Completely Speechless

 
Have you ever had that moment when you are just going along in your day to day life and then, WHAM! The air is sucked from the room, out of your lungs, and you sit speechless stumbling around for the words to say? This is me Tuesday. And I do not think it is too far a stretch to say that it was for Chris also.

Let me back up just a couple of days for me to lay a foundation for you to be able to understand what makes this moment as astounding as it is. Chris took his boards for Family Medicine on 4/4 and the weeks leading up to that have been stressful for him (and us as we all feel the effects of the ones we love most.) He took is board exam and then the waiting game began to see if he passed. This leaves a certain level of underlying continual unease. We have also been working toward completing many tasks such as taxes, prepping house for sale, and making a schedule to speak at churches to raise support for our time in Cameroon. So, with all of this we have struggled off and on this last month.

This last weekend we looked at the finances, support that has been raised thus far, and determined how much Chris would be able to work starting July. We soon saw that if he works as much as possible we would be able to cover the expenses of his student loan payments while we are in Cameroon. However, that does not cover the kids’ education costs, Visas, insurance, and travel expenses for the kids and I. Chris was expressing his concerns and I was experiencing a huge weight in my chest about the obstacles that are laid out before us. At one point I turned to Chris and said, "Hey, we have not seen the statement for March. Let's just see what it says. Hopefully there will be more support and we can be encouraged to keep moving forward."

So, that brings me to this month’s statement and the moment the air disappeared. Chris called me at work and told me on Tuesday that we received this month’s statement. He told me that we had one person/or group that donated a substantial amount. They were not identified in anyway so that we can send them a thank you or call them. But, let me just say that the amount that was given will allow us to purchase plane tickets for the kids and I, the school fees for the children, and at least 1 round of Visas for the kids and I. At first I did not believe him when he told me I could not fathom what he was telling me. I even had to log into his email to check for myself. I was in AWE. In addition to that we also had additional people who gave financial support that we sent letters to. We are so grateful and humbled by their belief in what we are doing. We are beyond blessed by this, and we cannot say thank you to all of those of you who have given, and those yet to give. We were also once again reminded that God is in control and he takes care of his children.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We covet them most. May God continue to bless you all!

Ashley
"The Will of God will not take you, Where the Grace of God cannot protect you."

Anniversary gift from Chris.

Financial Support Recieved

Hello!! I just wanted to give an update how we are doing this week. We are in the Great Lenten Fast and are blessed to be able to attend evening services at our church. It is a time of prayer and diligence. We welcome the time of reflection.

We received our monthly statement from World Medical Mission of financial supporters. We are so thankful to our friends and family that have been able to give. We appreciate your gift and kindness. It is encouraging to us to know that we are continuing on the path that we believe Christ has set us on.

Please keep us in your prayers. We have many, many, many decisions to make. Below is a copy of the letter that was mailed out to all of those that we had the address for. I know there are more of you that did not receive this letter. Thank you for your time, words of encouragement and support. I pray you have a blessed day.

Ashley, Chris and Family
"The Will of God will not take you where the Grace of God cannot protect you."
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Greetings Friends and Family!

It is with great joy that we enter 2016 as we have many exciting things to share with you about what the Lord has been doing in our lives. I will be taking my family medicine board exams and finishing my residency program in June. As this chapter comes to a close we will be transitioning to a new adventure!

As many of you know Ashley and I felt called by God back in 2004 to begin preparing for medical missionary service. So over the last 12 years we have been training and working in the medical field preparing to fulfill this calling to serve God as medical missionaries. Ashley has completed her training as a licensed practical nurse and served in a variety of settings including pediatric, kidney and infectious disease clinics and I am now a family physician (soon will be board certified) with a broad-scope of training in obstetrics, pediatrics, emergency care, and general medicine with several international experiences that have provided us the valuable skills we will need to serve God through medicine.

