Out of Oxygen

 “This is one of our drivers, Claude, walking to get around multiple unrest-related barricades, CARRYING an oxygen tank to be refilled.”  One of your FAME hospital partners in Haiti hadn’t had deliveries of critically needed oxygen because of the roads being barricaded due to the current upheaval in that country.

So this is their driver walking, BUT when he arrived at source after source for oxygen refills they were ALL OUT of oxygen!

The only source of oxygen desperately needed for patients YOU provided.  The Oxygen Concentrator pictured here was the only option.  Here is a paraphrase of the note attached.

Last night a patient was in need of oxygen.  Fortunately, we have an oxygen concentrator to take care of that patient.  Thank you FAME! 

Your partnership with FAME provides solutions and hope to partners around the world!  Right now there are two things you can do!

1.  Pray!  With the unrest, there is sporadic electricity.  With the unrest, there is limited fuel; with limited fuel, the generator can’t be powered.  Without the generator producing electricity even the oxygen concentrator can’t work – along with all the other hospital equipment.  Pray for power, from the God of all power.
2.  Your faithful support or first-time gift to FAME sends critically needed medical equipment and supplies to partners just like these every day!

 

Partner after partner, in country after country, reaching out to person after person BECAUSE OF YOU!

Thank you for bringing solutions to the world’s most vulnerable!

Hardest Places

Growing in the hardest places.

Seeing this flower made me think of many of your FAME global partners…

K and J thought it was going to be another day like any other day.  Awaken with their children, have tea and a simple breakfast, tend to the animals, the garden, and then go to the village to sell some produce and handmade items in the market.   But they awakened to yelling and the smell of smoke.  Quickly they gathered their family and ran into the jungle and from behind the thick greenery they watched as their home and belongings were all destroyed by fire.  Not a forest fire accidentally sparked, but the work of their very own government forces.
 
L & A kept looking over their shoulder as they approached what they believed was the border.  Just across they could see welcoming faces and encouraging waves to keep walking.  They could hardly believe their eyes as they saw kind people with water, blankets, food, and clothing waiting for them – strangers they had never met, receiving them with open arms.  They were safe. 

S hoped the roadblocks in the streets were not active this early in the morning.  He kept quietly moving forward carrying his young sister hoping to get her to the pastor and his wife.  Miraculously the piles of rubbish and smoldering tires were there, but no protesters.  They made it to the church, and the loving wife of the pastor took one look at his sister and rushed her to the FAME partner Clinic.

Growing in the hardest places.
 
All three of these stories have three things in common:

1)     They live in some of the world’s hardest places 
2)     A vibrant church is growing
3)     A FAME partner has been the key evangelistic element to plant and grow the church
 
The love of Jesus, through God’s people, grows churches in hard places.  Whether it is Pakistan, war-torn countries like Ukraine and Myanmar, or struggling countries like South Sudan and Haiti.  YOU are helping the gospel TAKE ROOT in hard places.
 
If you’d like to learn more about our current projects in the world’s hardest places click HERE!

Thank you for your partnership!! 

Blessings,  

Bill Warren
Executive Director

 

September Prayer Calendar

Thank you so much for coming alongside the ministry of FAME in prayer. We are honored in knowing that people all around the world are praying for FAME Mission Partners, board members, staff, volunteers, trip participants, scholarship recipients, as well as church and partner visits.

This month we would like to highlight many of the faithful volunteers that come to FAME to volunteer on a monthly or weekly basis. FAME could not do all it does around the world without the help of so many wonderful volunteers that give of their time and talents.

In a devotion I read from Worthy Ministries, I like how the author talks about volunteerism.  They write, A wise man once said, “There’s nothing more powerful than the heart of a volunteer”. Webster describes a volunteer this way — one who renders a service or receives a conveyance or transfer of property without giving valuable consideration.

It’s so easy to get into the mindset that serving God is a chore, it’s our job, our duty — we give valuable consideration to our giving. The fact of the matter is that God loves a cheerful giver. He loves a volunteer. When I think of that verse, the first thing that comes to my mind is monetary giving, but God wants us to cheerfully volunteer every good thing He has so mercifully allowed us to have –- things we often take for granted — our time, our energy, our abilities, our talents, our homes, our cars, our families –- all that we have – all that He has cheerfully given to us! Let’s bless the Lord and those around us!

If volunteering has been something you have been thinking about and if you would like to find out more about volunteer opportunities with FAME for either yourself, your church or small group, you can contact Barry Reed, Director of Mission Resources at barryr@fameworld.org or at 317.358.2480.

Other items to pray for this month include Mission Partner visits that Executive Director, Bill Warren will be making, church visits, medical supply shipment preparations and conferences.

Thank you once again for your partnership with FAME through prayer.

Click here for the September Prayer Calendar

Are You Going to the Store?

