Pray for Eric

Many of you remember Dr. Eric Townsend as the skilled Florida dentist who removed the girl's erupted canine teeth last summer. He gives his time and efforts to help those in need around the world each year. Now he needs our prayers. Please pray for Eric, his wife Joy and thier son Eric Jr. (21) who is in flight school in Miami, Flordia.

They received an early morning call from a hospital in Miami letting them know Eric Jr. had been in a car wreck and is now in a coma. The accident casued severe head trauma and mutliple broken bones in his face, ribs and pelvis. He is in very critical condition. Dr. Townsend asked the ServingHIM family to pray for his family.

From last year's trip: "Dr. Eric Townsend evaluated 14-year-old girl with super-erupted cuspids. They bothered her. She wanted them removed. In the U.S.A., the lateral incisors likely would have been extracted and then these cuspids orthodontically pulled down into the vacated space. In Romania, this is not an option. If the incisors were removed, there was no likelihood of the cuspids (canines) moving down into place on their own. If the cuspid roots were large and incisor roots small, removing the cuspids might leave the incisors very vulnerable. We do not have radiography at the clinic. She would have to be sent home without having her wish granted this week. Then, her mother recalled that she had an x-ray at home and ran off to retrieve it. After lunch, Dr. Eric determined the cuspids could be removed. After the extractions, the patient was given extensive instructions on home care."

Below Dr. Eric Townsend looks at the plans for the new clinic in Braila, Romania with Dr. Mac McDonald form Dallas and Dr. Witt Wilkerson from Florida.

Before treating this young Romanian boy, Dr. Townsend breaks the ice and poses for a picture of the boy doing dentistry on him.

Agian, please pray for Dr. Eric Townsend, his wife Joy and his son Eric, Jr.

Hard Work with Eternal Rewards

Dora heads up the clinic in Braila, Romania. She just sent these pictures about five minutes ago. She says, "Another busy and great day! Praise the Lord!"

Kevin and Patty Seidler in the courtyard outside the clinic.

Dr. Seidler celebrates his ninth year of doing volunteer dentistry in Braila, Romania.

Mike Fechner, the new Missions Pastor at Prestonwood, and his assistant Josh Rolf, talk with a man with crutches.

Mike meets new friends in the courtyard.

Patty talks with some Romanian women.

Sharing Good News!

Checking in a new patient to the clinic

Cameron Allen, a recent seminary graduate, gets to know a man and woman.

Active discussions in the courtyard.

Dr. Deb Senik opens the mouth of an older Romanian woman.

Marletta Bailey assists the dentist. (Below)

Valie checks vital signs before the dentists do their work.

"We all made it here safely and doing good. Sunday we attended church and then all went to lunch with a Romanian family. We set up clinic after lunch. Everythng is working well. We went to the evening service after set up and then had dinner at church. The food is great and people friendly...lots of love at the church. We just started seeing patients this morning. The courtyard looks full so I am sure the ministry is gooding good. So far everything seems to be running smoothly." - Amie Koronczok

Cody Cook from Mansfield, Texas goes on his second trip to Romania this month.

A view of the courtyard outside the clinic. Every morning, dozens of individuals wait for much needed dental and medical care. ServingHIM volunteers and interpreters get to know them as they wait. They also receive free books and a clear presentation of the Gospel.

Khaldoun Sweis, instructor of world religions and philosophy, (stripe shirt) communicates with this Romanian man using Lucian as an interpreter.

Linsey Seilder talks with this young Romanian woman before her treatment.

(Above) This will be the last team that will use the old clinic. (Below) After years of planning, fundraising and contruction, the new clinic is almost complete. The two million dollar project is fully funded except for the last $140,000. With God's help and your generous donations, together we can reach the goal. We only need 140 individuals to give $1000. If you would like to give, visit http://stores.servinghimgiving.org/Detail.bok?no=33

This new clinic will serve thousands of individuals in need each year. We are told this will be the most state-of-the-art medical facilty in the region. Dora says, "Thank you! The team is great! The meetings were good and hope that the others will go very well.

Those who saw the new Clinic were EXCITED!

Dr. Deb Seznik (left) gets ready for her next patient. The first day, the volunteer staff did significant dental work on 75 Romanian people.

You can see the need for the new clinic here.

Richard Payne works in the hygiene room. He can fix anything!

ServingHIM Team Finishes Strong

As with each trip, the delimma is how much to try to treat on each patient. The people have such a huge physical need, but as a team, we focused on their larger spiritual need. Like Jesus, we addressed their physical and spiritual needs. Patients who were successfully treated by our dental team became attentive listeners to the evangelism team.

Although the flow of patients seemed endless, the team pulled together to get each day's work completed. The smile of appreciation from one patient would give the encouragement needed to treat the next. One Romanian woman brought flowers to give to the dentists to show her appreciation.

Wednesday night after we finished working, we invited everyone who came to the clinic to a pizza party. The church youth and the staff from the clinic played musical instruments and sang beautifully from the heart. It touched us all.

During our trip, we made many new friends with the patients, translators and staff.

The faithful youth of the church translated for us these last four days. Eddie, a translator, came to our chair for only a filling on one front tooth and a few in his back teeth. However, we could not resist restoring some areas of discoloration on his other front teeth. When we handed him a mirror, the smile on his face made it all worth it for us all. His mother said she was very honored that he was able to get that treatment done.

