OCC on January 22nd 2022

Please see the blog post just before this one for the latest update on Dolores Bland written by Olen Netteberg her son in law who is a Dr at Bere.  Just added it this morning. 

Driving to church was interesting as it was very foggy up there.  The trees were coated in a nice thin layer of frost. 

A visiting Pastor was at OCC this weekend and brought his son along with him. 

It was Pastor Petar Djakov. 

He used to live in Kelowna for 5 years serving at Kelowna church Pastor, but now he is the ministerial secretary for the BC Conference of SDA church. 

Pastor Petar came from Serbia and he has a wife and a two legged son and a four legged son or dog.  He thanks us for faithful giving during these last couple of difficult years.  

Before the church service time there was the lesson time. 

There was a lot of participation and conversation of Jesus, Our Faithful Brother. 

Prayer requests were mentioned and we want to keep those things in our prayers. 

1.  Jerrie Lou's sister in law and her daughter.  Pray for better health situation. 

2.  Pastor Josue's 2 sisters and 2 brothers had Covid but 3 are feeling better now for which he is very thankful for.  Please keep his family in your prayers along with Hudson their precious dog.  Hudson is sick and needs medical help. 

3.  Many of us keep our children in prayer and you can join us in that. 

4.  Dolores Bland who is missionary Danae Netteberg's mother.  There is a blog post on that and I will update it.  For now Dolores is in Berlin Germany in ICU. 

Reflections Team led out in the Praise Service. 

Tammy was the platform person of the day and had a smile for all. 

It was good to see a kitty in church telling us children were there too. 

Children's Story was told by GQ and was about a lady who was 100 years old and her Pastor asked her to put one little item in each ShoeBox that would be given to a little girl in some place where life was difficult.  The lady thought and thought and decided to sew ( she had learned to sew as a child having been taught by her seamstress mother) a little dress for each little girl.  There were 180 boxes so that meant 180 dresses needed to be made. 

Everyone wants to have a purpose and a reason to live.  Everyone wants to be needed. 

Not the actual dress but a little dress all the same.  

Thank you for Beverly and Pastor Josue for sharing photos. 

Special Music by the Reflections Team. 

Another prayer request was asked for by Pastor Petar and that was to keep Pastor Wesley Torres and his family in our prayers as he takes a light chemo now and continues to work in the afternoons. 

Helpful watch... shared by Doug. 

Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, Lost Son

What new thing can we possibly learn from this parable in the Bible?

The shepherd, the woman and the father are all seeking. Why is this in the Bible and what do we learn from it. What is God's message for me in this story?

Luke 15:1-2.  

Mark 2:16 and 17. 

If you are a sinner and we all are, this is such good news. 

Jesus is a Friend of sinners.   He encourages us not to continue in sin. 

There is something about repeating a very important point 3 times to have people remember it. 

In each story something of great value is missing and needs to be found. There is an all out search for the missing item as it is so important.  Great rejoicing happens when the items is found. 

Pastor Petar and his wife both come from very secular backgrounds.  His dad is a politician and his wife's mum is a judge.   (sorry, I can not remember the reason that was said at that point)

What is the matter with the shepherd to leave 99 sheep and go find one?

If you know the history and the culture of the story it helps understand.  The community would hire 2 or 3 or 4 shepherds to watch all the communities sheep. Poorer people might have 1 to 4 sheep while others might have 5 to 10 and the richer might have up to 16 sheep. 

If a poorer person only had one sheep it made that one sheep very very important. Imagine it being the one lost.  It was of great value to the owner. Therefor the shepherd was responsible to make sure it was safe. 

2 Samuel 12:3

David was the highest standard for a good shepherd. 

If the shepherd can not find the lamb he must bring evidence of what happened to the lamb so the owner would not think the shepherd sold it to make profit for himself.  Just like Joseph's brothers brought proof to their father of what happened to Joseph. 

Don't miss out on the blessings of the Spirit of Prophecy telling about these stories. 

The lost sheep represents those people who are lost outside of church. 1- out of 100. 

The coin represents people lost inside church which is difficult as they do not know they are lost. That is one in ten. 

Be aware of the problem.  Realize you have a problem - we might think we are ok but be like the 10 virgins who were lost like the coin.  Lukewarm.  Faithful or unfaithful servants like in the story. 

We need to the fruit of the spirit to tell us who we really are.  It tells about our character.  It is important. We need to compliment each other and work together to have all the gifts of the spirit. 