I go to the store more than I’d like. And when I go, I often pass the pharmacy area to get to the parts of the store I need or prefer. It hit me the other day that I pass 10-15 ROWS of medicine and supplies! We call these OTC or Over-the-Counter medicines, these are things we consider standard and expect them to be in stock when we need them. We here in America are frustrated and surprised when they are not available.

The majority of the world does not have the same experience!

You can help! FAME sends OTC medicines with teams and in shipments to over 40 countries every year! I just learned that the FAME warehouse supplies are actually very low.

Are you going to the store? Click here to see the list of OTC Medicines that are a priority for FAME partners, and pick up an item or two- mail them to FAME and you will impact many who have little resources or hope!

If you’d like to take it a step further, do like our friends at First Church of Christ in Greendale, Indiana. They went to www.fameworld.org/shipping-medicines-and-supplies and set up what we call a “Cardboard Pharmacy” at their church. FAME sends an email packet and boxes you can use to ship items collected back to FAME. This Church just informed us that 9 boxes of OTC medicines are ready to come to FAME.

Going to the store. Such a common part of our lives here, but an opportunity to change lives around the world!

Thank you for your partnership!!

Bill Warren
Executive Director

Receiving Sight

So many people were being treated for their sicknesses and diseases that a large crowd had gathered. One man, in particular, was blind and kept calling out hoping to be treated – he was heard and treated, receiving his sight. The physician who tells the story says, “Instantly he could see, and he began to follow Jesus.” The crowd that gathered was so large a short man ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a tree so he could see!

Of course, the story above is Jesus the Great Physician, the blind man he healed, Luke who recorded it, and Zacchaeus who climbed the tree. Jesus said, “..I came to seek and save the lost.” The mission of FAME is continuing HIS mission!

Earlier this summer your FAME teams treated people so they could receive sight.

Every time a FAME Short Term Trip Team is serving in a community a crowd gathers,   including tree climbers so they can see the excitement!

Your generosity allows FAME to lead and send teams to open the door for the gospel around the world!

If you’d like to GO on a team, we want 1/3 of our teams to be medical professionals- which means 2/3 are not, and there is a spot for anyone who wants to serve the world’s most vulnerable.

Trips for 2023 are being released and announced- save this webpage www.fameworld.org/mission-trips to keep up with Trips you could consider joining to bring help and hope in the name of Jesus!

Ukraine Impact Surprises and Contrasts!

Your impact in Ukraine through FAME has been a story of contrasts and impact.

First, through your FAME staff’s partnerships, some nearly miraculous deliveries have occurred! In the midst of shipping chaos and a war-torn system, FAME partners have received two shipments of catheters for angiography at the children’s cardio center in Kyiv! These pictured heart catheters were in the FAME Indianapolis warehouse just months ago – AND NOW they are in use in Ukraine!

A surprising situation of stability in the midst of chaos, providing life-saving supplies with the Compassion of Jesus.

Second, heartbreaking destruction and loss for FAME partner health-care evangelists! This picture is of Lenny’s* home in the Dnipro region. She has been the link to hundreds of vulnerable “Babushkas” and children in the midst of bombings, fighting, and air raids. She has been providing medicine, bandages, and essential supplies that YOU provided through FAME. Each delivery and visit includes the gospel message – and many receive the “mp3-like” player full of the Bible, the gospel, and encouraging sermons.

Lenny has now moved her ministry to the refugee camp shown above and is a light and joy to others even though very little hope exists as they worry about the approaching winter.

Your partnership with FAME impacts people at a moment of great need, and the compassion, love, and message of Jesus shines bright and full of hope!

Keep praying for your partners in Ukraine and around the world- as together, YOU and FAME bring hope to over 5000 people every day with access to health care that brings access to the gospel.

It couldn’t be done without you!

* “Lenny’s” name has been changed for privacy.

“All We Had Was Tylenol, And That Allowed Us….”

Last Saturday, on a phone call with a potential partner, we heard their desperate need for partnership so that thousands could be impacted in a closed SE Asia Nation! They have been helping oppressed people who do not have the basic services we in America consider customary. Such needs include health facilities and basic health supplies!

They said, We have been taking Tylenol with us on our evangelism outreaches. Just having Tylenol to meet basic needs has allowed us to share Jesus with people! We never imagined the opportunities that would come through medical outreaches and supplies!

This mission has been working diligently for years reaching remote people in SE Asia, and now they have an open door of opportunity into another Country! They had not heard of FAME until this year when someone who went to college with him shared FAME’s work and recommended he reach out to us!

You can make the same type of connections and open new doors of evangelism through your network of friends, family, and colleagues.

You can send help and hope by partnering with FAME in prayer or by collecting medicines and supplies for our mission partners and short-term mission trips (see our website for lists).

You are a partner in reaching closed countries when you give to FAME!

You are a partner we can count on – Thank you!

Even villages that have been closed to evangelism will have access to the good news because of access to health care and because YOU partner with FAME!

 

August Prayer Calendar

Thank you for your continued partnership with FAME through your prayers for the ministry. Each month we are blessed in knowing that you have come alongside us in praying for the FAME board, volunteers, mission partners, scholarship recipients, the staff, church visits and conventions or events.

