Mission Trip to Sierra Leone and Liberia. Rev. Patrick R. Novak D/Min, P.H.D., Senior Pastor of Church of the Valley in Santa Clara, California discusses the church’s mission trip.

Pastor Patrick Novak introduces Marilyn Kibambe and Paige Takemoto, who offer testimony on the D.O.N.E. (“Discipling Our Nations Effectively”) mission trip to Africa.

From Church of the Valley in Santa Clara CA, Paige Takemoto shares the details of her church mission trip to Africa and how it has changed her life and outlook on the world, as well as her relationship with the Lord.

Learn more about Discipling Our Nations Effectively at doneinc.org

On Wednesday January 21, 2009 Bishop Patrick Novak arrived in Freetown along with Marilyn,

Claudia and Paige to begin a two-day intensive seminar for leaders of the ministry using the First Principles Series. The following day the seminar got on the way with about 35 people in attendance. 25 came from the Leadership of  DONE and 10 came from the leadership of the Word of Faith Ministries. The Seminar began at 10am and ended by 4:30pm.
The Team Visit Word Of Faith Ministries

At about 5pm the team, accompany by five members of DONE Sierra Leone Leadership took off to visit Meshack, the Pastor and Overseer of the Word of Faith Ministries. Upon our arrival we were received by the Leadership of The Word of Faith Ministries Pastor Meshack and taken on a tour of the facilities. At the end of the tour an evening service was started with about 300 people in attendance.

We were welcome by the Pastor and General Overseer of the Ministry who spoke highly of looking forward to networking with DONE Ministries. Rev. Browne thanked the Pastor for the warm reception and stressed the need for churches to network in areas of common interest. Rev. Browne indicated that DONE Ministries was open and looks forward to work with the Word of Faith Ministries. Rev. Browne than introduced the member of the team including the local leadership that had accompanied him. During the Service Bishop Novak received word for a lady in the congregation who was suffering from severe pain in her abdomen. The lady showed up immediately. Bishop Novak prayed her for her and she was healed instantly.

The second day of the seminar did not hold as scheduled. Rev. Browne canceled it in consultation with Bishop Novak. There were too many activities to cover with less time. Since it was agreed that Rev. Browne would remain in Freetown for an additional month to continue the training he suggested that the team traveled to Kono and Bo waterside to see and get a first hand account of the work started by Pastor Michael Arona and Pastor George Cole. This was accepted but due to time the team could not visit Bo and Kono at the same time. Therefore it was agreed that the team visit Kono. When the team disembarked from their Monrovia flight, immediately they began their journey to Kono in a four wheel runner jeep. The journey took the team 16 hours to and fro Kono on a rocky and dusty road. In Kono the team spend the night at the Methodist Guest House. The next morning the team was led to the center where a service was held in honor of the team. Gifts produced by the center were presented to the team. Later the team was taken on a tour of the center by its Director who is  the assistant pastor to Michael Arona. The team departed Kona at 12noon, arrived at the airport at 9:30pm just on time to checked in and departed Freetown.

More tomorrow on the trip to Liberia with Bishop Dr. Novak…..

http://obispo.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/02/bishop-dr-pat-novak-visits-freetown-and-liberia.html

Learn more about Discipling Our Nations Effectively at doneinc.org

Summer offers faculty special opportunities

Doug Gross listens to the heartbeat of a young patient from the Ivory Coast’s Fulu Tribe, Many in the tribe had never seen metal before, much less a stethoscope. Courtesy photo

When Doug Gross got back from a three-week trip abroad earlier this summer, his family took him camping. It wasn’t the anatomy lecturer and medical center pediatrician’s dream vacation.

After all, he had just spent three weeks in the West African bush, providing medical care to residents in the primitive, isolated villages there.

The conditions were crude, but the experience worth it, Gross said.

He returned from his third West African trip with more knowledge about treating tropical diseases, confidence in his ability to make diagnoses without sophisticated lab work, and a renewed understanding of why he’s a doctor. “People are amazingly appreciative. It’s medicine at its purest,” Gross said. “I don’t write charts. I don’t deal with insurance. I treat patients.”

