Dr. Beyda, the director of our Medical Mercy program, and a team of 13 are traveling to Ethiopia tomorrow. They've been notified of some potential issues before their arrival. Please join us in praying for this situation. Dr. Beyda writes the following:

Just when you think it’s all done and ready, a glitch comes out of nowhere. About 17 hours before a valiant Medical Mercy team is to leave for Ethiopia, we’ve got issues:

• We are told that we now need “business visas” which can take as long as 3 months to get. We’ve never had to do this before. Tourist visas work out fine.
• The almost 1000 pounds of medicines and supplies that we have will be scrutinized by Ethiopian customs and may not make it through.

But we’re going anyway. We have all the required documents, contacts, etc.: letters to and from the Ministry of Health giving us approval to bring it all, and letters to and from customs officials who know we are coming and have pre-approved us.

We also have a picture of the team from 2 years ago with the President of Ethiopia when we were invited to visit with him. Our country director thought that would pull some weight. (We’ll see. I wasn’t smiling in the picture, my eyes were closed, and I had a bad hair day with 2 of my 3 hair follicles out of place.)

These are small issues, annoying, unexpected, and irritating. We’re not closing our eyes and hoping they’ll go away by themselves. We’re just realistic in that we know that there is nothing we can do about them now, so we’ll go and see how it plays out.

But if we do make it, it will be glorious! We are going to complete the second part of the health care worker (HCW) training program; this trip will be a week of clinical training. 11 HCWs will be with us, examining patients with us, working in pharmacy, and running the whole medical clinic by the end of the week. They’ll then be responsible for the care of the Mission of Mercy children in the villages and communities where they live. They are the sustainable medical care after we leave – continued medical care that is ongoing, preventing diseases to progress before they become unmanageable. Medical Mercy is committed to that vision.

We’ll be working in two small, isolated regions of Ethiopia: Zeway and Weliso. Small communities that are extremely poor – malnourishment is rampant, and illness prevails.

Be with us (Bryan, Kelly, Elizabeth, Melissa, Amanda, Vic, Chris, Rhonda, Cheryl, Anne, Sue, and Heather) as we go to Ethiopia. I’ll be blogging every night and posting as internet service permits or from my phone if that works, tweeting, and facebooking. Some of the team will be doing all that as well.

I’m curious to see how things go, aren’t you? Do we get in, do all our meds pass through customs, and do we make it to the clinics? (Kind of like a “teaser” just before a TV show goes to commercial.) I say yes. Why? Because there is no greater God that than the one we serve, and He will make it so.

In all things give thanks,

David Beyda

Dr. Beyda is right –we serve a big God who is not limited by bureaucracy and is not bound by rumors. Please join us in praying for peace as the team travels. Let's pray them through the visa process and through customs. Let's pray each and every pound of their supplies is released. Let's pray them to Zeway and Weliso. Let's bind up any obstacle in Jesus' name. They are traveling to minister to God's children, and God will go before and behind them. Amen and amen!  

We will post any updates from Dr. Beyda here on our blog and on Facebook. Thank you for praying with us!