Thanks be to God and all his mercies! We have just returned from our fifth Three Rivers Outreach Medical Mission to Liberia in west Africa. Many thanks to you all and to the clergy of St. Philip’s Church for your donations and prayers.

Vinnie Rhodes (R), with Three Rivers founder Sonny Dupre and physician assistant Lynden Pelbath

This mission proved to be our most successful to date, and we are indeed seeing God’s hands in our work as we deliver blood pressure, diabetic, and various other medications to the marginalized peoples of Liberia. People there simply do not have access to ongoing healthcare, and what little access is available is quite out of reach financially for the average person. Vascular disease (primarily strokes) and diabetes are a major cause of morbidity and mortality, and yet they are, for the most part, completely untreated. Our mission is to establish ongoing primary care for the evaluation and treatment of diabetes and hypertension. We provide six months of medication free of charge to all patients requiring treatment. We also evaluate and provide care for other acute and chronic conditions whenever possible, and we refer to specialists when appropriate. Unfortunately, most of these people will not be able to see the appropriate specialists due to travel and cost restraints.

Dr. Rhodes and patient

During this eight-day clinic, we evaluated 575 patients, over 250 of whom were returning patients, and we distributed over 200,000 tablets to patients in the clinic. Although this treatment of the physical maladies of our brothers and sisters is undoubtedly very important, it pales in comparison to the message that is being delivered. While most of the patients who visit our clinic are Christian, approximately 1/3 are practicing Muslims. Each morning, we have a prayer and dedication with teaching from the Gospels. Typically, this is delivered by a local deacon, our dear friend and partner Anastas Johnson.

Click here to listen to Deacon Johnson's message.

Deacon Johnson preaches unapologetically directly to our brothers and sisters of the Muslim faith and challenges them to seek out Jesus Christ. This is indeed a rare opportunity to preach to so many and possibly bring them to Christianity.

We are prayerful that we will soon have a treatment algorithm and more medications available for distribution. This would allow us to open the clinic once or twice a week in the time period between our bi-annual trips so that we can continue to build our base of patients and offer more traditional access to primary care as you and I know it. This increase in access would allow us to see patients much like the young lady we saw on the last day of clinic, a 32-year-old mother of two. Eight months ago, she suffered a stroke that left her with crippling right hemiparesis, or one-sided muscle weakness. Her husband left her because he did not want to be married to a “cripple.” Her youngest is two years old.

These are our brothers and sisters we are trying to help. Please pray for our patients and for those who have not yet accepted Christ as their savior. Please pray that God’s will is done and that this medical and ministerial outreach glorifies Him!

Lynden Pelbath tends to a patient's wound.

We are so thankful to St. Philip’s for coming alongside our founding church partner, St. Andrew’s Mt. Pleasant, to make this mission possible. We are also so thankful for our newest team member who traveled with us from Charleston, Lynden Pelbath, PA-C, without whom we could not have cared for the many people we were able to see.