m thirsty.” (A common excuse to delay bedtime in our house)

As I go to get him a glass of water, he asks again, “Why are you crying mommy?”

“Oh mommy is just having a hard time,” I say, hoping that answer would suffice.

“You need Jesus’ Spirit mommy if you’re having a hard time.” he boldly states. (no doubt he has heard that same statement to him many times before.)

I couldn’t help but smile and completely agree, “You are so right son, mommy definitely needs Jesus’ Spirit.”

The past few weeks in Cameroon have probably been the most uncomfortable I ever been and surprisingly it has nothing to do with being 37 weeks pregnant. It has caused me many times to cry out to God, “You’re asking too much Lord, this is too hard.” I can’t even count how many times I’ve told my loving husband, “I want to go home, please take us back home.”

Life here has been difficult and uncomfortable so far. We’ve been battling a roach infestation in our kitchen, ants are uncontrollable here so food has to be in a tight container or ziplocked, and apparently spiders like to lay their eggs in ovens  (which we had an egg hatch last week in our oven and spiders were everywhere). Roaches, and Ants, and Spiders, Oh my!!!

Thankfully these things are temporary, well we pray and hope. Things not temporary and maybe more uncomfortable and hard to see are the tremendous physical needs of the people here. It’s uncomfortable for me to walk with my children on the streets or in the market and to see how much nicer their clothes are compared to the other children. It’s uncomfortable for me to be the rich white family, where I can easily spend more on groceries in a week that is more than most people here make in months. It’s uncomfortable for me to ask the children playing in our yard to go home because it’s time for our children to come in and eat dinner, and I’m unsure if these children will actually have any food for dinner. The lists of feeling uncomfortable could go on.

Again, I cry out, “Lord this too hard. You’re asking to much.”

My flesh just wants to go back to what is comfortable and honestly ignore what I see around me. And maybe I’m not alone. In John 21, Peter has gone back to the comforts of fishing after Jesus’ death and resurrection, unsuccessfully as we see. And Jesus shows up, and not only tells him how to catch an enormous number of fish, but ultimately tells him that his life is no longer his own. That he will shepherd God’s children and die for God’s glory.

So I begin to wrestle with this truth. Is the Lord asking too much? What is He asking for? He is asking for my life. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.” And truthfully I’m having a hard time giving Him my life. So as my 4 year old wisely stated “You need Jesus’ Spirit mommy if you’re having a hard time.” I begin to cry out, “Lord I need you, I need your Spirit.”

Thank you everyone for your texts, emails, and phone calls. Please continue to pray for wisdom for our many ministry opportunities here. Emory has had a small rash on her neck please pray for her healing. And please pray for our new baby boy coming (due on November 7).  I’m so thankful for your encouraging thoughts and prayers.

Church in Cameroon

We went to church today for the first time. The journey included hiking past the market along a muddy road with gorgeous views of the mountains and the valley below. We passed creeks, chickens, small villages and could see a herd of goats atop a tall mountain in front of us. Occasionally motorcycles would pass us on the road, and we arrived 45 minutes later. This wasn't exactly like the 5 minute air conditioned commute we are accustomed to! The church was a small brick building with no roof. There was a large metal structure arched over us to protect from the rain. There were only a few other buildings in site, with a few houses scattered among banana trees and tall grass. A soccer field abutted the entry to the church. The singing was quite beautiful. The service was great. The people were very welcoming.

I decided to write this entry not because I wanted to describe what it's like to go to church in rural Africa. I wanted to share specifically 2 prayers that were prayed and a lesson from the pastor.

We prayed for people afflicted with Ebola. We prayed for ongoing research to offer new treatments.We prayed for protection over Cameroon. The next prayer was for the situation with the Boko Haram. We prayed that the Boko Haram would repent and turn to Christ.

As I sat there, amidst a completely foreign culture, I was taken aback by these prayers. In the US, I must admit I'm sometimes a little detached when I pray for issues far from home. To see and hear this church crying out to God for protection was stunningly powerful.

The pastor preached on 1 John 4:7-12. He had written on the chalk board, "No love. No missions." One point stood out to me, and is the sole reason I'm writing late tonight. He asked, "God loved us so much that it cost his only Son. What does it cost you? You should think carefully if your love isn't costing you much." This is a good time for me to reflect how I truly love people and what it really costs me. The cost is not time, money, prestige, or power. The cost is my life. That's what it means to take up your cross and follow Christ.

First few days

This was our fifth day at Mbingo. We continue to get glimpses into what life is like here. I could write a book with all of my first impressions! Among many things, we've been to the market, had dinner with various missionaries, visited the hospital, and continue to unpack like crazy. Life here seems to be full of extremes, either something is amazing or extremely difficult and challenging. Please continue to pray for our transition here.  Following God here has stretched us beyond what I can describe, yet we know that He is caring for us. Here's a few pictures from our past few days.

