Peters Family: New Hope Clinic

Oh beautiful, wild AFRICA!!
In March Heath and I had the amazing opportunity to serve in Africa for 17 days. The experience is hard to put into words and I am afraid the pictures won't do it justice either. Regardless we wanted to share a little of our trip. Hope you enjoy!

We took a little plane from Conakre' to N'zao, Guinea
It felt like we were landing in the jungle! Then all the sudden
right before we landed a little dirt runway appeared!

This was the airport

Our team was Brian, Sandy,Josh, Jordan, Luke, and Sara Stull
Gale, Debbie, Kelly, Brandon, and Shala Shoup
Nick and Mareena Coffman
MaryJo Markley
and Heath and I

This is the house that was the purpose of our trip.
It is inside the compound of Hope clinic and will house
the new Doctor and his family that will be serving.
They are from Holland and we have heard since they
are expecting their second child. They arrived several
days before we left. Very nice family! Yes, we were still
working on the house when they arrived, but it all
worked out . They were very thankful, and actually
commented that the house was to big.

This is how they press their clothes

For some reason the paint had huge chunks in
it that had to be mushed up before we painted

This is the bakery. It was yummy if you didn't think
about the chickens you chased off of it before you bought it

Fresh peanutbutter!

We had African dresses made for $6-$12 a dress
There were 6 women in a tiny room with the ironing
set up in the alley

rice and bugs drying to eat

One of the missionaries at Hope clinic has a ministry showing films and we got to accompany him one Friday night. His name is John. On this particular night we went to a village of a young man that had visited Hope clinic where he heard the gospel and accepted Christ. It was my understanding that he was one of a few or possibly the only Christian in his village. So John was excited to go and encourage him in his faith.
As we arrived the people came from every where and followed us all through the village. We set up the equipment and the movie began. The movie was in French, the closed captioning was in English, and the translator over the loud speakers was their tribal language.....very interesting. We showed "The End of The Spear" a true story of a missionary group that was attacked and killed by the tribe they were ministering to. We had no idea the the impact it had on them would be so great! Come to find out three years earlier they had a similar experience....1/3 of their village had belong to another tribe and they had killed them to cleanse their village. John the missionary we were with said he remembered driving through the village soon after this attack and wondering why so many houses were vacant but not knowing why. John stopped the movie part of the way thru to share a little of the gospel. It was a whole new concept for them to hear a new way of life and survival than their way which was killing. To see their hearts began to open to the truth was an experience I will never forget. Some one estimated there were around 400 people. After the movie we took time for prayer....this is when it was even more evident the effect it was having on them. They wouldn't leave so another prayer was offered.....again they lingered for more... It wasn't until the third lengthy prayer that they were finally somewhat satisfied that we could dispers.
We were then escorted in the African dark (which is very dark) thru the village to a home. Here they had prepared a meal for us and a gift. The gift was money that equalled about $1.oo in American money. We graciously accepted it. They meal was very spicy and the meat was unidentifiable with a little hair on some of the peices.
I wish I could decribe the sounds and smells and emotions of this evening. It was unreal to sit among them and share with them. All of the following picture that are at night are of this village.

setting up the movie sceen!

See the joy on their faces!

This was a meal Moise the founder of Hope clinic
hosted for us.

Church on Sunday....praise and worship started around 8-9... the sermon around 10-12....and prayer 12-3 pm. Now that is worship!!! By the way we left at Noon. Ever heard of a sleep moniter? Well in this church they had them. Basically there job is to walk around looking for nodders and wake them. On our Sunday it was a man who would just sit beside you and gentle wake you. But we heard the other Sunday it was a lady with a stick that was not so gentle.

Sam.... she was from a mission based in Flordia call Pioneer Bible Translators. She was an answer to Moise's and many others prayers. She was committed to 14-15 years of learning their tribal language and then translating the Bible for them. What a sacrifice but what a gift she is giving. I am totally in awe of her commitment, bravery, and selflessness not to mention intelect. What a task to translate every word accordingly. As if this wasn't enough she is prayerfully consider adopting. Wow!

The director of Hope Clinic and his family.
Steve, Lori,Katie, Matthew, and Hannah Albright

This is one of the pictures of the government school. As you can see they are bringing fire wood for their teachers. We were told bribery by the teachers is a big problem with government schools. Especially for the girls that many times to pass a test or grade they are forced to be sexually active with their teachers. This is why the Christian school like Moise is trying to get established is so important. So far they have a building and teachers for all the elementry grade levels and are in the process of adding the high school grades one grade every year. Imagine as a young teenager trying to maintain Christian morals while getting an education that means everything to you and your family having a better life or in some cases survival.

The following are of Hope Clinic

Dr. Drew... He and his wife have three adorable kids and live there on the compound.

Our African dresses!!

There are so many ways we feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to experience this. The testamonies and conversion stories that we heard were unfathomable. Moise was cursed by the witch doctor many times and he even attempted to murder him. After all this failed the witch dr. converted himself when he realized the power in Moise was stronger than his. On one occasion the whole village was attempting to stone him ..... but being protected by God not one stone hit him. Powerful!
Jauroos was another that was converted from Islam. His family was so outraged they planned a meal and intended to poison him. His own mother cooked his food and placed the poison in it. They ate the meal and waited for something to happen ....but being protected by God nothing happen. His mother begged for forgiveness and confessed what she had done. He was then able to lead her to Christ.
These stories all sounded like something out of a movie...not only their testamonies but their faith is unreal.
As moved as I was by these people and their stories I was also moved by the selfless missionaries that have sacrificed so much of their lives for others. The young doctors that have left high paying jobs and families and statis to serve. Moving their young families so far from all their comforts and securities. Or Sam living alone in the middle of the village takes some real bravery. I remembered Moise sharing that after his conversion how lonely he was because of the rejection from his village and family. How he prayed for missionaries to come just to support him in his faith. I can't imagine standing strong in my faith without other believers with the persecution he faced. God has used him mightly in that little village and the surrounding areas. He has built the clinic, church, and now the school. He is a true example of living in God's will and doing His service.