We began as a team of thirteen.
Four dentists, two dental assistants, two pharmacists, a pharmacy tech, a pastor, a pastor's wife, and two other adventurous women. Just ordinary people blessed with an extraordinary opportunity to travel to Sub-Saharan Western Africa. Some of us knew each other long before Africa, but most of us met in the few months leading up to the trip. Others literally met at the airport for the first time.
We went to serve, love, and pull a LOT of teeth. Five days of dental clinic. Over three hundred patients and somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand tooth extractions. But the real story is not about who we are or what we did...
She left before sunrise and walked from the border of Benin, a neighboring country. She heard something on the radio that gave her hope. Hope that she might find relief from pain that she had been suffering from for far too long. She arrived only to find that her infection was too severe for immediate treatment and that she needed to take antibiotics for a few days. She started the long journey home, pills in hand. But she still had hope, a hope that brought her back two days later. She sat bravely in a homemade chair and watched as strange-looking people used scary-looking instruments to remove the source of her pain.
He woke up every day for fifteen years thinking this is how life would be. Barely able to open his mouth due to the abscess that was growing steadily, now almost breaking through his swollen cheek. Day in and day out, he endured the stares and whispers from those who passed by. His gaze turned downward, he shuffled across the red dirt, making his way to the crowd of people who waited. And he waited. All day. At last, it was his turn. He endured an hour of intense treatment, and slowly but surely, he felt change. Change that allowed him to open his mouth for the first time in fifteen years, giving him hope for a new life.
She is five years old. Or maybe four. Without a birth certificate or a single birthday celebration, she can't be sure. Her father now gone, her mother running away soon after, she is left with her grandmother, who worships the thunder god. If she stays here long she, too, will be marked. A sharp knife to each cheek will forever scar her face and claim her soul as a sacrifice to this idol god. But somehow, she is given another hope. A chance to live with a family who will feed her. A family who will braid her hair and clothe her. She will go to school and have a chance to learn things, things like math and reading and about a God who loves her. A God who won't scar her face, but who instead took scars upon Himself to save her.
Those are the real stories worthy of being told. The people in Togo, Africa- just like the people in the U.S. and all around the world- want to hope in something greater than their circumstances. And the moment we begin to think that the story is about us and how we helped them is the moment we lose sight of the only One who gives hope. God didn't need our team of thirteen to travel around the world to pull that woman's tooth, relieve that man's abscess, or provide financial support so the orphaned girl could attend school. But the cool part is this: He is a God of relationships, and He chooses to use us to share hope with others. By meeting physical needs, opening doors to conversation, and building relationships, the reason for this hope is shared, and lives are forever changed...lives, including our own.
We left as a team of thirteen....we returned as a team of HOPE.
Here's to hoping,
-L
Four dentists, two dental assistants, two pharmacists, a pharmacy tech, a pastor, a pastor's wife, and two other adventurous women. Just ordinary people blessed with an extraordinary opportunity to travel to Sub-Saharan Western Africa. Some of us knew each other long before Africa, but most of us met in the few months leading up to the trip. Others literally met at the airport for the first time.
We went to serve, love, and pull a LOT of teeth. Five days of dental clinic. Over three hundred patients and somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand tooth extractions. But the real story is not about who we are or what we did...
She left before sunrise and walked from the border of Benin, a neighboring country. She heard something on the radio that gave her hope. Hope that she might find relief from pain that she had been suffering from for far too long. She arrived only to find that her infection was too severe for immediate treatment and that she needed to take antibiotics for a few days. She started the long journey home, pills in hand. But she still had hope, a hope that brought her back two days later. She sat bravely in a homemade chair and watched as strange-looking people used scary-looking instruments to remove the source of her pain.
He woke up every day for fifteen years thinking this is how life would be. Barely able to open his mouth due to the abscess that was growing steadily, now almost breaking through his swollen cheek. Day in and day out, he endured the stares and whispers from those who passed by. His gaze turned downward, he shuffled across the red dirt, making his way to the crowd of people who waited. And he waited. All day. At last, it was his turn. He endured an hour of intense treatment, and slowly but surely, he felt change. Change that allowed him to open his mouth for the first time in fifteen years, giving him hope for a new life.
She is five years old. Or maybe four. Without a birth certificate or a single birthday celebration, she can't be sure. Her father now gone, her mother running away soon after, she is left with her grandmother, who worships the thunder god. If she stays here long she, too, will be marked. A sharp knife to each cheek will forever scar her face and claim her soul as a sacrifice to this idol god. But somehow, she is given another hope. A chance to live with a family who will feed her. A family who will braid her hair and clothe her. She will go to school and have a chance to learn things, things like math and reading and about a God who loves her. A God who won't scar her face, but who instead took scars upon Himself to save her.
Those are the real stories worthy of being told. The people in Togo, Africa- just like the people in the U.S. and all around the world- want to hope in something greater than their circumstances. And the moment we begin to think that the story is about us and how we helped them is the moment we lose sight of the only One who gives hope. God didn't need our team of thirteen to travel around the world to pull that woman's tooth, relieve that man's abscess, or provide financial support so the orphaned girl could attend school. But the cool part is this: He is a God of relationships, and He chooses to use us to share hope with others. By meeting physical needs, opening doors to conversation, and building relationships, the reason for this hope is shared, and lives are forever changed...lives, including our own.
We left as a team of thirteen....we returned as a team of HOPE.
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| Man with abscess |
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| Orphaned school girl |
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| Facial scars symbolize different idol gods |
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| Team of Hope |
Here's to hoping,
-L
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