 

This first week, the hostel kitchen graciously provided our meals. Toward the end of the week, they made several Cameroonian dishes. This is jama-jama (green) and foo-foo (white). Kelly and I have been quite impressed by our children trying new things. Ada Grace especially liked the jama-jama!

  

The produce here is great! Kelly squeezed 12 oranges to make some delicious homemade OJ.

 

No comment needed here!

 We've been blessed to get to know various missionaries here. This is Courtney, a speech pathologist who has a passion for working with children with deafness, cleft palates, and speech issues. The kids love playing with her.

 We were introduced to this little creature today. In fact, it's called a creechy. They don't bite, but if you smash them, they have a chemical that will cause a second degree burn!

 

It's rainy season here, which is quite nice. It usually just rains in the afternoon, providing some nice cool air. We watch from the mountains down into the valley as the rain and fog peacefully move up to our elevation. This is Kelly venturing out in the rain.

 

An experienced missionary told me over dinner tonight that a man came to the hospital wanting to speak to an administrator about something. He said that he wanted to become a Christian because it was clearly evident that God was working at Mbingo. As I look at this majestic scenery, I can't help but stop and think, "God, your invisible attributes at clearly set before me". Indeed, God is at Mbingo in a big way.

Arrival in Cameroon

 We safely arrived to Mbingo Hospital yesterday! It was quite a trip. Our flight was cancelled 24 hours before we were scheduled to leave. Samaritan's Purse got us a last minute flight and off we went. There were certainly some bumps along the way (literally) but we were very blessed to arrive in Doula about 24 hours after leaving Charleston. Here's a pic of Pastor Russ helping us get our huge amount of luggage checked.

 The kids did great on the flights, including the 13 hour trek from DC to Addis Ababa.

 After arriving in Douala, we went to a guest house to rest and recover for an evening. A friend from here traveled 6 hours from the hospital just to meet us there in the big city. This picture is from the courtyard of the guesthouse. We then took a 6 hour car ride from Douala to Mbingo.

 We received an incredible welcome at Mbingo. We drove up to our new home and were immediately greeted by so many people. We were certianly very encouraged after a very long trip. Someone had even baked us fresh cookies and cinnamon rolls!

 We are spending the rest of the week getting unpacked and settled in. Ada Grace likes to help mommy with the laundry!

Here's the view from our front door. The picture doesn't quite do it justice. There are at least 3-4 waterfalls within view among the crest. These past few days have been a whirlwind, a bit overwhelming, but at the same time.....very good. I attribute that to our mighty God who has gone before us and prepared the work here in advance for us to do. Thank you so much for your prayers for safe travels (we even had all of our bags arrive!)  We look forward to hearing from you, so feel free to call, text or email.

Preparations: Part 2

Well, first things first. We are expecting a baby boy in November! Kelly is doing very well, and we are very excited. We are planning on having the baby at Mbingo. A question I often get is, "Will the baby have dual citizenship?" The answer is no. A lot of the African countries protect their citizenship, and simply being born on Cameroonian soil does not confer citizen status. Anyway, just wanted to deliver the big news!

Another piece of big news in the Schmedes family is that we are officially finished with residency! I was quite blessed to come home to my beautiful family, complete with streamers, party hats, and cake & ice cream! (Blue Bell of course). Writing a blog on my thoughts about completing 5 years of surgical training would take awhile, so I will save that for later.

We've moved on to various other "get ready for Africa" activities like immunizations. As you can see, the kids have done quite well.

Perhaps the toughest family project to date was our crazy big downsizing garage sale. The inside of our home looked like a mini flea market! Ada Grace had fun rummaging around all of our stuff.

I must say, selling our things has shone a new light in my heart regarding idolatry. We often define idolatry as something we place above God. That's certainly true, but what if we value something more than God values it? What if the things I own (which are many) are not used for helping others, showing hospitality, or bringing honor to God? If so, these things become idols. Does something have any value at all if it is not leveraged for God? Even for a short time, if we have and hold something merely for our pleasure or selfish ambition, it is worthless to God. And if something is worthless to God, it is worthless to us.

After the garage sale, the kids were happy to escort me to Salvation Army to donate the rest of our clothes, etc. Yes, I did buckle them in before we left!

And finally.....time to rest. God designed us all to rest. God himself rested after he created the universe. Kelly and I try to remind ourselves of this, as it is often easy to rely on working hard to move on to the next task. In fact, we need rest so we can reflect on what God is doing in our lives and to focus on what we are actually doing: loving God and following Him.

What are we doing?

Some people have been asking what we will be doing when we go to Cameroon. This video speaks to the heart of what we're doing and why we're going.

