Monday, June 1, 2009

Mission Accomplished

What an exciting and eventful year this has been. We thank you all for your support. We are so grateful for all of your moral, spiritual, and financial support. Our experience has certainly impacted Nigerians and our family in a very positive and meaningful way. God has answered prayer and we believe we have truly accomplished the goals and missions that we set out to do initially. Lives have been saved, others, including our own, have been transformed.

Not only have lives been saved, but many more patients have a significantly better quality of life because of Michael’s intervention. Giant tumors have been removed, hearing restored, and severe traumatic wounds have been repaired. What excites Michael the most, however, is that much of the knowledge and skills that he has brought to Nigeria will stay in Nigeria. In one week, the lives of three small children were saved by Dr. Aboiyar, who used very specialized equipment and skills to remove foreign bodies from their airways. There are very few places in Nigeria where the parents could have taken these children. Certainly, the quality of care that they received from Dr. Aboiyar is as good as it gets in Nigeria (and America for that matter.)














Lisa has accomplished her mission of teaching English in an academic setting. She went far beyond meeting the requirements of completing her master’s degree. Not only did she improve her students’ English language skills, but she mentored interactive teaching methods out of love and compassion for her students. Such methods are rare in this culture. Outside of teaching, the challenges of managing a large home in a developing country were brilliantly overcome by Lisa. She was very much in her element.


Emily, too, achieved her goals. She not only learned something of medicine and surgery in a mission hospital, but has been a great help as well. She was instrumental in setting up and organizing the ENT clinic. Her help was most appreciated by Michael as she assisted him in surgeries. She went on to help with patient care on the surgery service, where she has become quite proficient at wound care, especially burns. Additionally, children at a local orphanage, the neighborhood children, and grade school children at Hillcrest where she has substituted have all benefitted from her loving tutelage.




Hannah, Sterling, and Camille have matured as well. They are now keenly aware of how two thirds of the world’s population live, in contrast to the luxury that we have in America. They have all come to appreciate the lively, cosmopolitan, and yet devout community of missionary families that we are a part of. They have all expressed interest in service-oriented careers, and they are all interested in coming back overseas in some way.

Our mission in Nigeria has ended for now. We will consider if, how, and when we will return to Nigeria in the future. On May 31st we departed Nigeria from the Abuja airport. We are taking advantage of our route through Europe and vacationing in England. On the way home we have to stop in Charlotte, NC for a debriefing with SIM, our mission organization. We will arrive back in Vancouver, Washington in mid June. The remainder of June will be spent taking care of over ten months of business and visiting friends and family. Michael will join ENT Clinic of the Northwest (formerly Vancouver ENT) on July 1st. This is a new and exciting practice opportunity for him.

Thanks again for all your support. We know we have many friends and family in the US as well as in Nigeria who have been following this blog. Blessings to you all. We may add a few reflection entries to the blog in the next couple of weeks.


Michael Mitchell, MD


4 comments:

Lindsey said...

Wow. What you all have done in Nigeria continues to blow my mind. And I'm so excited you guys are coming home!

banji said...

a good job well done !keep up the good work.

Steve said...

I'm very happy for you all and what you have done in Nigeria. I hope you have a great time in England. We look forward to seeing you.

Missionary Mary said...

What an incredible experience! Thank you so much for sharing each step of the way with us. Lisa, I thank you very much for helping me figure out how to teach and what to teach here! And thanks for your heartwarming stories of life in Nigeria. You are an inspiring family to be sure and I pray God will bless the fruit of your hands for years to come wherever you are!

Blessings to you,
Mary