Some people are so worried about the  beast they talk about it and think about it and by beholding we become changed so lets think of the Lamb and talk about the Lamb and share about the Lamb and become like the Lamb. 

Be informed but don't be obsessed with the wrong one. 

Tell each other what Jesus has done for you.  How He is changing your life. 

What is our mission? 

To reach the whole world. 

We can support each other even if we have differing opinions. 

The parable of the Loving Father. 

Someone can be lost in my own family.   That is 1 out of 2 who are lost in the family. 

Each one of us has some family member who is lost for now but Jesus asks them back. When the time comes will they be back?

Lost people in our community.  Lost people in our church and lost people in our families all matter to God  - to Jesus - to the Loving Shepherd. 

Who are you?

The lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son.  

What is God trying to communicate to you in this story?

Romans 5:8

That loves brings us to repentance. 

He gave His life for you/me.

Romans 2:4

Matthew 11:28 Come to Me... keep on coming to Me. 

Love, true love respects choice.  

There is a risk with that. 

God is not Mad at you He is Mad about you.

Jeremiah 13:17 is a jewel in the Bible.

It does not make Him mad it makes Him sad, very very sad.

There is a place in God's heart for you... just for you. 

We can not stop loving the one that is missing. 

Update on Danae Netteberg

 I just read the latest update for Danae's mother who was in Chad to look after 4 grandchildren while Danae went to USA for a hysterectomy.  

Olen flew out of Bere and  will stop in France for more testing before going on to the states. 

Her dad will fly commercial.

Please prayer for the 4 older children left in Chad without mum or dad or grandma or grandpa.

Please keep Danae's mum in your prayers too as they think she has meningitis. 

Thank you. 

Olen and Danae are both Dr's in Chad and Danae's father is a Dr too but retired now. He has helped Danae on many surgeries in Bere. 

Danae and her mum, Dolores Bland, January 11th 2022 shortly after arriving in Chad this trip. 

Grandma and Grandpa Bland were in Bere to look after the children while Mummy was going to  having surgery in USA. 

The children before their dad and grandma fly off.

The latest I read ( about an hour ago)  is that they were still in the capital of Chad and hoping to get a different plane to Berlin. 

Danae is asking for many prayers for her whole family. 

Danae in USA with Baby Piper. 

Olen with Dolores Bland hopefully on their way to Germany now and Dolores' husband on a commercial flight I think still in France. 

The four older child, Zane, Lyol, Addison,  and Juniper.

Update: Written by Olen Netteburg

Well, I’ve slept about seven hours the last four days. I doubt my father-in-law has slept much more. He has always been tough. Trust me. Three years in northern Nigeria in the 60’s. Decades as the rural GP in America doing everything from hip replacement to appendectomy to cesareans. Rounding in multiple hospitals before and after running his office. Setting up a free clinic. Accepting non-currency payments from patients who couldn’t. Haying the fields and running a farm of 60 head of cattle single-handedly in the evenings after work, just because he grew up on a farm and didn’t know what else to do when he wasn’t working. (And being a vegan who raised cattle for the slaughter was a fact I always found amusing.) Traveling the world to work for free. Averaging over 1000 surgeries per year in Chad, Africa, from age 69-75. After two nights on the couch, we packed up his stuff off the bed so he could actually be on a proper mattress. I’d offered him mine the previous two nights, but he refused, insisting on the couch closest to my mother-in-law. Every night after he’d fall asleep I’d head home. Finally I got to see him fall asleep properly before I went home to clean and eat and get to some emails. 

Overnight we got a lot done. There’s a Canadian med evac company flying a patient to France as I write. Since they’ll be in the hemisphere, and since we have a friend of a friend, we will get her home for 120k. All the way to Fayetteville. Everything else was more than twice that, except for another friend who could limp her back in a tiny plane making eight stops along the way, with us being crew. His would spend at least 50k just to pay his own expenses. It’s been a million emails and texts and calls, from the US embassy to a dozen companies to a half a dozen friends in the industry to various country options to Docs willing to take her on their private service and treat her and house her for free to people praying and back again through the list. 

We had soft promises of billionaires’ private jets that then vanished. We had… it’s been a ride. 

Besides brief rides of pressers and oxygen, she’s been stable. At her best, she spontaneously opens her eyes and tracks, grunts and makes purposeful movements. At her worst, she’s a GCS of six. She has never closed her eyes at the command to close eyes. But she is not worse. She just went all night without pressers or oxygen. 