Monday through Wednesday were quite warm. The temperature on Thursday was about 50 degrees. We handed out scarves and hats to those in the courtyard.

In hygiene we saw a few children but mainly adults. One thing we tried to do was homecare instruction at the end of each visit. A lot of the patients have never had their teeth clean but there is also some that it has only been 1 year ago.

Chuck and Nutu, a pastor from the church, had a good discussion with Otilia and her friend. She indicated that she was a Christian, but had not been in church in a long time. She explained that her father was Romanian Orthodox and her mother was Pentecostal. They taught her that they should not have idols in their home. She asked what the Bible had to say. Nutu spent about half an hour answering each and every question. Nutu is great with the older people and made sure that he had her address. Hopefully, we’ll see her Friday night, but if not, Nutu will be checking on her.

Tomorrow, the group tours the new Medical Clinic as well as the Home of Hope Orphanage. Both ministries were brought to fruition through the strong faith and years of prayer by Pastor Joseph and the members of the Holy Trinity Baptist Church in Braila. The building looks like it is almost finished.

Later in the evening, we will have the Friday Victory Service. This provides an opportunity for the pateints who visited the clinic thoughout the week to be welcomed into the Holy Trinty Church. If you would like to make a contribution to help finish the building, go to http://stores.servinghimgiving.org/Categories.bok?category=One+Time+Gifts

Thank you for your prayer and support. Please pray for the safe return of the team to Dallas this weekend.

Taking the Long Way to Romania

Yes, we made the home stretch!!!! A five-hour flight delay out of Dallas brought about a completely new itinerary for the ServingHIM Medical/Dental Missionary Team. Instead of arriving in Romania via London Saturday afternoon, we hit the sack in the Bucharest Airport Hotel on Sunday morning at 1am. On the four hour bus ride from Bucharest, the group remained optimistic and thankful that we made it safely to Romania.

We arrived in Braila Sunday afternoon. Several of the Church families invited us to their homes where they delivered incredible hospitality and fantastic meals.

All of these God orchestrated events served to turn a collection of 14 individuals into a fun-loving and focused team. The team arrived at the clinic ready to serve on Monday morning.

Pastor Iosif jumped started our week with a prayer for the combined Romanian and American teams.

Mark Hellberg and his interpreter Nutu, engaging in an in depth conversation with a Romanian man in the clinic courtyard.

Peggy and Cody making new friends with the Romanian patients waiting their turn for treatment.

Monday entailed multiple procedures on 57 patients. Dr. Ned Patrick from the Dallas area and Dental Assistant Jackie Killion from South Dakota work to delivery high quality dental care.

Dr. Chip Mercer decided to keep his committment to go on the mission team even though his denatl practice burned to the ground in July. Chip is seen here with a father and his son who both received complex dental care. The patients ranged from 18 months...

to eighty plus years of age. Dr. Tom Whinery of Arlington and Terri Piper from Iowa give their patient a new smile and a scarf.

The women of Grace Presbyterian Church knitted dozen of scarves which were given to appreciative Romanian patients.

After working in the clinic courtyard all day, Cody Cook enjoyes time with the Church youth at the end of the day.

Dora and Marcela's tireless efforts at the clinic ensure that the Medical/Dental mission work of ServingHim goes off without a hitch. They are both being flown to Dallas for the October 11th ServingHIM Banquet. If you would like to RSVP for the banquet, please email mikeredeker@servinghim.org

We think God smiled upon the Clinic in Braila today!

Heat Wave in Romania

(Marcella and Dora)

"The South Dakota team is doing well. They are very organized and have lots of energy. Dr. John Shroyer, Dr. Jeri and Dr. Heinemann are all great. Dr. Randy Sachau organizes and improves the quality and speed all the time. So, again a GREAT team here in Braila and we praise God for them. Please, continue to pray for us. It is very hot and we have no rain. The prediction is for of the same next month. Yesterday about 110 degrees in Braila. It is very hot for us and for the patients. God bless you." - DORA (Exectuve Director of the Braila Clinic)

(The baloon ministry in action)

Susie Tschetter called ServingHIM and gave the following report:



"It was a good day of dentistry. We saw 70 patients and individuals made decisions for Christ.
Dr. schroyer is a great Oral Surgeon. It is 100 degrees. Pray for people waiting for their appointment in the courtyard. It is hot and sticky here. There are usually 20 to 25 people in the operatory. We have had one brown out so far."

(Getting to know the Romanians in the courtyard)

"We look forward to being in the new clinic next year. It will give better privacy for the patients. New equipment will make it much easier on the volunteer staff and on the patients. We are currently bumbing elbows and chairs with our interpreters as we scrunch together to help those in need."

"A great story: A 15 years old girl came in who was mentally and physically handicapped came in with her mother because she can't walk on her own. She was scheduled for two extractions with Dr. Shroyer. She was screaming and scared to death. Dr. Schroyer asked the interpretor to tell her, 'You are not feeling pain. You are just scared. One of the team members held her foot and prayed for her that the Lord would remove the spirit of fear. At that moment, the girl calmed down and became quiet. Her Mother was embarrassed and yet thankful that the ServingHIM team met her daughter at her level just like she was family."