***Please note: to protect the evangelistic work and the Christian believers in this people group, we will not be able to share names of the people we encountered during our medical missions trip to Guinea. We will use initials. Believers live in persecution, often from their own family if they convert from Islam to Christianity. ***
God moved powerfully during our time in Guinea in February 2023. Here are just a few stories of answered prayer during our stay there.
Answered Prayer For Housing
In December, I was made aware that there was no hotel within 2 hours of community “K”. I asked God how would the Americans be comfortable? Our host said he would ask the mayor for a place for us to stay. I prayed for an indoor toilet. The team prayed and within one week I was notified that a man who owned a water company had a newly built home where he never stayed. It was available for us. It had 3 large bedrooms, 3 bathrooms with running water, electric and area for our team to relax, eat meals, worship, pray and read the Bible together. This was a modern home in the middle of nowhere!
Travel Needs Met
In June 2022, I had reached out to Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) as we had flown with them in other countries. The travel by road to community “K” would be very long and arduous for an American team. MAF assured me that they could fly us to city “L” and then we would travel 2 hours by rough road in 4WD vehicles.
On January 10, MAF Guinea informed me that they were still in the process of obtaining government permissions to fly and without it, we couldn’t travel. In addition, they stated that they could fly us to city “L” on Feb 6. However, we were informed that they could not do the return on Feb 11 as they had no pilot. We didn’t want to cut the medical outreach short, so our team prayed for government permissions and for a pilot.
On January 13, I was made aware that the government permissions were approved, and they found a pilot to fly us; this person was so committed to helping our team that he actually traveled to Guinea from Uganda for these flights!
On February 1, just days prior to our trip I was notified by MAF Guinea that their plane was grounded due to a customs issue.
On February 3 (one day before our trip), the MAF Country Director had a meeting with the Customs Director to ask for temporary flight permissions for February. MAF Guinea referred me to another airline company that mostly did flights for miners. The cost was $4995 USD for one plane each way and it could not hold our entire team. Hundreds of people started praying!
Finally, we saw our prayers answered and MAF received the temporary permission. We were the 1st passengers flying with MAF Guinea.
Our USA team arrived in Conakry airport on Feb 5 and were welcomed by leaders of immigration and customs. It was a VERY smooth process at the airport. None of our luggage was opened or inspected, which was fortunate as that could delay us.
We went to a very nice guest house for the night. Late the next morning we went back to the airport for our flight to “L” with MAF, where government leaders were waiting to greet the flight.
“L” usually only has 3 flights at their airport per month. We traveled by rough road from “L” to community “K.”
We continued to pray for MAF full approval for all future flights. They received their full approval on February 15.
An Unexpected Volunteer & Opportunities to Share the Gospel!
The American team arrived in “K” in the late afternoon on Feb 6 and our medical supplies traveled by road with pastors from our host’s church along with others to cook our meals-Victoria and Dian. Several interpreters also traveled by road from Conakry. In order to host this outreach, the Ministry of Health of Guinea required that Dr. S, one of their staff, serve alongside of us.
We were prayerful that he would not show up as a Muslim during the medical outreach. He brought with him another Muslim MD, Dr. B, and 2 Christian Guinea eye doctors traveled along with them. These doctors were very humble and a pleasure to work with. We continue to pray that Dr. S and Dr. B come to have a personal relationship with Christ.
During our first night in “K”, the spokesperson (known as the “superfect”) of the “K” people group came to our lodging to welcome our team. He was present and walking around each day during the medical outreach.
During our international flight I prayed that every person who heard the gospel would accept Christ. I asked God to heal deep religious wounds, emotional abuse, poor self-esteem, shame, and fear. I asked for healing of infections, malaria, ringworm, wounds, deafness and blindness. I stated that I stood on the word of God and His promises! I know my fellow team members and thousands of others were praying the same.
We were able to bring 84 solar audio Bibles with micro-SD cards so they could hear the gospel message in their language.
Each morning, we enjoyed Bible study, prayer and worship together. Some mornings we divided up and prayed for one other person. We enjoyed delicious meals and enjoyed fresh goat one evening.
On the morning of the medical outreach, we were short one translator for me. A man, age 55 (same age as me), came to the medical outreach for care. He was Muslim and spoke English. I “hired” Mr. D on the spot. Little did he know I would ask him to help me 4 days in a row. His wife had left him because he was poor and was now married to his uncle. I started sharing the gospel with him on the first day. He watched me pray for people that were deaf, people with large wounds, and for women that were unable to get pregnant.
Mr. D traveled long distances to serve with us and was very attentive to whatever I needed help with including packaging medication in our pharmacy. On the last day when a woman presented with complaint of unable to get pregnant, Mr. D asked me right away to pray with her. He didn’t accept Christ during our time there but stated he was open to it. He was given a New Testament Bible in his language and said he would read it. On Tuesday we served in village “M” Our host, Pastor Wilmont, shared the gospel openly via microphone prior to the start of the outreach. We treated 389 patients. One person accepted Christ, and three others were interested when they came to meet with Pastor Wilmont one-on-one. That evening, one previous convert came to our lodging. Team members Rosemary and Kim met with him along with Pastor Wilmont for a time of encouragement and prayer.
