Calling All Dentists!
Global Health Outreach is looking for a few (dozen) good dentists! Dental care is one of the most sought-after services on our primary care trips, and your dental care provides instant gratification for the hurting! Your healing touch, your professional service and your tender words open the door for receptivity to the living words of our Lord in ways that no other service can do. In fact, a primary need voiced by the sex trafficking victims to whom we provide care is dental care! Your extractions and restorations provide a sense of self-worth and self-respect each time these victims of repeated sexual abuse look in the mirror, and many have learned of and responded to the compassion of Christ in such settings.

We are taking additional steps to make it easier for you to participate in one of these needy settings. For the increasing number of dentists who are employees, we are assembling sets of instruments and equipment for extractions, hygiene and fillings/restorations that will be available to borrow/rent for the trip, since you have told us that it is getting harder to bring your own instruments and equipment when you are not in solo practice. We are also beginning to stock local anesthetic for you to take, so you will not have to assemble everything that you need.

Dentists are still needed on many upcoming trips. We have no dentists signed up for the prison trip to the Dominican Republic on March 10-18, nor the trips to Honduras, March 24-31; Managua, Nicaragua, April 14-22; Moldova, April 19-30; and Kabul, Afghanistan, May 4-18. If you are a dentist and you have served our Lord on a Global Health Outreach trip, please share these needs with your colleagues and encourage them to join this important effort. Encourage them to fund their dental assistant or hygienist themselves! They will all come back changed, and the entire atmosphere in their offices will improve!

"Hot" Opportunities for Service:
If you are interested in the trip to Burkina Faso, West Africa, this spring, from May 27 - June 7, 2012, make sure to get your application in by the end of February. Burkina Faso is a physically and spiritually challenging site; it will be hot, living conditions will be austere and the challenges of sharing the hope and compassion of the Great Physician are real in this animistic culture. The bureaucratic hurdles are real as well. We need to get credentials of the entire team turned in well in advance of the trip, due to problems created by other organizations in the past. The spiritual needs in Burkina Faso are great, and the fields are white with harvest! You will learn much about malaria treatment as well! Several more physicians/physician extenders are needed, as is a dentist; click here to see more trip information and to apply for the trip.

God Glorifies Himself AGAIN Through Faithful Service!
The first 2012 human trafficking relief team to the House of Hope in Nicaragua just returned a few weeks ago. Thirty people saw a total of 1,558 patients and performed 14 surgical procedures. The team pathologist and cytotechnician were able to provide two-hour turnarounds on Pap smears, leading to the discovery and treatment of one malignancy. On the eternal side, 150 women involved in sex slavery came from the brothels who had previously never been to the House of Hope. A total of 22 of these women made commitments to Christ at the worship service led by the team pastor, and five more women made commitments in private prayer with team members. Another 54 met the Great Physician with the evangelists at the school next door. Most importantly, many women reported to House of Hope staff that they saw the love of Christ through the hands of the team members! We should not be surprised at such a huge response to the hope and compassion of Jesus Christ, as worked out through His faithful servants; but I am overjoyed at how the hands and heart of Christ are worked out through your lives in delivering both life-saving physical healing and eternal spiritual healing through His redemptive work on the cross! Keep it up!

Spring Break Teams:
We still have space on some of the one-week Spring Break teams in March. These teams are designed for medical, dental and allied health students, as well as college students. We have room on the prison team going to the Dominican Republic, March 10-18; the El Salvador team, March 10-18; Haiti, March 17-25; Tela, Honduras, March 17-25; and the March 24 - 31 Honduras team to Guaimaca. This Honduras team includes surgery as well as primary care medicine and dentistry. Medical and dental students have expressed the desire for these spring break teams, but are apparently not getting the word. If you know medical or dental students, please tell them about these opportunities and encourage them to apply. As a matter of fact, why don't you tell them that you will contribute $500 to help them go? Lack of money is named as the primary obstacle to students participating in missions, so your excess funds can be a great encouragement. These students need physicians and dentists to mentor, disciple and supervise them, so please prayerfully consider signing up as well!

Spiritual Growth on Global Health Outreach Teams:
Disciple-making continues to be a priority on our short-term teams, and we continue to look for resources to help you become a better disciple and disciple-maker. One of the best resources we have found is Downline Ministries in Memphis (www.downlineministries.com). Downline is rolling out a variety of mechanisms for you to participate. The premier "product" is the nine-month Downline Institute, an intensive training program that trains both clergy and lay leaders in biblical disciple-making. Each class is designed to be fully re-teachable, so you can learn, follow and reproduce Jesus Christ! Downline has just broadened this to offer the institute classes online, so it is now available around the world. Additionally, the curriculum is offered on DVD. Check out Downline's website to see which format is best for you, and to see the additional resources that are available!