We DRILL and we FILL!!

Hey everyone. I have to tell you of the latest thing God has blessed me with. The last two weeks Chris, Kirby, and I have done some intensive dental training. The first week we spent in the classroom with our great "dentist professor", Gerry, where we learned how to use all these fun tools with fun names like 'explorer' and 'hatchet' and 'spoon' and 'drill'. Great names for tools that go in the small cavity called the mouth!! Spoon isn't too intimidating! Anyways, we learned how to spot cavities and gain access to the tooth and dig out the decay. We then learned how to make a small mixture to fill the cavity with and then seal it off with varnish. We learned how to do flouride treatments and other various things. This past week we left every day after class and drove to a car factory just on the other side of the border in Mexico. In the second floor of this "christian" run car shop we held a dental clinic from about 4:30-10 pm every day. At first it was a challenge to practice what we had just learned on real teeth in real people's mouths but as the week progressed we gained more confidence by God's grace in answering all our prayers...and let me tell you...those prayers were many!! I say this is a blessing from God because it is yet another tool in my hand to display the love of Christ to the nations. We have this saying among To Every Tribe Ministries which goes like this, "You have to earn the right to be heard." When we go to a new unreached place, we don't just shove the gospel in their face and demand that they believe. Rather, we be Christ to them and demonstrate our love for them in ways like medical clinics, baseball clinics, dental clinics, etc. We do these things in the name of Jesus so as to build relationships with people and earn the right to be heard. When you gain their friendship they will listen. They may not believe the gospel and they may even become your enemy. How they respond to the verbal presentation of the gospel is not dependant upon us. However, how we represent Christ to the lost is dependant on us and we must live lives above reproach and display Christ in all that we do and say. What a great way to display the love of Christ by first meeting their physical needs. When asked why we would do such a thing, we say, "Because Christ first loved me..." and we go on to share the gospel. Anyways, I wanted to inform you all of this new skill God has given me. We will be having a dental clinic in La Barra and Coicoyan. Gerry is going with us to La Barra of which we are all grateful. The Davis' went through this training while we were in PNG. So, there will be five newly trained "dentists" and Gerry, "the real deal." Please pray that God would make His love known to the people as we do dentristy among them. The whole reason Gerry does this two week training course for people is so they can show the compassion of Christ to people by meeting their dental needs. Please pray that the people would receive this compassion and receive the gospel!! We will be in La Barra April 30th-May 8th and Coicoyan May 28th-June 5th. Thank you for your prayers!!