If all they had done was heal my child, it would have been enough

But that’s not all that happened. More about that story in a minute…

At a Passover/Seder meal, the words of a song the Jews have sung for centuries hit me differently than ever before. The setting is when the families remembered all that God has done for them at the Passover meal. Of course, the Passover meal is remembering the escape from Egypt and all that came with that event.

But they sing how just one of God’s great deeds would have been enough.

Had we been taken out of Egypt and not had judgment executed upon the Egyptians,
it would’ve been enough.
Had judgment been executed upon the Egyptians and not upon their idols,
it would’ve been enough.
….. Had the sea been split the sea for us, and we had not been led through it to dry land,
it would’ve been enough.
Had we been led to dry land, and our enemies not drowned in the sea behind us,
it would’ve been enough for us.

I needed that reminder…that just one of God’s caring deeds would have been enough…but God has done so much more for us.

Not long ago my co-worker Jeff was visiting a FAME partner and this dad was telling Jeff about bringing his child to the clinic when she was very, very ill. He described how desperate they had become, and didn’t know what to do. So they were able to pay someone to give them a ride in the back of a pickup truck and drive for 2 hours to the clinic. Upon arrival the clinic was open, and the medical team diagnosed what was wrong and turned the health situation around! But the dad said something else through the translator. “At that visit and then at a follow-up appointment, the doctor and nurse both shared with us about Jesus. I’d heard of Jesus but didn’t know about him. I didn’t know WHO he was, or WHAT he had done, and I never knew that he had lived and died on the cross for me and my family too! If all they had done was heal my child, it would have been enough, but they told us about Jesus! And now we want them to help us start a church in our village too!

It would have been enough! Just sending help in the name of Jesus is important, but FAME also sends hope.

Because of you millions of people each year NOT ONLY are treated in the name of Jesus…but they HEAR the good news of Jesus!

Thank you for your partnership that brings more than help, but also hope to the world’s most vulnerable!!!

Calm in the Middle of the Storm

In the middle of a nation in crisis, there is peace for this little boy because of you.

I’d like to tell you one more story from chaos-torn Haiti.  This little boy is receiving treatment at an Occupational Therapy Center in Northwest Haiti.  I don’t know, and can’t imagine what he is seeing every day or what he has been through leading up to his appointments and relationship with the FAME partner Occupational Therapy Center.  The caregiver sending these photos has been in NW Haiti for 15 years and has helped so many adults and children!

In a recent article I received from a Medical Mission they described Occupational Therapy’s importance in sustainable health and wellness care.  The article described their role as a holistic health practitioner in the developing world as key to helping in rehabilitation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Put simply, helping clients like this little boy learn simple skills, like using utensils, balancing, and using his wrists is key to recovery from injury.  This time is probably a peaceful moment, a calm in the middle of the storm where the Occupational Therapist is able to share the love, peace, and message of Jesus to the child and his parents.

But here is where FAME and this OT Center connect.  The therapy chair and table pictured were in the FAME warehouse because of friends of FAME who donated them in Florida and delivered them to Indianapolis.  They were delivered to the mission partner in Haiti recently, and now provide a place of help and hope in the midst of crisis and chaos in that country.

Only God could have orchestrated the donation of a therapy chair and table in Florida, which traveled all the way to Indianapolis and then to Haiti, where they are now helping a little boy recover from injury and trauma.

Only God, but partnered with your generosity, FAME is blessed to play a role in helping the world’s most vulnerable!

Thank you for your partnership!!

 

Vulnerable

FAME says, “…help and hope to the world’s most vulnerable…” and there is not a place at the moment where people are much more vulnerable than Haiti. I’ll let you just turn on the news to learn the bad news…but I want to share with you some good news.

Vulnerable, includes our dear friends around the world who have a lack of mobility. There are many types of mobility issues, but this Haitian gentleman is so excited because after a 6-month wait, a FAME partner was able to provide the leg he needed! What joy!

In the midst of the darkest times in a country, your partnership with FAME sends help and hope that shines bright!

Thank you for your partnership!!

Click here for a video of him walking!

 

March Prayer Calendar

Dear Prayer Partner,

Thank you for your continued partnership with FAME through prayer. We are blessed to have you come alongside us each month in praying for FAME ministry partners, board members, volunteers, trip participants, scholarship recipients, healthcare projects, staff, church visits and conventions, as well as other items of ministry.

