As a child and teenager I loved to read. (I still do.) Our church library in Puslinch, Ontario, Canada, had a little lending library with mission books and other character-building, quality-reading materials. Sister Erika Baer was our church librarian. She would unlock the wooden cabinet with glass doors on many a Sabbath for me to return a completed book and check out a new one. I think I checked out every mission, biography, and history book there was in our little library. Here I read about people in faraway lands who risked their lives and gave their all for the spreading of the good news of salvation. I also enjoyed Brother Alex Macdonald, who would show us slides of Africa at our September conferences in Canada. I was fascinated to hear about the culture, the conditions, and needs of the people and, most of all, the incredible answers to prayers and the miracles which God performed to honor the faith of His children.

When my husband, Charlie, founded Mission Projects International (MPI), a business-owner, and lay-members mission outreach network, I was thrilled. I had dreamed of such an organization for years. I had dreamed of projects organized by lay members to build churches, schools, and clinics which could involve young people, parents, trades (skilled and unskilled) people, but all with a burning desire to spread the glorious truth and love of Christ to so many needy. It is unbelievable how the Lord is opening doors and answering prayers.

Now, let us fast forward 3 1/2 years from MPI’s simple beginnings. MPI is now supporting 60 Bible workers in Africa alone, has purchased a school in South India, and supports a radio program in the Philippines and church buildings in South and Central America. But recently there was a gathering in our home church with medical missionary enthusiasts at the Third Annual World Medical Missionary Congress in Moriah Heights, California. It was here that plans were laid to go to Africa for a Medical Missionary Clinic. We had a guest speaker, Dr. Liliane Stojic, who spoke about dental health, and she really encouraged us to assemble a team and go to Africa for a couple of weeks. The aim was to teach Biblical health principles and offer free medical services including dentistry. Finally, we had a team with a common interest and a plan to go to Africa with medical personnel and a support staff. Who signed on? Dr. Dragan Ivanov, Dr. Liliane Stojic, Dorothy Ilic, Charles and Marline Balbach. Interest was brewing. Solid plans were being laid. Next stop, Korea, October 2007, GC session. Here we had the opportunity to network once again. We met our African delegates, we met Dr. Ivanov again, we met with Professor Elias Souza from Brazil, and there was much interest. Here we decided on a target date - our medical missionary venture was scheduled for July 2008! Now we had work to do.

Friday, June 27. We landed in Kigali, and met Brother John Bosco and a few other brethren. We immediately noticed that Rwanda is a very clean country. The streets have no trash in them, and everyone, including small children, is working. Widows clean the streets every morning. Jailed convicts, wearing orange clothes, dig ditches, plant trees and landscape or do other community service. Children and women carry plastic containers of water, some walking for a kilometer or more to bring water to their homes. Most people have no electricity and no running water. They also have no TV. The young people and children work hard in Rwanda.

Rwandan children are very helpful and bright. When our vehicle overheated and we stopped by the road, within seconds a few children gathered around offering us water for the radiator! We felt quite safe there.

God’s hand and leading were very obvious in our work in Rwanda. The fact that Branko Ilic was able to come to Africa with Dorothy was a great blessing which was God’s doing. Branko was always there to help those in need and also to jump and run and do for everyone. He was also loved by the children.

Dr. Dragan Ivanov, well, we were preparing to go to the Kigali airport on Wednesday, July 2, when we received a phone call from Serbia that he was not allowed on the airplane because he did not have a visa for Rwanda. Brother Stoyko went to work. He went online to get a visa for Dr. Dragan. We felt it was critical for the success of our outreach program for him to be here. The Lord was merciful, and he arrived on Friday afternoon. He was such a blessing to the people. His teaching and consultations were much appreciated by the people.

Another miracle: one evening we left Kabarondo for our hotel in Kigali. When we were about 45 minutes away from the village, we met a tropical downpour. The rain was very heavy. It was dark and it was late. Immediately I thought about our brethren and sisters sleeping outside. “Let us pray for God to stop the rain from getting to Kabarondo.” We were only a short distance away. We prayed, knowing we have a powerful Father in heaven and stopping the rain was nothing for Him. When we got to the city the rain continued to come down in torrents. We were soaked, and the streets were full of water. It rained a few more hours. In the morning we headed back to our village, wondering what had happened through the night. As we drove into the village, the streets were damp. It had rained. I wondered, did it rain this morning or last night? I asked the brethren as soon as we arrived - God had heard our prayers! It had rained only this morning. Everyone was able to sleep with no rain to contend with. Praise God! He kept the rain for about ten hours; He held it back!

