Consider joining our team to Trinidad......

Hello Everyone,

We are preparing for yet another adventure for the Lord. Steve and I will lead a medical team through Mission to the World (MTW) to serve in Trinidad, West Indies from December 29, 2007 – January 6, 2008.

We are putting together a team of physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, pre-medical students, medical students and nursing students. Medical and non-medical folk are needed. If you would like to be part of the team please pray about it and call or drop an e-mail to us. The estimated cost of this trip is $1650 each, to cover travel expenses, food and project costs.

Trinidad is an island, located in the Caribbean just north of Venezuela. It has a multiethnic population, with many of African and East Indian descent.


We have been invited by Steve McGee, a Missionary Pastor who serves in West Indies Covenant Ministries, to serve the people by providing health care through medical clinics. We will share our testimonies and pray with the people as we spread the love of Jesus Christ.
The purpose of their ministry is evangelism, reformed church planting, and teaching. Steve is a professor at Grace Bible College in D’abadie, Trinidad, and hosts a twice weekly radio program, “West Indies Table Talk.”

We are excited about the challenges this trip offers to learn and grow. As Jabez prayed (I Chronicles 4:10), “…Bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” In other words, push me, Lord, and expand my horizons. God granted Jabez’s request. We go knowing that we do nothing ourselves – only He does anything. We can only be instruments for His use, resting in the knowledge that He will guide and protect us.

If you would like to be stretched and grow in the Lord please consider joining our Medical Team to Trinidad.

Yours in Christ,

Karen and Steve McClure

home-410-987-0784
cell-410-991-9953
800 Cool Glade Ct.
Millersville, MD 21108
klmcclure@comcast.net


Acts 20:24
“But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.”

Don't miss this missions conference!

MTW is sponsoring the third PCA Global Missions Conference on Nov. 16-18 in Atlanta. In 2004, the conference drew almost 2,000 people, and conference planners are preparing for up to 3,000 in 2007, reflecting the PCA's strong missions commitment.

The conference is designed for anyone age 13 or older with an interest in missions. Plenary messages by Dr. Richard Pratt and Dr. Paul Kooistra will offer inspiration, motivation, and challenge. Workshops will offer practical assistance and solid information about God's work around the world through PCA missions while pre-conference workshops will target specific ministries. And conference-goers are always grateful for the opportunity to join in worship together.

http://www.mtw.org/home/site/templates/default.asp?_resolutionfile=templatespathdefault.asp&area_2=public/General/2007MissionConf

Malaria Control Project and Ministry in Cambodia

Dear Precious Family and Friends,

One of the most important parts of this trip has been our Malaria Control Project. The students in Myanmar were given mosquito nets to dip in Permethrin. Then they were dried and they will distribute them in their villages to families, especially those with children and pregnant women. Children and pregnant women are most at risk for death from dengue fever and malaria. This is very prevalent here. They have all known people in their villages to die from those diseases. A mosquito will die within 1 1/2 minutes after it lands on a treated mosquito net. This is the rainy season so mosquitos are especially bad now. Please pray that this will save many lives. Thank-you to all who donated money for this life saving project!

We are finishing up the last part of our journey in Cambodia. This week we joined a Church Planter, Lloyd Kim and his physician wife, Dr Eda Kim to encourage them and come alongside their ministry. Our team, led by Dr Ted Kuhn and Dr Sharon Kuhn, Medical Directors at MTW included Dr Doreen Mar (ER physician), Dr Soho Choi (Neurosurgeon), Dr Dale Knutson (Missionary Pediatrician) and wife Nancy, John Sexton (Nurse
Practitioner- Missionary) and myself. We provided medical care for 4 villages and were able to do lab work, provide medications and do ultrasound.
We had some very sick patients including a child who had 10 seizures daily, a woman with severe anemia who had been bleeding since her child was born 6 months ago, a man diagnosed with schizophrenia, many patients with high blood pressure, a baby with pneumonia to name a few. All children received Albendazole for worms and Vitamin A was given to boost their immune system.
Most of the people believe that if you have diarrhea you should not drink anything. Their philosophy is that if something is coming out of the body, do not put anything in. Consequently, children and adults can die of severe dehydration. We taught them that your body is made of mostly water and that you must drink "boiled water" if you have diarrhea.
We visited a man who had a stroke one month ago who is now on the mend. There were lots of people we saw who suffered amputations from land mines. Cambodia is the country with the highest amount of land mines. I was able to share my faith with each patient.