Since 1970, FAME has had a mission of bringing help and hope to the world through medical evangelism. In the last 50 years, FAME has worked in 50 countries around the world. These include countries to which we have taken a short-term medical mission team, have shipped medical equipment and supplies, or have provided a grant for a sustainable healthcare project.
This month we’d like you to pray each day for one of those countries that FAME has touched through medical evangelism.

Here is a snapshot of those countries.

To find out more about these countries and to see how you can specifically pray for them, you can visit Operation World at www.operationworld.org.

Thank you again for your partnership. Together we can bring physical and spiritual healing to the unreached and underserved around the world.

Blessings in the coming month.

Click here for the March Prayer calendar.

They Walk, They Ride, They Travel Far

Last week I was at the dedication of a brand new clinic on the island of Mindanao, Philippines. The clinic will be such an asset to medical evangelism for the mission and ministry there of Christ Reaching Asia Mission started by C.Y. Kim.

  • Care for infants
  • Care for mothers
  • Care for the aging
  • Care for the seriously ill

All are currently lacking in the area, but this clinic will serve thousands. The clinic impressed me, the people there encouraged me, but something happened after the dedication that reminded me of why you help FAME do what FAME does.

The program for the dedication began at 9:00 am. After the program of speeches, ribbon cutting, and lunch, the people began to leave. One family of 4, a Christian leader who came for the event, got on their little motorscooter to begin their 4-hour motorized scooter ride back into the mountains and the village from which they came. 4 HOURS!

That means that in an emergency they have to travel 4 hours IF they have a motor scooter – longer if they walk! Four hours is too long! But if it weren’t for you, it would be three times that for that family and the villages they serve!

Access to Healthcare = Access to the Gospel for millions, and YOU make it possible!

Thanks to your partnership, we can move closer to providing access to both for the world’s most vulnerable.

FAME considers the vulnerable as valuable! Thank you, that YOU do too when you partner with FAME!

Pray for Haiti

We aren’t hearing much good news from Haiti these days! But even in the midst of crisis, God provides!

Here’s news from one of our shipping partners!

2023 was a difficult year, but by God’s grace, we are moving forward. Last February, gangs took over the Mountain where our clinic was located. Several thousand families fled their homes. Many moved in with relatives and friends near Port-au-Prince, and many families were homeless.

We have rented a nice building for Emmaus Clinic, an upgrade from our previous location. It is across the street from the police station, so probably as safe as can be in this region. We have an arrangement with the police who send two officers to our clinic.

We bought a solar panel system to provide electricity.

A pastor is regularly in the clinic, so that is a huge blessing!

He continues to thank FAME for equipping so much of the work there, as they could move most items to the new secure location!

We also just received word from a mission partner in Haiti who oversees the FAME scholarships of some nursing students there and who works at the college. She writes, We have not been able to work from our building for more than 1 month. The whole area was attacked by gangs. Praise God we were not there. The students are currently doing hospital rotations when possible.

Please pray for us. We need prayers.

Pray for Haiti, it’s complicated situation, and that God will use this time when outsiders are limited from coming in to strengthen and protect the church so it will grow and flourish! Pray also that medical evangelism will open doors to the gospel in a new way!!!

Thank you for your partnership

What lasts?

What lasts?

Cell Phones? A few years…

Cars? A dozen years+

Clothes? A season or two (except some men’s clothes show up for decades)

Generosity? A Lifetime and into eternity!

In 2004 Mr. Thangpu was the first patient to be seen at a hospital FAME funded in Manipur, N. E. India. He was extremely ill from T.B. and Malaria and sent from his village expected to die. Not only was he brought to health but in his own words, “Many preachers have asked me to be a Christian, but I was not convinced. Here at this beautiful hospital, I felt something very strange, a feeling that I can’t explain in human words. All I can say now is that I am healed, this must be the work of God. So, I have decided to become a Christian.” He was baptized and sent back home. The villagers were so surprised to see him back alive and shocked by his life change that the village has never been the same.

Now 20 years later, as FAME is partnering to rebuild and relocate this Hospital after being destroyed by persecution arson, Mr. Thangpu’s impact is one of tens of thousands by this hospital and 600+ church network!

What lasts? Generosity.

If you partner with FAME annually, monthly, or as led – THANK YOU FOR YOUR IMPACT!

If you’d like to consider ways you can have an even longer impact beyond your lifetime, go to www.fameworld.org/leave-a-legacy/ to learn more!

Thank you for your partnership!