But the rollercoaster of her waxing and waning health, and the steeper rollercoaster of will we or won’t we evacuate and is this plane or that plane coming, are we going to France or America… that rollercoaster seems to be flattening out. Decisions are being made, but plans will still change, I’m sure. Her health isn’t guaranteed, but we’re encouraged. 

The jet only has room for one passenger, and the family is pushing that passenger should be me. My boss in America is also pushing me to be that person. But I’m not going to elbow my father-in-law out of the plane. There is minor discord. There will already be a physician on board, but people know me and don’t know him/her. I’m sure he/she is excellent, although my boss (who’s a physician) isn’t as sure. So we are offering to fly the physician home first class from Paris in exchange for having a second seat on the plane. Not sure if that’s allowed, but I’m licensed in America and willing to be the physician of record. I don’t know if that’s enough or if the industry has other regulations. Maybe if somebody here knows, they’d be willing to tell me if that would even be a remote possibility. I’d leave the kids here and fly back as soon as I land in the states. My kids are now 6-12 and they’re good kids. 

The plan is to have us fly up 10am Monday and they arrive 10am Monday, spend an hour on the runway getting situated and doing whatever we need to with emigration and leaving. Get to Fayetteville by Monday night, four stops later. 

Her health could still change for the worse. But she’s decidedly better now than she was 48 hours ago. 

Financially, Adventist Health International has decided to front the money and not ask anything from us. They were never our employer, but they manage our hospital and dozens more like it. They have been here many times and hold monthly board meetings. 100% of donations they receive labeled for “Béré” come to us. We’ve been together for over 11 years and my in-laws were here for six. They decided that money should not slow down the decision to evacuate from the first moment and offered to front it from the start. They have also decided the right thing is to not ask us to repay them. I’m sure this fiasco will end up personally costing us thousands here and there and add up, but that’s nothing compared to what it could have been and a minor contribution we are eager to make for the health and safety of our own mother. AHI hasn’t yet decided where funds can be reallocated from other projects, but they won’t come asking us to repay it. 

Thus far, true to form, even though I specifically asked y’all to wait and not donate until I figure out where money will come from, somebody found our old Venmo and started spreading it around, so I put it up for people to give. And true to form, you guys make me cry every dang time. There’s around $24,000 sitting in our PayPal and Venmo accounts we will be sending to AHI. That’s an amazing 20% of the evac bill from people who have never met me or my in-laws. Nobody here owes me anything and never has. 

For anybody who wants to help AHI replenish whatever other funds they had to tap into to cover this, they are an amazing organization we’ve personally donated tens of thousands to over the years, because we believe in them and what they do and we’re happy to make our meager contributions from what we earn. We’ve been giving to them years before we ever showed up here, even in medical school and residency, and if a medical student is donating to a place, that’s saying something. 

Ahiglobal.org/donate is where you can find them, and many of you have found them time and time again over the years. They take all manner of donation, including PayPal. Actually they also take donations of your time, in case you want to volunteer overseas. (And EVERYBODY processed here through AHI has evacuation insurance paid by AHI. Somehow we let this one slip and my in-laws didn’t come through AHI, they just showed up on their own. Lesson painfully learned.) If you want to mark your donation “Béré” in the memo line, it will come here. If you mark it “evac,” it can replenish the funds they used. There’s an email on the website you can email to ensure the donation goes where you like. 

I love you. You are my tribe. You are my encouragement. You are strength. I love you. Thank you for your words of encouragement. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your good thoughts. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you. I owe a cumulative debt to EM Docs that has built over years that is not financial and that I cannot ever begin to repay. Thank you for who you are. You will never know what you mean to me. I promise. You can’t. 

My mom died in 2017. And your words sustained me in a hard time. My children were going to die of rabies in 2017, and nobody will convince me you did not save their lives. My friend’s wife died in 2018 when I couldn’t be there physically for him. And you were there to hug whom I could not. When depression creeps in, you are there. When patients need advice my feeble mind can’t conjure, you save them. My mother-in-law is now my only mother. And I don’t know if she will be around tomorrow, or the day after, or the day after that. But I know you will be. And I’m comforted. 

I love you. Know that. 🥲

Edited to add: For those who find Venmo easier, AHI doesn’t do that. But you can send to @danae-netteburg (maybe need last four of phone number as 7790), and we will be happy to send it on.”

From Danae today... Friday, Feb 4th. 

It’s been exactly 2 weeks since I got Olen’s text. I had just brought my stuff in to my in laws’ house in PA as we had just drove in from Ohio where I had my preop appointment.

‘Your mom is not ok’

‘Define not ok’

‘Comatose’

We’ve gotten used to texting back and forth even with important and stressful information because that’s how we function with cruddy internet at times.