On Sunday, I went to a little village after church called "Prey Lavia". The Grace Christian Center (the Kim's church) have been holding a Bible Study there each week for children as well as adults. I was able to share my testimony. I shared about being a widow and being all alone and how God "was my husband". I was never really alone because He was all I really needed anyway as I drew on His strength and not my own. After I spoke I realized that the group I was speaking to was all women and one man. I was told by the leader that the men in the village went to the city for work and were not coming back. These women were all alone! God knew the message they needed to hear that day. We walked through the village and the women followed as we made home visits. This was a wonderful way to witness and establish relationships.

Today, John, Eda and I visited the University of Health Sciences and met with the Director of the Nursing School. He indicated that they would like to establish a relationship with another School of Nursing and maybe even have a "faculty exchange". They have a real need for Midwifery and Mental Health faculty as well as textbooks and overheads. This week when visiting villages we learned that most women deliver their babies at home where there is not a trained midwife present. There is a high rate of maternal death as a result.

In the afternoon we met with the Dean of the Medical School, Dr Seang Therrith. He shared with us that the Medical School was closed from
1975- 1980 and only 30 physicians in the entire country survived the Khmer Rouge! He was one one them and he and 3 others started the Medical School in 1980. All the country of Cambodia was affected by the Khmer Rouge. Many many people were tortured and executed at that time.

Well dear family and friends, this trip has come to an end. I'm excited to return home. I come back a changed person.
I will be home Sept 9. Please continue to e-mail or call. I am very encouraged by the many friends and family who have written and will join me on future mission trips. There is still room if you want to join our Trinidad team December 29 - January 6th.

I Love You and Miss you all!
Karen

Health Promoter Graduation and on to Cambodia

Dear Precious Family and Friends,

I depart Yangon, Myanmar with sadness today. I am sad to say goodbye to Tial, Annie and Eden (their 20 yr old daughter and one of our translators and student). It is also hard to say goodbye to the students as we spent much time with them in the classroom and outside.
I had a great time as I taught one of my favorite subjects, birthing a baby. We took a baby doll and simulated a birth using a box with a womb carved out. I was able to purchase a fetascope to listen to baby's heartbeat. They also learned about how to care for the newborn, premature babies and emergencies. Many of the women will return to their villages and be the village midwife as well as the health promoter. The students shared that there are women as well as babies that die in their villages after and during childbirth. Hopefully some of the things I taught them will prevent this from happening.
Tial asked me to speak to the church on Sunday about how to stay healthy. I told the mothers and fathers to show their children how to keep clean, feed them nutritious food and have their children vaccinated. I encouraged them to boil all their water, brush their teeth and always wear sandals in order to prevent many common illnesses and injuries. I encouraged the teachers to teach the children these things. School children were asked to share what they learned with parents. I told them smoking causes cancer and is harmful to others as well. Too much alcohol causes many health problems and leads to much unhappiness. I ended by asking them to pray daily, have devotions together as a family and come to Church and Sunday School.
John preached on "Gratitude". Giving thanks shows our dependence on God. Giving thanks humbles us. If we recognize this, we become less envious and desirous of things. In all things, we can give thanks. God promises to be with us in all circumstances. He may not keep us from these things but he will bring good out of the evil. God may be bringing good to others in these circumstances. So give thanks for God's perfect love!
I know that when my husband died I could not give thanks but what I can give thanks for is how much I have grown since then as a result of my dependence on God.
On Wednesday we held a graduation ceremony with diplomas and pictures and a banquet. We prayed for each student that the Lord would care for them as they depend on His wisdom and strength to guide them.
We will now move on to Cambodia to provide medical care for poor villages there. Dr Ted Kuhn will be teaching an Ultrasound course to 22 Medical Residents. I was told by someone here that many of the physicians there have less training than a nurse and no license.
Thank-you for all your kind letters of encouragement. I really look forward to
reading them each day!