We have been accepted by World Medical Mission (WMM), the medical division of Samaritan’s Purse (SP), to participate in the Post-Residency Program (PRP), a program for doctors who are just completing their residency training program and have been called to full time overseas medical mission work. WMM/SP have seen how effective mission hospitals around the world have been in reaching people for Christ. These hospitals are centered on doctors who have dedicated their lives to full time Christian medical mission service. Over the last several years they noticed a problem developing in the mission hospitals, there are fewer and fewer doctors committing to full time service and hospitals around the world have had to close their doors. They found that many young doctors had intentions of going overseas to serve in a mission hospital but have to stay to work and pay off loans before they go and many circumstances prevent them from ever committing to full-time service. So the goal of the PRP is to bridge the gap between residency training and full-time missionary service. WMM will send us to work with an experienced missionary physician at one of several mission hospitals in need that they have partnered with for a two-year term.

We have officially been accepted to come to Mbingo Hospital near Bamenda, Cameroon in Africa. We will be working with Dennis Palmer and his wife Nancy who have spent nearly 35 years there building an academic medical mission training center. It is a 330-bed hospital with a full laboratory, an ICU, a full time pathologist, and high quality internal medicine and surgery residency programs. This is a rare mission hospital. Their hope for us is to consider starting a family medicine training program to take over the obstetrics and ambulatory care services of the hospital. We plan to leave in during the month of November, 2016.

As part of our preparations we have to build a team of partners. We are asking you to become our partner by committing to pray for us regularly. Right now we need prayer support to raise up a team of lifelong supporters, to make good and wise decisions about our belongings (house, cars, and literally everything we own), about what curriculum to use as we learn about home-schooling our children, whether we need to learn French, that our objectives for the next 2 years will become clear and focused, and that God will open doors for us to share the work he is doing through our ministry.

We also ask you to prayerfully consider becoming a financial supporter. WMM will provide us with a modest stipend and financial support for housing, food, and my airfare. However, this will leave a shortfall of nearly $5800/month to pay for our VISA’s, passports, travel expenses, and vaccinations for Ashley and the kids, home schooling curriculum, insurance (health, life, emergency evacuation, and malpractice), maintenance of all our certifications and licenses, and some sort of transportation when we get there. Apparently it costs between $90, 000-100,000 to keep missionary families on the field. We believe we can do it for less. We are asking you to commit to giving $25, $50, $100 or more monthly or giving gifts annually of $100, $250, $1000 or more.The donations are tax deductible and 100% of the funds you donate will be held in an escrow account by WMM/SP for our exclusive use. They do not keep any administration fee. The remaining money not used during the PRP will be transferred to the mission agency we transition to at the end of the two years. Our prayer and hope along with that of WMM is that we will be able to continue full time medical mission work when the two years is complete. In order for this to happen we are asking you to join with us now in service to the Lord. Please let us know how you would like to partner with us. There are two ways to give tax-deductible gifts. Fill out the enclosed form and mail it in to the address on it with a credit card or check made payable to Samaritan’s Purse with Chris and Ashley Gifford in the memo or you can go to www.samaritanspurse.org, select World Medical Mission under the WHAT WE DO tab, then select Support a Missionary, then type in Chris or Ashley Gifford and pay online through their secure website. We are really grateful for this opportunity in our career and are excited to see how God uses us all to further His Kingdom through this ministry!

We have a blog at careinthevalley.blogspot.org where you can follow our journey and/or an email emergent2016@gmail.com where you can contact us about how you want to be involved. Please write and give us your email or mailing address to receive our quarterly newsletters. We are developing a schedule to be able to come and talk to churches about our work and would like to meet with you to discuss this opportunity for you to serve with us in Cameroon. Let us know if your church would like for us to come and share!

May God Continue to Bless You and Keep You,

The Gifford’s

Chris, Ashley, Micah, & Micaja

Home Safe and Sound

Chris made it home last night at 7p.  He was extremely tired after traveling for 30+ hours to make it back to us.  We fed him Mexican food, had him take a long hot shower, and climb in bed. (He said, "You have no idea how nice it is to get to shower for as long as I wanted." We all passed out shortly after that and are back to work and school today. Chris will be working in his clinic the next 3 days and then a 24 hour shift at the hospital on Saturday.  You know what they say!? There is no rest for the weary.

