For BandS, 2008 began the same way it has for the past several years. We did a Medical Mission to Butuan, Mindanao, Philippines. Dr. Samuel Cariaga organized the entire event and did a superb job. He couldn’t have done this without the assistance of his wife, Elvie. We worked more than 12 hours each day of the clinic and treated over 2400 patients.

I also visited places in and around Cebu where I have worked for several years.

The Center Point Church in Bagiou was celebrating its 5th birthday, and I was asked to be the speaker at the morning worship. I spent many hours with the staff and members, encouraging and instructing them. BandS plans to do a medical mission there later this year, led by Dr. Sam Cariaga. This church is supported by the Legacy Church of Christ in North Richland Hills, Texas.

From Bagiou, I traveled to Medan, Indonesia. I was planning to assist in the cataract surgery clinic Caris Foundation International sponsored in North Samatra. I arrived in Medan about midnight, and the next morning at 5, I was getting ready to drive to North Samatra when I fell on some stairs and injured my back. I spent 5 days in the hospital and 12 days recuperating before I could fly home. While I was recuperating, the medical mission team completed 103 eye surgeries.

In April, I met Ron Brown “Agape China” in Shenyang, China. This is the city where we will do the cleft lip/palate surgeries. The purpose of this trip was to locate a hospital and hotel that could serve the needs of our team. We will create a lot of traffic in the hospital, because for the first time, we will work two shifts in the surgeries. We hope to do more than 100 surgeries in the few days we are there. Surgeons from China, USA and Italy will be working together.

On the way back from China, I stopped in Manila and spent some time encouraging fellow workers. In Cebu, I visited for the first time the “Give a Kid a Goat” program that is organized by Salvador Cariaga. The program is meeting with much success and has a great potential to help move hundreds of families out of poverty. It was here in Cebu where I celebrated my 73rd birthday. It was a great time on the beach with the Leyte kids building a giant sand birthday cake.

In Manila, I met Rosalyn when she flew in from DFW. After just a few hours rest we flew to Butuan where Rosalyn was one of the speakers at the National Women’s Retreat. For the first time she got to meet our Leyte Orphans, now referred to as Leyte Ladies and Gentlemen. She fell in love with them and them with her.

Dr. Sam Cariaga will be working for BandS for the next few months. This allows us to do a lot of work in needy places, even when we are not present.

A total of 890 patients were treated by Dr. Sam and his team in Buena Vista, Cagayan de Oro, San Felipe, Tacurong and Tangtanza. The planned clinic last year in one of these towns was cancelled because of radical Muslim bomb threats.

Because of our connections in China and the Philippines, we were able to be among the first to respond to the disaster in Myanmar and China. Workers from the Philippines were among the first to get into the areas of Myanmar that were most affected. We have teamed with Agape China to help care for 400 children made orphans by the earthquake.

We have some exciting things to accomplish in the second half of 2008. Construction will be completed on the John Connor Brown Training Facility at Made in The Streets farm in Kenya. It will house a hotel-size kitchen at one end to train chefs and food workers. The other part of the building will have facilities to train beauticians.

Your memorial contributions for Connor were so great that we will also complete a 70-bed orphanage in China before the end of the year. The Chinese government has given us permission to call this the “John Connor Brown Christian Care Center.”

We have an eye surgery mission to Nias, Indonesia, June 20-29. Two of our photo-journalist friends will accompany us on this trip and document the surgeries in Nias. They will also visit our orphanages in Butuan, Philippines and the “Give a Kid a Goat” farm in Cebu.

In July we will conduct our cleft lip/palate surgery mission in Shenyang, China.

We need help recruiting medical doctors and other health care providers for a mission in Cambodia in January 2009. This will be our first trip into Cambodia, but it will be to join experienced missionaries who will make all the arrangements for the mission. Physicians, dentist and nurses who have been thinking about making a mission trip would do well to come on this trip. Please let me know as soon as possible of your interest.

Please stand with us on the giving side of human need in our attempts to share the love of Christ to those who are among the poorest on earth.