I Love you and miss you!
...Karen

Second Week of Teaching in Myanmar

Dear Precious Friends and Family,

Christina, John and I are really enjoying teaching the students. We are
challenging them daily with case studies of patient scenarios and Health

Teaching. We know that they will learn more if we don't just stand up there and
lecture, but rather that we involve them in the process. So each day we have taught them a
different method of teaching, and given homework for them to come back to class the
next day and teach.

One night, for homework, the students were given a "First Aid" topic that each
had to present the next day. One student did a demonstration of the "Heimlich Maneuver"
(for a choking person) and another taught how to splint and cast a broken arm. Others did poster presentations or one-on-one teaching. We know that they will learn more by teaching and also our goal for them is to teach in their communities.

Tuesday was very interesting with the students. I split them into 2 groups and
asked them to come up with common illnesses and diseases in their villages and
their traditional treatments, and whether those treatments helped, hurt, or made no difference.
For diarrhea, they take opium, use guava leaves or other leaves...and yes it
helped. For a red eye, they take breast milk from a mom who has a son and place
it on the eye....it helped. For Diabetes, they drink their urine and spread it
on their body...in the morning ...it didn't make a difference. For Malaria...they eat
dog meat and drink the blood...sometimes it helped. For a cough...mustard oil and
ginger to the chest....it helped.

Yesterday I taught them about Health and Sicknesses of Children. I was very
surprised that all the diseases like measles, mumps and rubella (and others too) exist in
their villages. The ministry of Health sends a Health Worker out to the villages to vaccinate against these. I told them that the 3 most important things to teach to protect a child's health are cleanliness, good nutrition and vaccinations. I asked them to find out
when a Health Worker is coming to vaccinate in their village, and to go door to door
and ask families to bring their children so they don't die of a preventable childhood disease. I
ended by talking to them about how children learn and what can be taught--especially by their example of kindness, responsibility and sharing.
Teach them to pray...take them to Church and Sunday school so they will have the
love, support and encouragement of their church family. And hold family devotions. These
things will become part of their children's lives, and they will do the same when raising their own families.

On Wednesday we will have a graduation and banquet for the students. Please pray
for their health and stamina as well as ours. My roommate, Christina, was very sick this week, but praise God she is better now. Several students were also ill.

Thank-you for all your kind letters of encouragement. I really look forward to
reading them each day!

I Love you and miss you!
...Karen

Teaching Health Promoters in Myanmar

Dear Precious Friends and Family,

We have now completed our first week of teaching Health Promoters here in Myanmar.There are 16 students in our class--about 9 men and 7 ladies. They have come from close and some from very far away villages. Most live at least 2 days from any medical care. For example, if a woman is having problems in childbirth, four men must carry her to the nearest medical care, probably 2 days away.By then, she or the baby may have died.We are teaching them everything including nutrition, first aid, medications, illnesses and diseases and how to care for the people, casting and childbirth to name a few. Our desire is that they will learn, use it in their village and teach others as well. On Saturday, we purchased stethescopes, Blood Pressure cuffs, thermometers, otoscopes, bandage scissors, pick-ups (tweezers) for their medical kits. Tomorrow, we will purchase medication for the kits.

It was a joy to be reunited with Tial, his wife, Annie and their children.Tial is the pastor of Reformed Presbyterian Church of Yangon and the President of the Seminary. I was here in 2001 with a medical team. Many churches have been planted since I was last here.

Yesterday, I was able to give my testimony at the church. John Sexton, our team leader preached about how God loves each of us and as we have opportunity, do good to others. We all have needs--the need for encouragement, money, spiritual care, help in the home, etc. How can we help each other in the family, church or neighbors? We need to reassure others of our love for them and God's love for them.

Please pray for us as we teach this course. We are rewriting lesson plans each night to meet the needs of the students and the culture. Also pray that we are not hampered by illness. Pray for the students that they can remain healthy. A few have been sick but have recovered.Pray for out families that we have left behind.

Thank-you so much for your encouragement and prayers! Keep those letters coming. They are so uplifting!

I Love You!
Karen