We were all so tired and drained by the time that we collected him that we did not get to discuss a lot, but just sitting together during the drive was a peaceful and welcomed time.  While heading home from dinner Chris sat passed out and was unresponsive to us talking, turning lights on, kids giggling, and even pictures with flashes. 

He had a wonderful time and is full of information that we were not even able to scratch the surface of. We will update you all again soon! Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we work toward our move to Cameroon.

In Christ,
Ashley and Family
"The will of God will not take you where the grace of God cannot protect you."

Chris Week 3

The last 2.5 weeks have been long and educational for all of us in the Gifford family.  This is the first time that having Chris out of the country has been challenging for me at home and for the kids.  I know that it is because we are all emotional with what it means for him to be there. Though we all know that moving forward to life in Cameroon is where we are called to go at this time there is a certain amount of strain that it is causing emotionally and mentally.  Many prayers are being said are a welcomed in this area.  

Chris has seen many patients that are so sick and in need of care that we here in the USA we cannot not fathom the type of disease and suffering the Cameroonians are experiencing. He had a patient the other day that came to the hospital with lab values that you would make you assume that the man would be dead.  Of course he was incredibly sick, but still alive! There has been times when Chris has felt helpless in how to care for the people at Mbingo Hospital because there is just not enough resources to possibly cure or treat them effectively.  But on a side note he has been able to provide care to others who became well and were able to return to their life.

The kids and I have been here just sort of gliding along.  I have been going through cabinets and sorting stuff into trash/garage sale/and keep piles.  I am sure I will have to do this again like 3 more times and whittle away at our things to keep only what we really need.  This is emotional and challenging.  To sit and go through 3 years of build up and in some cases 14 years of build up because we have just packed it and moved to the next house.  

Micah and Caj are doing well. They still are not completely sure about moving and what that will look and feel like, but Chris has been able to send pictures and that seems to have helped.

Micah has one of the major parts in his play at school and has been practicing his lines and songs.  We are excited to see him as Tom Sawyer.

Micaja chipped her tooth and had to have that repaired. She is fine and did not have any pain.



Chris will be back on the evening of 3/1.  We are looking forward to seeing him and towards taking the next steps for preparation for our move.

Update on Chris in Cameroon Feb 2016

We been able to speak with Chris a couple of times.  He traveled for around 36 hours before he actually arrived at Mbingo hospital.  He spent a couple of days getting acclimated to the area and spending time with some of the missionaries that are there.  On Sunday they had a Super Bowl party.  (He of course had already experienced the game on the actual night it aired, but enjoyed the fellowship with the people there.) 

He was able to work in the outpatient clinic for yesterday and did some rounding in the hospital.  At this point he is just taking it all in.  He is seeking to understand where he fits and what will be his main area of focus while we are in Cameroon. It is only day 3 in the hospital so I told him not to worry.  It will all pan out.

Chris says that the area is beautiful.  The hospital is in the Valley of the mountains. The landscape is a little brown right now due to it not being the rainy season, but there is fresh produce available all the time. He was able to have some tacos yesterday with fresh avocados, tomatoes, and lettuce.  (That totally made his day.)  If he can have Mexican food Chris can live anywhere.

Please pray for Chris's time in Cameroon continues to be informative, safe, and enjoyable.   We thank you for your support and cannot express how much it means to us.  I will update again when I know more. Have a great day!

With Chris being away from us for this time it brings me constantly back to remembering our families motto: The Will of God will not take you where the Grace of God cannot protect you. 

Chris is in Cameroon!!

Chris left yesterday morning and jetted off to Cameroon. He is going to be there for 20 days!!  We are so blessed that he was alloted the opportunity to go there as one of his elective rotations for his residency program. 

Earlier today He sent the kids and I a message letting us know that he arrived in Douala at 2p. The next leg was 5 hours by car the Mbingo hospital.  There is not much more at this point , but I will keep you posted on how he is doing and what we learn.  Please pay for his continued safety.