Other miracles included the contacts made with the government, the First Lady, the Minister of Health, the way God softened hearts to allow us to work without registration, and with our dentist friend in Kigali. Let me elaborate on this. Dr. Liliane Stojic is a friend of ours in Sacramento, California. She loves to help people. Dr. Liliane was present at the World Missionary Congress held in Sacramento, 2007, and presented a lecture on oral health. While present she heard us speaking about a desire to go to Africa with doctors, dentists, nurses, a nutrition/health education team, and other professionals - builders, electricians, and so on. Immediately, Dr. Liliane got enthusiastic and she became a driving force in pushing forward the Team MPI effort to land in Africa. She asked us to get a dentist contact in Rwanda, to find out which supplies are available in Rwanda, and what we would have to ship or carry in. Bro. Bosco gave us the phone number of a very kind Christian dentist, Dr. Immaculate. She told us that there were only 11 dentists in Rwanda for 11 million people! She also informed us that dental supplies were hard to obtain, and that she orders from Uganda the dental supplies for her private practice. It is a process which takes 3 months. We were now faced with taking all the dental supplies to Rwanda, but Dr. Liliane said she was willing to do oral exams, extractions, and some fillings even if she had to work under a tree with folding lawn chairs. Now we needed permission to bring in all our supplies without paying duty and taxes. David Zic and I had no response or interest in the Rwanda embassy. We needed information and assistance with procedures to have the opportunity to help the Rwandan people. We were getting nowhere by April. Now it was too late to ship a container with supplies. We would have to downscale our operation. The whole mission was up in the air, but we pressed forward with preparation and kept our prayers ascending before the Lord. And, the Lord used Dr. Liliane. She would not “drop the ball.” She contacted the first lady of Rwanda and expressed her desire, as a dentist, to relieve suffering Rwandans. The first lady’s assistant directed Liliane to the Ministry of Health, and the ball started to roll. Now we needed all the certificates of the doctors and professionals on our team to be e-mailed to the Ministry of Health.

Along with our certificates, we wrote a letter to the Ministry of Health expressing our desire to work with the Kabarondo Clinic to help the people of the village. By faith the believers of Rwanda went forward. They had six weeks to find a piece of land, buy it, build a meeting hall or church, and a small clinic. I also insisted that it should have running water and electricity and flushing toilets. Am I ever glad I insisted on a real toilet! Do you know when we received our official letter of invitation from the Ministry of Health? We were to fly out of San Francisco on Monday, June 23, and our letter came on Friday, 2 days before the flight! Is our God wonderful! Blessed be His holy name! But we had another big blow just five days before our trip. I called Dr. Liliane to find out when her flight would arrive in Rwanda and got a shocking surprise. “Marline, I am so sorry I don’t know how to tell you, but I am unable to go to Africa, can you believe it?” Well, I swallowed hard and thought “Lord, help us, it seems to me that we need a dentist but you know what is best.” Dr. Liliane was quite discouraged about not going. She had worked so hard to coordinate much of this trip, and I tried my best through the blow not to make it worse for her. Okay, so we will go anyway. We still have two doctors. I am a nutritionist/herbalist and can share what Jesus has taught me, and Charlie loves to share about Jesus too, so we will just leave it in God’s hands.

Two days later, Friday, I got another very excited call from Dr. Liliane: “we got our letter of invitation to Rwanda from the Ministry of Health and no import taxes/duty on our supplies! I am so happy we got it in time.” Now I noticed there was still a note of hope in her voice, . . . but all last-minute efforts failed and, sadly, we had to leave for Rwanda without her.

When we arrived in Rwanda, Charlie had an idea which we believe was from the Lord. He asked me to get in touch with Dr. Immaculate from Kigali. Maybe she could work for us for 1 or 2 days. We called her when we arrived. She was so kind and willing. There was only one problem: Could we write a letter to her director at the hospital where she works, making a formal request for her services, explaining what we were doing in Kabarondo, and why it was important to have her help. This was easy, and she received time off. Dr. Immaculate even brought a technician to help her on the second day. It was such a blessing to the villagers and to some of our brethren and sisters. There is so much suffering due to abcessed, decaying teeth, and gum disease. Dr. Immaculate was so happy to help, and when we paid her in the end, she said, “How could I accept anything when you’ve come from America to help my people?” but we were happy to insist because she was a blessing. We look forward to working with her again. It was so nice because she could speak the language of the people. You see, just when we thought we had no dentist, God had one!

Now, are you ready for another miracle? Well, we had planned this whole medical clinic in another town where there is a church - Gitarama. MPI bought an adjoining piece of land to accommodate the believers who would come and to have room for a clinic building and to enlarge the church. The small church there was in the city, and we were so thankful that the adjoining property was available to buy. So MPI started building the bigger church in the spring of 2008. But in May we got news that another church complained about our activities, and we were stopped because our registration was not complete. So, what to do? Six weeks and we have tickets to fly to Rwanda but no permission to work or build. Bro. Bosco assured us that God would provide another place and that everything would be built, including a bathroom with a flushing toilet and running water in a new location. But where? After consulting with some brethren, he informed us that the new location was Kabarondo in Kibuye province, where some of the believers have a small herbal and nutrition shop. Now there were five weeks to buy land, build, and be ready for the people to arrive. And do you know what? We arrived in Kabarondo to view the facility, and the workmen were very busy finishing the walls. The church floor had fresh concrete, the clinic was complete and being washed. It was even painted! We were so impressed. The best thing was that we were now on the edge of town, with a beautiful view of the valley, with plenty of shade trees, a sitting room, and an open-air kitchen. We would be out of the village and would not be a disturbance. This was very important because we did not know that 527 people would come to the medical missionary clinic/seminar, plus many other villagers came daily to see the doctors.

You see, God knew that Gitarama was too small to accommodate over 500 persons, and the authorities would probably not have allowed such a big gathering in the city. I am so thankful that God chose the right location. I have learned through this experience that God is in our trials, working out something better, or working something out of our character which we can’t take to heaven. Why do I worry so much? God has always proved faithful!

There were so many blessings, I can’t begin to count them. All I can say is that it was a huge privilege to be at the clinic and to meet our brethren and sisters in Africa.

May God help us restore the years the locusts have eaten. Let us work while it is day. The shadows are falling very quickly as the night hastens when no one can work. So it is our plan to go again, if we can still travel, as the Lord opens the way.

If you are interested in participating, contact Marline at e-mail: hopeandhealth@yahoo.com.