Olen worked nonstop with the team in Béré for days and days to assure the best care for my Mom. I would be on the phone the first day and mom would go apneic and I’d thought we would lose her when I’d here my father crying and the alarms beeping.

The last 2 weeks have been tortuous for all of us, but once mom got to Arkansas, it’s kind of settled down. It’s a miracle in itself that she made it from little tiny Béré across the whole WORLD to Arkansas. Thank you to all who made this happen! (That’s a whole other story).

Unfortunately settled down is not what we want. We want her to get up and respond! We want her brain to wake up. But that just hasn’t been happening. The 2 days before she flew, she was on room air and satting 99%, breathing on her own. Sadly, the flight doctor insisted that she be intubated for the travel, which isn’t completely unreasonable considering she came back Covid positive (even though what is making her very sick is bacterial meningitis). We knew if she was intubated, it would be next to impossible to extubate her given her lack of following commands.

We had family discussions of possibly flying DNR and not intubated (just so they would take her, believing she would make the flight not needing any interventions) versus intubating and full code. It was/is a rollercoaster.

So here we are 2 weeks out. She possibly asked for water before she left Béré but really wasn’t following any commands. Since being in the Covid icu in Arkansas she hasn’t shown any signs of following commands or knowing anything. And then we got word that she had to be isolated for a full 20 days since the Covid test (so looking at feb 13) with minimal interaction.

Bless everyone working in the Covid wards. The chaplain zoomed with us yesterday. It meant a lot. Today we were able to zoom again and spoke with her doctor and chaplain. Thank you to all of you who’ve been helping families come together with Covid.

And the good news that my dad already shared, is that she seems to be waking up a bit more today. She seems like she gave a thumbs up when asked. She is in restraints or she would pull out her breathing tube (a good sign that she wants it out).

I am a firm believer in miracles. I see them happen often in Béré. And I believe God is all loving and wants good things for everyone (not just those who people think deserve it). And I believe He does listen to our prayers as he did with Abraham. I’m also a realist in the medical world who sees a LOT of death and suffering. And God isn’t any lesser of a God when bad things happen. It just means we are living in a world of sin and sadness that will one day be perfect, but not yet. Today was nothing short of a small miracle that mom possibly followed a command.

Looking forward to more miracles, but today it was nice to have a thumbs up. Thank you to everyone who has said a small prayer to the Creator of all of us for my Mom. Keep ‘em coming.

January 16th 2022 at OCC

 Lori led out in the lesson study in the book of Hebrews. 

Come out and join in this Bible discussion. 

Sadly there was no special music so after the Praise Time Jerrie Lou shared her story with us. 

She told one of Dick Duerksen's stories from the Review and it was a good story. 

She got Doug to find it online and show us all the picture of the little plastic church in the story. 

Thank you for sharing it Jerrie Lou. 

Alex was the platform person and introduced Bev Haines for having the sermon. 

Mark! The book of Mark in the Bible is a remarkable book!!  Pun intended!!!

Mark uses the word immediately often. 

It means, right away, or instantly. 

9 times Mark uses immediately or forthwith or straight away. 

Mark 2:1 -5 says that the house was full.  Jesus was there and people came to be where Jesus was. 

There was excitement when Jesus was around.  People know something would happen. 

They knew they would leave changed and renewed. 

The friends of a man with paralyzed man did not get discouraged and leave when they saw the house full.  They took him to the roof and made a place to lower him to Jesus. 

Can you visualize that happening right here in OCC?!?!?

When Jesus was born, there was no room for him, only in the crude stable. 

Now, His fame had gone viral!

Ellen G White tells us to study the work of Jesus. 

The 4 friends interceded for their friend. 

They took the roof apart. 

They went a long way to get help for their friend.  

Jesus saw their faith.

He rewarded it. 

Are we standing in for our friends and families that need Jesus?

God's healthful remedies help everyone. 

Self isolation, healthful food, use of hot and cold fomentation helped people in their illness years ago. 

Exercise, sunlight, onion poultices, pine needle tea, black see and honey, and rest are all good healthy things for us to do or get. 

Medical missionary work is the answer. Now is the time to labour for our fellow man/woman/child. 

It is now God needs us to ministry to people in our city.  

Isaiah 58 is good to read to inspire us to action. 

Holy Spirit power is available right now.  Will you step out in faith today?

Will you accept the call?

Be the hands and feet of Jesus. 

