Hey again everyone! Good news for those of you not on Facebook! They got the internet up and running, but unfortunately my mom is having trouble accessing the blog from there. She has asked me to update the blog with the Facebook post so don't worry about not getting to know whats going on! Anyway here is her first post!
-Connor

Bon soile, (I think is how you spell it), good afternoon from hope clinic! We are well and fully enjoying the African lifestyle! We are finally beginning to be on the right time zone and are adjusting to the heat and extremely high humidity. Fortunately, it is actually the very beginning of the rainy season so we have experienced the drenching rain storms that lighten the humidity for short periods of time. The thunder was a little overwhelming last night! I've had a lizard jump out of a cupboard at me, sending me screaming/running and sending Dawn OpBroek jumping to the counter, a spider crawling down from my hair over my eye while eye was getting water from the special filter, again much screaming and water ending up everywhere!! The children here are amazingly beautiful and cheerful here, even the little boy carrying a live rat by the tail and playing with it like a pet! We are being treated like royalty; is hard to accept sometimes. It feels so undeserved when we see how little they have here. Jeff, Marc McAllister, and Dawn are seeing many patients, Caden has helped me and Rachel in the storeroom as we unloaded and checked in all the bags of supplies we were able to bring. It made them soooo happy! We will be unloading the laparoscopic equipment tomorrow and trying to get it installed and ready to go. I am able to teach English to the women on the clinic grounds and they are teaching me French! We love sharing Jesus' love with the patients waiting to see the docs. It's amazing, they sit on concrete benches ALL day waiting to be seen, for surgery, or for their family. No complaints, no whining, only smiles and joy as we say bonjour! and tickle the children! We enjoy chapel every morning, joining in their continual praise and worship. They are constantly grateful for what God is doing. We are so grateful to be here to encourage them that people in The Dalles, OR are loving them and praying for them ALL the way around the world. `THANK YOU ` for being a part of that, each and every one of you!! We are thankful for our health so far, our safety through the many days of difficult travel, and our ability to help and encourage here. Internet is very intermittent, so I will post when I can and will try to get some pics up next time! Until then, au revoir!

They Made It!!

Hey everyone! If you have been wondering how the trip is going, the team made it safely to Hope Clinic! I'm guessing they haven't posted or anything yet because they have to set up the internet there. They will most likely post as soon as they get it up and running! I just wanted to update any worried people praying frantically for their safety, because the hadn't heard from them! Keep praying, but they are safe at the Clinic! Thank you so much for all of your prayers that have gotten them this far. Keep interceding for their safety and that God will work in amazing ways! You all should hear from them soon but until then thank you for your prayers!
-Connor Mathisen

FOUR DAYS AND COUNTING!!!

Many hands make light work!  We gathered as a team last night to pack our 14 bags (50# each) full of medical supplies and goody bags and soccer balls for kiddos we meet. Sutures, laparascopic "accessories" to go with all the equipment that's waiting there for us, medications, gloves, and an almost immeasurable amount of other medical items were packed in these 14 bags.  How we will wrangle them, keep account of them all, get them ALL up on top of a land cruiser for our 9 hour drive from Liberia to Guinea is yet to be seen...definitely an item on our prayer list!

Lots of medication, much of it donated by Medical Teams International, as well as by YOU...those who gave financially to our trip were a part of enabling us to buy even more supplies that Hope Clinic needs!  Thank you!

Weighing in at 50.87 lbs, and hoping they don't charge us for the few extra ounces...we squeezed every ounce possibly into those bags!

We have a total of 11 bags like this...

and 3 bins like this...plus we each have a carry on and a back pack to take on the plane.  We are locked and loaded!

And...Rachel is on the mend!  For those of you who don't know, Rachel (our 15 year old team member) had a burst appendix last week!  She is a week post op and we are continually praying that she does not experience any secondary infections so that we can ALL travel together.  Another matter of prayer.  We are grateful this didn't happen during our 11 hour plane ride!

So here are the details for this week...
We leave The Dalles this Friday at 7:30 am to go to PDX.  We fly out at 11:45 am to Detroit, then to Paris, then to Monrovia, Liberia.  We will spend the night there at a hospital compound and then drive the 9 hours or so to Hope the next day.  All together approximately 36 hours of travel time!

Pray for:
1) safe and seamless travel
2) rest
3) healing for Rachel
4) calming of any fears
5) safety from ebola!
6) protection for all the baggage, ease through customs
7) opportunities to share Christ even as we travel
8) our friends at Hope as they prepare for our arrival
9) the people of Guinea that we will have the pleasure of serving and loving once we arrive
10) our family members we are leaving behind, for comfort for us all.

WE ARE ALL VERY EXCITED! THANK YOU FOR JOINING IN OUR ADVENTURE!
We'll keep you as posted as we can!

PARTY-EBOLA-BOXES-UPDATES!!!

You'd never think those words would be on the same heading!!  But here we are getting ready for a party THIS SAT!!...The ebola virus is still on the move in Guinea...BUT the boxes we've been praying for (with the laparoscopy equipment)  HAVE ARRIVED in Conakry and the Jon Erickson from Hope Clinic will be driving the 17 hours to the capitol city to pick them up and deliver them to Hope!  Jon isn't afraid of a little ebola!! Satan will try to thwart God's plans BUT God is more powerful and HIS WILL will be done!  We are so excited and we are all full of HOPE!  Jeff also was able to see pictures of the OR remodel that has been happening too!  He says it looks amazing and things continue to fall into place for the new equipment to have a home there. Come celebrate with us this Sat at the Riverenza, see fun pictures, help make goody bags for children we will meet on our trip, buy a soccer ball for us to deliver, eat some yummy food, hear some great stories of what God has been and will continue to do there in N'Zao, Guinea at Hope Clinic! Our team is not discouraged at all...we truly are full of God's hope and we know if He doesn't want us there, He will make it clear.  Until then we keep moving forward with YOUR HELP and will continue to obey.  Thanks so much for all of your prayers, your financial support, and your concern for our safety and for the safety of those in the country of Guinea and its' surrounding neighbors.  Continue to pray with us that we prove faithful to what God's called us to do and that above all stories of ebola and worries of our safety that God will be glorified and honored all what that happens!  JOIN US SATURDAY for a bunch of fun!