Across campus, many faculty members spent their summer traveling, but like Gross, most weren’t relaxing in luxurious accommodations. They were spending summers of research and service in venues as diverse as south central Los Angeles and southeastern China.

They added to their own expertise and brought back valuable knowledge and experiences for their students to draw on, said Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw.

“Our UC Davis faculty are passionate about learning and research, so summer research opportunities provide a great opportunity for them to pursue their scholarship and also engage with the broader community,” she said.

Today, in the first of a two-part series, Dateline presents the summer research stories of two campus faculty members.

Doug Gross

Four years ago medical school lecturer Doug Gross talked with new medical student Jennifer Bottomly about an African missionary organization her church supported. One focus of the group – providing health care to rural villages in the western part of the continent – intrigued him, but he couldn’t have predicted he’d soon end up a leader of the organization.

But in July, for the third summer in a row, the pediatric specialist spent three weeks in Africa holding clinics and offering many patients their first-ever doctor’s exam. And with the help of Gross’ recent fund-raising efforts, the group, Liberia-based Discipling Our Nations Effectively was able to purchase a medical clinic building in Senegal. There, Gross plans to train villagers from all over West Africa in primary care.

Before finding DONE, Gross said he’d tried to connect with other medical missionary groups visiting Africa, but their application processes seemed too bureaucratic. DONE, however, wanted to Gross to participate and quickly.

“DONE wanted someone with an interest in mission work, health care work and teaching,” Gross said. Within three months he was in Africa.

For the first three summers Gross volunteered for the organization, he was its only doctor or nurse. This year he was accompanied to villages in Sierra Leone, Gambia and Senegal by Cheryl Adams, a Sacramento nurse.

There was plenty of work for them in the tribal villages, which are usually at least a day’s trip away from the nearest government medical centers. Gross and Adams, working out of a tennis bag of supplies, tended to men, women and children well into the evening.

“Many of the conditions we see are similar to what I see in the U.S., but they are much more serious because of the total neglect of any simple treatments,” Gross said.

Despite mango groves nearby, many villagers eat little fruit – or vegetables or meat – and suffer malnutrition. Diarrhea is common, as are tropical diseases like malaria. And simple insect bites become ulcerated sores when treated with the traditional balm of goat dung.

“Their few health practices are often based on spiritual belief or the practices of maribouts (witch doctors) whose treatments…often make things worse,” he said.

Increasingly Gross’ work is focused on getting villagers regular health care. His visits help people who are sick at the time, he said. “But what they really need is education about prevention, nutrition and simple primary care treatments.”

Gross and other DONE leaders are now working on a curriculum and hiring staff for the Senegal clinic. After training there, students would return to their villages to treat patients in their community.

Ultimately, Gross would like UC Davis medical residents and students interested in a tropical medicine elective to help out with the program.

Dateline UC Davis is the faculty and staff newspaper for the University of California, Davis.

http://www.dateline.ucdavis.edu/092002/dl_summer.html

Learn more about Discipling Our Nations Effectively at doneinc.org

Dakar, Senegal

The week long seminar and revival services brought together over 150 participants from a cross session of Bible Believing Churches in Dakar and its surroundings.During the revival services many were blessed. 19 persons confessed receiving instant healing from several body pain, while 7 received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 9 Muslims and 2 animist accepted Jesus Christ as Lord in their lives.

Learn more about Discipling Our Nations Effectively at doneinc.org

Our strategy has focused on door-to-door evangelization campaign twice a week. During this time we had the opportunity of sharing the word of God with several people who never heard of the Lord. Among these people, was a Fulani who after hearing the word became a follower of Jesus.

We met a woman who could not walk for eight months. We prayed for her and God performed a miracle in her life. The following Sunday she walked to church and spent the day with us leaving on Monday.

We had a meeting: the church and the villagers, on March 2, 2006. The objective is to build a partnership and share the word of God. This meeting will be with the village chief, the mayor, the school Director, and other people, around twenty. It is truly my hope and desire that with prayers and through the power of the Holy Spirit our man of peace will be found and developed in this area and will help us break new ground in the surrounding area.

Learn more about Discipling Our Nations Effectively at doneinc.org