Cold/Flu Tea

1 onion sliced thin

1 head of garlic crushed

1 lemon sliced thin

2" piece of ginger

Bring 6-8 cups of water to a boil. 

Add onion, garlic, ginger and boil for 1 minute. 

Add lemon and steep covered for 10 minutes. 

Thank you Bonnie Franks for sharing this. 

Gay got these following recipes from Bev. 

Thank you, Gay. 

Activated Charcoal (when available) 1 Tbsp activated charcoal 8oz of water Drink at bed time Will decrease the virus gastric load. Charcoal also is anti-inflammatory will decrease the load of cytokines in the GI track. Also reduces gastric symptoms.

Oregano Inhalation 8 cups water- boil in pot. Once boiled, put 2 drops oregano organic and pure oil in spoon then in pot. (if oregano oil unavailable, may use a full hand of oregano leaves, boil for about 5 minutes prior to inhaling) 6 drops eucalyptus oil (optional) 5-10 minutes inhalation, For infection every 2 hours For prevention1-2 times day.


 Oregano Gargles 1 glass jar 12-oz water 1 drop pure organic oregano oil For infection gargle every hour while awake For prevention gargle 3-5 X day

Church and Visit in Hawaii

Beverly messaged me as I had invited her to send some photos of her time at church in Hawaii. 

She so kindly shared with us and also shared a fun experience she was on the other day. 

I really appreciate people sharing with us.

Here are her photos of last Sabbath. 

Really enjoyable service this a.m.  in the Kailua church.  Keiki Corner is the children's story time and the Ohana is family time, caring and sharing time. 

Open air, socially distanced, mask wearing, covid aware group. 

Plexiglass shields between praise service members and congregation. Praise group had drummer and electric guitar and did not hold back much... Joel would have appreciated it. 

Young black Pastor.  Really appreciated his message based on Romans 6: 7-11.  The Pastor had an interesting friend visiting who has a YouTube ministry. Currently has 600 people doing Bible study lessons with some recent baptisms.  His name is Justin Theo - several thousand followers. Justin lives in Portland, Oregon and started this YouTube ministry 6 years ago as  That Christian Blogger. 

Mahalo

Matching BC with snowfall is Hawaii's rainfall. 

Swimming pool in the rain. 

We survived!!!

Very much enjoyed our shark dive today, Wed, on North Shore. 

On the ocean before sunrise with large ocean waves and fun boat ride out. 

We were in the cage before sunrise. 

Water was a bit murky due to recent rainstorms but there were lots of sharks checking us out. 

Also had a couple of humpback whales that went by. 

God's nature is awesome. 

Beverly H 

Good wrap up of this lovely time with family. 

January 9th 2022 at OCC

 The Pastor and Tammy were back!!!

So nice to hear them singing together.

This time even Liza did not know where Doug got that visual from for the children's story. 

Thanks, Doug, for your very interesting and unusable stories. 

Dave played and sang and lead us to think about Jesus. 

It sure is nice to have him share his music. 

The Pastor spoke and started with Exodus 25:8  "Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them."

He is saying to build Him a room that He can hang out with you/us.

He wanted to connect and spend time with His people. 

The sanctuary was made of wood and gold.  One cheap material and one very expensive. 

Wood was outside and gold was inside. 

Wood is us.  Gold is Jesus. 

He surrounds us and makes us precious.

Nature is God's second book.  Spending time in nature helps us to connect with God. 

Connection is very special and sometimes we may even get teary and don't understand why.  The connection makes us feel special. 

1st reach of intimacy... from curse to forgiveness. 

Isaiah 53:5 "But He was pierced for our offences; He was crushed for our wrongdoings....

The flowers die from the curse. They have thorns. The thorns don't bother the ants and crickets and things that eat the plants no matter if there are thorns, but Jesus wore the crown of thorns for us. 

We can ask for forgiveness from Jesus.  It is between us. 

He asks us to go and sin no more. 

His name is Wonderful. He will forgive us our sins. 

Forgive 70x 7 or limitless amount of times.  He said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. " 

We don't realize just what we are doing either, but He still forgives us. 

Salvation has to lead to something better in order for it to become something better. 

2nd is Prayer.

Connect with God. 

Closing hymn.  Thanks for sharing Liza. 

If any one wants to try one of those decadent croissants the Pastor was talking about this is the place to go. 

Out the door and by the pond. 

 Pretty Kitty. 

He looked like a fuzzy stuffie, so I backed up and he moved... 

 Gay's creative artsy ice heart. 

Icicles last Sabbath... gone this weekend I think . 

Around and about Kelowna in January.