I woke up this morning…

2024  Missions of Hope International Clinic Joska, Kenya

I woke up this morning thinking, “The people of that region I visited need that clinic so desperately, what are we going to do?”

Yesterday I woke up thinking, “The people of that region (a different one) I visited need that clinic so desperately, what are we going to do?”

Tomorrow I will probably wake up thinking, “The people of that region (even another one) I visited need that clinic so desperately, what are we going to do?”

And the same series of events that happened yesterday and today will keep happening tomorrow:

  • I will remember that we shared the need for that clinic with friends of FAME!
  • I will remember that we sent the funds for that clinic to the global partner!
  • I will remember that construction has begun!
  • I will probably get a photo emailed to me like I did yesterday of the progress of that project, knowing that once it is completed, the people of the region will receive the loving care of Christian medical professionals and hear the good news!

Additionally,

  • I will remember that God is faithful
  • I will remember and give God thanks for people like YOU who make it possible for people of region after region to hear of the loving gospel of Jesus through people who treat them medically in the name of Jesus.
  • I will remember that reports come telling of the churches growing where FAME is serving!

The photo above is of a hospital at Missions of Hope International (MOHI) in Kenya.  I was at the facility and saw the first floor in 2017

We sent the funds for the construction of the 2nd and 3rd floor pre-COVID.  Work was at a standstill and many obstacles had to be overcome!  But look at it now!

Every day I wake up knowing that the needs of the world are great!

Every day I wake up knowing that God’s people are generous!

Every day I wake up knowing that God is greater than all our needs and that He loves the people of the regions where FAME is serving even more than we do!

Thank you for making it possible for FAME to experience “Groundhog Day” every day – except every day God shows himself as the provider for village after village, and new believer after new believer!

Thank you for your partnership!

February Prayer Calendar

Dear Prayer Partner,

Thank you so much for your continued support of the ministry of FAME through prayer. We find it a blessing to have you come alongside us each day in praying for FAME staff, board members, mission partners, trip participants, scholarship recipients, volunteers, shipments of medical supplies, healthcare projects, church visits and other items of ministry.

February is an exciting month for FAME as we have a medical mission team going to India to serve with NACEA (North Andhra Coastal Evangelizing Association) in the middle of the month. This is a team comprised of staff members from Hancock Health. Please pray for FAME’s mission partners Drs. Rajesh and Soujanya Paul and the individuals on this team as they bring help and hope in the name of Christ through medical evangelism. Pray also for the people to whom they will be ministering that they may be blessed by the care that will be provided.

We also ask for prayer for a shipping container full of medical supplies and equipment that will soon be in route to the Philippines for Charles Selby Memorial Hospital. We also have large shipments of medical supplies going out this month to All Nations Holistic Mission in DR Congo and the mission Psalm 82:3 in Liberia. Psalm 82:3 is a recent partner and FAME will be taking a medical mission trip there in September of this year. Please pray that these shipments make it through customs without issue and that God will be glorified through the medical care for which these items will be used.

We also ask for prayer for the staff who serve at FAME, for faithful volunteer groups, and for FAME staff traveling both internationally and here in the U.S.

Thank you again for your partnership in prayer and blessings in the coming month.

Click here for the February Prayer calendar.

Caroline from Kenya says, “Thank You!”

Thank you for your friendship to the ministry of FAME. Through your generosity and partnership with us in medical evangelism, people’s lives are being changed for eternity.

One part of our ministry, in addition to partnering with international missions to share the good news, is offering scholarships for students who are pursuing a medical education and who desire to serve in a mission hospital or clinic after graduation. These students must be from a developing nation and be recommended by a FAME mission partner.

At the end of each year, the sponsoring mission partners submit reports on the student’s progress. The students also often include a note about what a FAME scholarship means to them. Here is one such note from one of our FAME scholarship recipients.

I am now in 4th year and having done half of my med school years is just a miracle! I sit in class and when thoughts of how favored I am to be a beneficiary of the FAME scholarship I shed a tear. Because of it, I am now actualizing the dream of being a doctor. It feels like God’s purpose in my life is to serve Him as a doctor and for this I endeavor to use all I am, and all I will be for His glory.

God bless FAME and may your cups never run dry. I promise to continue doing my best in school, and may I reflect God’s goodness in all areas I am in. – Caroline (Kenya)

Thank you again for your generosity to FAME. Donations to FAME make it possible for students like Caroline to serve the Lord through medical evangelism!

Bill Warren
Executive Director

Caroline helping at a children’s home