Preparations: Part 1

As we get ready to move overseas, I find myself going in and out of preparation mode. My mind often begins to plan, and I often find myself thinking "Where do we start?" I can also break up these preparations I would deem as 'practical' (e.g. passports) and 'spiritual' (e.g. studying the bible to prepare my heart and mind). In reality, there really is no separation, as even a trip with 3 kids to go get passports becomes a lesson patience (for the parents) and obedience (for the kids). Everything went well as you can obviously see here :).

This list of the 'practical' continues with shots this week. And this weekend, I turned over a new leaf: selling stuff on the internet. That's right.......15 posts on Craigslist! Time to downsize. Here's Isaiah helping Daddy clean out the 'ole shed.

It's quite common for us to passively accumulate more things as we go on in life. Some of these aren't necessarily bad, but it reminds me that un-intentional living will always lead me away from God. Things can be used to build God's kingdom, and they can lead us away from God. In Luke 3, Jesus sent out his twelve disciples and told them to bring nothing with them, not even food or money. Needless to say, we plan on bringing food and money (and diapers) but Jesus told them this for a reason, so that they would solely rely on God for their provision. As you pray for us, please include this in your prayers: that we would not rely on clothes/food/money in preparation for this journey, but that we would fully rely on God.

Technology

Hopefully you can read this on FB! This is my attempt to automatically link our blog to our FB page. Would appreciate everyone's prayers for our preparations to move overseas to work at a mission hospital in Cameroon.

Where are we going?

We've gotten a request to post some pictures of where we're going. Here are a few. They're from the hospital blog.

This the front of the hospital. Mbingo Baptist Hospital is a teaching hospital in northwest Cameroon. It has Christian training residencies for both general surgery and internal medicine/pediatrics. Gregg will be serving as teaching faculty for the surgery residency, called PAACS (Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons). Check out the following link for an incredible article about PAACS.

Here's a view of the hospital complex. Mbingo is in a fairly rural setting and serves a very large area of people. We'll be living in a home on campus here.

This is a picture of Mbingo at it's beginning. Mbingo started in the 1950's as a leprosy settlement and has expanded rapidly since the 1990's into the hospital it is today.

Finally, for those of you who are trying to picture what we'll be doing, this is a great 5 minute video from World Medical Mission about missionary medicine. We're partnering with WMM through a program they have called the Post Residency Program for the next 2 years.

On being sent

Tonight, Kelly and I had the opportunity to share about heading to Cameroon at our local church. I have to just say that it's an incredible blessing to be sent out by a local group of people fully committed to supporting us with the encouragement, blessings, prayer, finances, and wisdom.

Through this process, God is teaching me the purpose of the Church. He actually commands us to encourage each other. He even goes so far as to command us to rebuke each other when something is amiss, and we're off track with God. I also realize how dependent we are on each other. Serving on the mission field will present many challenges, no doubt, but we are not in this alone. We have so many faithful people helping us. So thank you, James Island Christian! The wisdom and encouragement that you pass on to us will be brought to the mission field and used to further His kingdom and help bless others. In addition, a special thanks to World Medical Mission for their prayers and support in so much of the practical side of getting us to Cameroon.

Bottom line: we are so blessed to be supported by our church, family, and friends and could never do this alone!

Why go?

My son was born with a very serious, life-threatening condition that required major surgery when he was 6 weeks old. I often wonder if I was from a third-world country without access to medical care. If someone showed up from afar, provided a life-saving surgery for my son, and told me "I'm doing this because of God's love for me", how thankful would I be? Many are familiar with the Good Samaritan, who came from a foreign land and helped a man in desperate need. What would it be like to be on the receiving end of a modern-day Good Samaritan?

There are 1.8 billion people living in the world currently who’ve never heard about Jesus. 7.6 million children under 5 years old die each year from preventable disease. As motivating as these numbers seem, our true motivation comes from Christ’s words, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself” Luke 10:27. However, when I contemplate these statistics, I cannot help but realize that since God loves me, I must go and seek these people out to tell them God cares about them.  How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? Romans 10:14-15.

Why has God so graciously blessed us with much? It is not enough to simply be thankful for God’s blessings without a response of obedience. If anyone has their basic needs met already and sees someone else in need, but does not care about him, how can God’s love be in them? God tells us to love not merely with words, but with action. 1 John 3:17-18

The good news is that God has given you everything you need to serve the lost and the hurting! You don’t necessarily have to move to Africa, but you must lose your life for His sake, for that’s the only way to ever save your life. God uses our weaknesses to show His strength. God used people like Moses (who had a problem with public speaking) and David (a small boy who killed a huge warrior). We hope that God’s Word speaks to you. Prayerfully consider: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field,” Luke 10:2-3.