It’s hard to believe, but I’ve completed the first third of classroom training here in Birth Attendant School (BAS)! As the kids are continuing to find their niches and settling into the swing of homeschool, Bob is getting plugged into media ministry on base. I have been reviewing antenatal care, global health needs, infectious disease, risks in pregnancy in the developing world, and labor and delivery. Here are some impressive and sadly very real stats about the people we are here training to serve…
The BAS focuses on serving the poor, where 99% of these preventable deaths occur. We especially aim to serve in areas where women are frequently devalued and left literally to labor alone, with no one to watch for and respond to complications. We seek not only to bring good primary and obstetrical healthcare and education, but to reveal the nearness of God to them. There is high emphasis on loving presence with, and prayer over, the people we are serving: women who are largely forgotten, and the generation literally being delivered into our hands. We desire spiritual birth for them as well.
This week our outreach itinerary was finalized and announced! We will begin our travels in late September, and divide our 8 months of clinical experience and service as follows:
Hyderabad, India
6 weeks in a public hospital BAS has been working in for years. The majority of our patients here are the very poor, and shown very little dignity or care.
Derby, Australia
5 weeks in the Kimberley region of northwest Australia, in the Aboriginal communities where there is a very high rate of poverty, family breakdown, and rampant Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. We are pioneering a work in antenatal care here, alongside the primary health care schools establishing a presence in the community. We will be the first BAS to do a mobile antenatal clinic in the villages of the region.
Lusaka, Zambia
Late December we will head to Zambia for 4 months to work in a large educational hospital in Lusaka. BAS has served here repeatedly, and the hospital administrators have enthusiastically affirmed the mutual benefit to the labour wards of our training there alongside their medical and nursing students.
Malawi
Finally, we’ll bus across the border into Malawi for another BAS pioneering work, serving in a community where the primary health care clinics have been growing. We’ll do a lot of neonatal checks and early childhood wellness checks and interventions during this time.
PRAISE God for defining and opening this way before us, providing all our needs as we follow along. It is amazing to see His hand working in our daily needs… Nothing is too great or too small for an Almighty and loving Father.
PRAY that God will have His way in us as individuals, a family, and a team.
PRAY for unity in the Body of Christ, and that we will be known by our love for one another. That we would walk in abundant grace.
If you haven’t let us know that you’d like our regular prayer updates, please sign up at www.invitation633.com/newsletter. We are so dependent on your prayer, on God’s hand at work in and through us. It is so important to us to know who we have on our team, and that we can count on your support.
We would also like to make known our financial needs for outreaches. Ideally our family will be all traveling together. We are anticipating an estimated $46,000 to cover outreach expenses for all of us. While this looks like a large sum of money (and it is), we reiterate that nothing is difficult for our God. He has always provided our needs (according to His definition of them), and always will. If you would like to invest financially in this work among the poor through BAS and the Fichtingers, there are a couple of options.
You can donate online at www.ywamperth.org.au. This is electronic giving, and will be received as Australian dollars (conversion rate is around $0.78 US to $1 AU. To calculate US dollar equivalent, divide the amount you want to give by 0.78. The number will look higher, but the conversion rate will correct the amount of $US withdrawn from your funds). This gift would be directed specifically to us by name (select “student” in the drop down menu and type our name in the notes section). This is NOT a US tax-deductible route to give. We receive 100% of donations, but there will be an international credit card charge added on.
We do also have a youcaring.com account through which you can give online. We receive 100% of all donations there. These donations would be in Australian Dollars as well, so calculate as above. This route also offers the convenience of electronic giving, but also DOES NOT provide a tax-deductible receipt.
If you wish to receive a tax receipt, please mail a check (made out to Bethel Memorial Church) to:
Bethel Memorial Church
1520 S. Main St.
Princeton, IN 47648
Enclose a note stating it is for the Fichtinger’s outreach fund; please do not write our names on the check. They have graciously offered to maintain accounts for us; 100% of these donations will go toward our outreaches. If this is your preferred route, please send the check asap; it takes a few weeks to process, and we need to purchase airline tickets in five weeks.
We praise God for His people; you are our family walking this road with us. We praise Him for the intricate diversity He has designed, and how we each play different roles in His awesome works on earth. We praise Him for the grace and adventure of walking by faith and interdependence on His Body. What a story, and what a joy!
We love you and thank you.
As His Kingdom comes,
the Fichtingers