Update #5

Another update from Mr. Steve...video link below.

Hello Everyone,
We have completed the last medical mission for the 2011 year.
It was another Very GOOD day,  we had a very large setup to work
with.  We got another visit from the local TV Station to do interviews. It broadcasted on the local nightly news in American Samoa. 

We saw about 350-400 people today.  A very Busy day!  Everything went very well the teams energy lasted.  A lot of us are fighting chest & head colds. I have a few praise reports from the prayer team for you. The first one, I have a video for you to link to. Its is about a man that could not walk on his foot because of a big broke bone or a bone spur or  boil or something. Nurse Lynn did the medical examination and said it was solid.  But after prayer, the foot’s tender spot that was stopping him from walking on it, went down and didn’t hurt anymore.

Enjoy the video:
http://medicalmissions-samoa.com/movie/happy_feet.wmv 

Praise Yee The LORD!
We will be traveling late Thursday night and then arriving in Hawaii and doing customs and resting in Hawaii some and then jumping on the planes to travel the rest of the way home.

Enjoy the video.
stephen

Update #4

From Mr. Steve:

"Hello Everyone, (Our Prayer Warriors!)

We traveled from W.Samoa safely in the small planes, the luggage came in late.(all but 4, the team
is dealing well without out having a few luggage's.)  we are planning on getting them early tomorrow morning.

We went directly to the east side of the Island(Laulii), pastor pele wanted to do a prayer walk.
the village was about 1 mile long, and then at every house, pray for them.  so that's what we did.
enjoy the picture.  we also stopped at the houses and told them about the medical mission.


The next day, we had the medical mission (#4) and it started raining about 2am and was pouringdown, at breakfast, a few of us was praying for it to stop, (poor down your love, part the clouds and
show your goodness) - by 9am (startup of the mission) it stopped raining and the clouds started to
part and the sun was coming down on top of us.  later, the clouds totally cleared.
Please understand, they do not travel in the cars as we do, they travel by walking or
buy a truck that is converted into a bus.  Rain stops most movement.
with No Rain,  enjoy the bus picture.
about 11am Nurse Lynn came to me as asked, could she give / assign away our one wheel chair to
this mother who has been carrying her child around all the time.  the diagnosis was a bad birth and the
baby should have been done by C-section.  the young girl could not even hold her head up.
I agreed to give our one wheel chair to this mother.  I went to open it up with my pocket knife,
and it was a "CHILDS" wheelchair.  now, let me take you back in history somewhat.
pastor pele and i got 6 wheel chairs together and packed them up for the trip over here.
we told the shipping people to forwarded the medical supplies to W.Samoa "just send 4 to w.samoa and 2 for A.samoa"... THIS IS MY GOD!, us having 1 child wheel chair and it making it to the correct village for that little girl!
i've seen that happen time and time again.  but it just amazes me each time HE does.
we saw about 150-200 people."

Please pray for our final mission today - it will be a large village, and we want them to have soft hearts for Christ.  Also please pray for the team's health: I and some others are starting to get sick, and the whole team is getting worn down.

Thank you again for your interest in the mission! 

Prayer walk

Girl in need of wheelchair

Wheel chair God provided!

Update #3

Performing triage

Giving away one of the walkers

Hello again from Samoa!

I am thoroughly enjoying this opportunity to serve.  So far, I have given away three wheel chairs, about eight walkers, wrapped a dozen knees and about two dozen ankles, wrapped one shoulder, casted one boy's leg, and prescribed exercises for most of those and about half a dozen other cases.

Please continue to pray for health for our team members as folks are starting to get worn down.  Also, praise the Lord for something really awesome that happened!  A team member left her passport and other items in a taxi.  When we were finally able to reconnect with the driver to retrieve the lost items, we praised God and were able to tell the driver about Jesus...and he accepted Christ on the spot in the parking lot!

Thank you again for your prayers and for supporting this mission.  We have two villages left; the first three were in Western Samoa and these last two will be in American Samoa.  God is doing some incredible things here - thank you for being a part of His work!

Update #2

An excerpt from Mr. Steve:

"Today we had passing rain showers all day but the people stilled came.  We put a big tarp between the meeting hall and our truck.  That way the people could stay dry
while waiting for their turn.  We had a much smaller building today but it went very
smooth.   Our translators are from the local bible college, we have been blessed to have them with us.  We saw 200-300 people today.   We have had a few hard medical cases today, but we were able to make the correct connections with the government and get the  treatment lined up.  We gave away 2 wheel chairs and many quad canes today.  The Man was so happy about the wheel chair, his family was just praising the LORD loudly and he was crying.  They had no idea we had wheel chairs."

 It is an amazing feeling to be doing God's work and serving the needy and destitute - thank you for your continued prayers...He is moving in awesome ways and many are coming to Christ.



Doing triage...Taryn from Have Kitchen, Will Feed at right



First update 7/25

Trip going well so far...leaving Hawaii today for American Samoa.  Please pray for safe travel, and particularly that all luggage and medical supplies go through customs without a hitch.

Here are some photos from this weekend:

Convoy of Hope homeless outreach

Prayer tower worship service

For a video of singing at the worship service, follow this link.  (You will need Windows Media Player.)

Thanks for your prayers and support!

Just a few days left!

Only 3 days left!!!

First off, a huge thank you to everyone who has given so generously to support this trip.  I am deeply grateful and cannot wait to share details of my experiences with you upon my return.

As my departure on Friday draws nearer, I can't wait for this chance to bring medical care and the Gospel to the people of Samoa.  I anticipate sharing excellent fellowship with the rest of the mission team, gaining experience with a wide variety of medical conditions, and - perhaps more than anything else - seeing the looks on people's faces when we give them the attention they need.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Introductions

Hello -

Thank you for your interest in Samoa Medical Missions!

This year marks my second opportunity to go and serve alongside an extremely dedicated group of men and women. 

Mission of Hope Ministries works through local island churches to bring the message of the Gospel and medical aid to the people of Samoa.

Me, excising an abscess

James 2:15-16(NIV)
15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and
     daily food.
16 If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well;
     keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about
     his physical needs, what good is it?



On the left in the blue "lava lava"

 Please consider joining the team. We can use medical and non-medical volunteers alike (some work with the Samoan children through VBS type programs). 

If you can't join the team but would still like to be involved, you can help by donating to offset the costs.  You can donate to individual team members, (use PayPal button on the right) as we all pay our own way, or you can donate directly to Mission of Hope. We try to cover all costs of the trip so that there is less financial burden  placed on the local Samoan churches. 
 

Performing triage

 For further details about the trip (including a list of needed supplies) stop by Taryn's Samoa page on Have Kitchen, Will Feed.