This month, with so many of the kids going back to school, we ask that you partner with us in praying for our FAME scholarship recipients who are studying to become medical professionals in their home countries. These Christian students all desire to serve God through their medical professions. Each of these students are sponsored by a FAME Partner mission.

Please pray also for a short-term medical mission trip that will be leaving at the end of the month to serve with Central Brazil Mission. This team of 10 participants will be serving on a boat trip along the Amazon River. They will be docking at multiple remote villages along the river and will treat patients experiencing both physical and spiritual needs. Patients will make their way on board the boat to be seen by medical professionals on the team.

We also ask for your continued prayers for our partners in Ukraine and Haiti. Please pray that they will remain strong in their faith during these turbulent times. Recently, our FAME partner in Ukraine gave an update on the ministry there and wrote,  Russia needs to understand that just like David and Goliath, just like Gideon, this battle isn’t about human strength.  This is a battle of good and evil.  Ukraine may not have modern weapons or sufficient numbers of soldiers, but they have God with them.  The people of Ukraine continue to need our prayers most of all.

Thank you once again for your faithfulness and your partnership in prayer for FAME.

Blessings in the coming month.

Click Here for the August Prayer Calendar

Your Partnership Saves Lives

In a small mountain village, a young girl was carried to a clinic after traveling in Pastor Philip’s car for over 12 hours to reach the clinic.  Many of FAME’s partners LIKE YOU heard her story and wanted to help prevent such a tragedy from occurring again.

FAME partnered with YOU, churches around the country, Asia Christian Services (ACS), and IDES to send the needed funds to Pastor Philip in this small Himalayan foothills village to purchase an ambulance.  Here’s the quote from ACS about the Medical Evangelism in that region.

The eastern part of the State is devoid of many basic resources and Medical Outreach has been a very effective evangelistic tool.  It has given the team favor with the Government and the people in the area.  Philip regularly charters a taxi to take extremely sick people to a hospital 6 hours away.  IDES and FAME jointly sent funds to purchase a new vehicle to use as an ambulance, but the funds were frozen in the India bank system by the Hindu government.  After much prayer and many months, the funds were released and the vehicle is in the hands of the team.  THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS FAME AND IDES! 

Partnership has many layers, from YOU, to churches, to global agencies, missionaries, and the indigenous leaders in the community being served.  But I specifically want to recognize our partnership with IDES!  FAME and IDES have been partnering with a global impact for decades, we share many churches here in the USA as partners and around the world.  We both have differing focuses, but many times we overlap and are able to multiply our impact!  In a book I gave to our staff a few years ago it says this:…if you have the right people with you, they will give you the courage to keep going. 

I was in communication with a church partner recently as they told me about a trip they took recently, and how amazed they were to see an Ambulance in operation in this country they visited.  They shared how this wonderful ministry was changing lives, and treating people in the name of Jesus, and that it was so wonderful that this ministry had somehow acquired such a wonderful Ambulance.  I enjoyed the fact that they hadn’t seen or mentioned what I already knew, and then pointed out in their photos– that FAME and IDES had partnered with YOU once again to meet the need of this Central American mission Clinic.

Thank you IDES for your partnership!

Thank YOU for YOUR partnership that makes global partnerships possible!

Bill Warren
Executive Director

I’d Like You to Meet Atifa and Regina

Atifa was expecting her first child and came to the Malek Christian Hospital. She was concerned because 8 out of 10 mothers in South Sudan experience sepsis and tetanus infections during labor and birth. Due to traditional practice, there were no clinic deliveries by skilled birth attendants in this place before Malek Christian Hospital was built.

Atifa is pictured here in the current waiting room resting on the floor waiting for her time to give birth. This is not how the hospital wants things to be, but they have increased the quality of care greatly! BUT YOU CAN HELP UPGRADE THIS SITUATION.

Regina and Dr. John in an exam room and consultation room divided by a drape.

Regina is the Registered Midwife Volunteer worker at MCH Maternity Unit who is one of the heroes who have created a safe and clean clinic where 45-55 mothers are giving birth free of infections every month!

FAME is partnering with the Malek Christian Hospital to build a 4-bed Maternity Delivery room will be a significant upgrade not only in the capacity but also in the quality of care given to mothers in this remote isolated region.

  • Brand New Delivery Rooms
  • 4 Brand new beds
  • Privacy will be increased
  • Brand new equipment and supplies
  • The 4 delivery bed structure will impact good health through: infection prevention and adequate room for effective and efficient practice.
Dr. John Kuot at the back of the hospital where the delivery room will be added

Dr. John Kuot, the Sudanese overseeing Physician says, “We are pursuing the great commission and we don’t feel good when the mother and children we are supposed to help are getting infections or risk getting an infection at our facility. These upgrades will allow us to give quality care WITH the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If you’d like to know more about this Project click here.