Dear Friends and Family,

So what does the US, Cananda and Malaysia all have in common? Well I’m sure there are a lot of things in common, but for us, these were the countries represented by the recent Mediquest team we hosted just over a week ago. It was a privilege and joy to be able to share our lives for a week in Magambua with Andrew, Drew, Hannah, Rachel and Yuwan.

The team is being led by Dr. Bruce and Kate Dahlman, and is a month of travel in East Africa filled with discipleship, Bible study, journaling, book reviews, and medical exposure in the context of medical missions. AIM Mediquest participants are typically either health professionals or health profession students looking to get a taste of medical missions, and see how medicine and the gospel go hand in hand in various outreach and cross-cultural settings. Our place was the first stop on their itinerary.

Melissa was, as always, the ‘hostess with the mostest’! They had Tanzanian cuisine for lunches, and American fare for the other meals, but we forgot to get Yuwan to cook us some Malaysian food, darn!

Here are some of the things they were able to see/experience during their time with us: shadowing Dr. Jon, clinic devotions, praying with patients, seeing malaria and other ‘wadudu’ (bugs) in the lab, pre-natal visits and labor management with Margaret, a delivery, a mobile MCH clinic, a local government dispensary, and cerebral malaria treatment. Dr. Bruce also led them in their team devotions and the Bible study they were doing.

But it wasn’t all super serious stuff, they were also a really fun bunch to hang out with, Dr. Bruce included! Our short-termer Emma very much enjoyed hanging out with some young adults her age. They played with the local church camp kids, went to the local market, saw bush babies leaping in the trees, went on a hike, climbed some trees themselves, heard a lecture from the local snake expert (Melissa), and (by request from our Rachel) played flashlight hide and seek!

When we talked to our Josh on the phone, who’s at school in Kenya, he said “Why do you guys always get the fun teams when Drew and I are away!”

We felt blessed to be able to get to know and to have a small impact on this neat group of young people, who are part of the next generation of Christian medical professionals. Their heart for the Lord was very evident, and I’m sure He will use them all in great ways according to His calling and purpose for them!

Yours in Christ,

Jon for all of us