April 6-16
Working with Marie Agee and her team is always a pleasure. That is one reason I try to go to Guatemala every year. This is a trip where you have a good place to sleep, get to shower each night and the food is great. I try to take someone with me to Ezell Clinic who is new to medical missions and this year two nurses, Julie Plemons and Margaret Ball, were my choices. They were a great team to travel with and work with. Julie had been on medical missions prior to this trip, but Margaret was a rookie. She performed like a veteran and managed the all night recovery room duty like a pro. Both were able to go to remote villages and experience the joy of that kind of service. I think they enjoyed the villages more than the Ezell Clinic.

June 18-25
This was my third trip to Belize with Dr.
Robert Mahaffey and his team from the Broken Arrow Church. We transformed a community center into a medical/dental/eye clinic. One of the joys of this trip was that two students in the medical field accompanied me. One was Lori Roberts my great niece, from Saskatchewan and the other was Brittany Bankhead from the Legacy Church. Both were great workers and non-complainers. We treated about 1000 patients and I believe 6 were baptized.

August 15 – September 6
Dr. Mike Smith organized a trip to Sudan and
asked me to go along. While this was my first trip toSudan, Mike is a veteran. He knows their history and culture as well as they do. I am sure you are aware that Sudan was at war for 20 years and the cease fire has lasted about 2 years. All travel was by small air craft. If you look up “third world countries” I believe Sudan should head the list. We traveled with a security guard and were assured that everything was safe. Living and working conditions in southern Sudan were primitive but the people were cordial and most appreciative of our treatment.

One of the villages where we conducted a dental clinic had not seen a dentist for 25 years. I could have stayed there for months and not satisfied their need for extractions.

September 10 -20
Rosalyn and I traveled with two members of the Caris Foundation for a quick tour of some of the work Caris is doing in China.

We did some of the tourist things for a couple of days and spent the rest of the time traveling and inspecting Momma Jo’s Care Center and the clef lip/palate surgery clinic. Momma Jo’s will house 165 children. This will be a fine facility when completed and will change the lives of hundreds of children over the years.

The surgery clinic visit was an emotional experience. We saw many children who were just out of surgery and an equal number waiting to
be treated. The heart breaking part of the visit was the hundred plus children who had to be turned away because we lacked the time to complete all the surgeries. However, we are pleased that 156 surgeries were completed and another clinic will be conducted in 2006.

Our trip home was a nightmare. Our plane was 10 hours late getting out of Beijing and that threw our schedule off for the rest of the trip. We traveled all night two nights in a row and spent about 20 hours waiting in airports.

October 27 – November 8
The second trip this year to Nias, Indonesia was with a much smaller team. I enjoyed the trip and I think we accomplished as much good as we could have hoped for. God really blessed our efforts and we had no serious problems with crowds, transportation or facilities. In one of the small villages we delivered a baby, which we were not set up to do. It really was a team effort. The doctor had not delivered a baby for 9 years and she had nothing with her to help the procedure. I had sterile hemostats, needle drivers, scalpels, suture material and a few sterile towels. The baby and mother are fine and the mother named the baby after the T.E.A.R.S. team.

We also saw a little boy who was very near death. He was suffering from malnutrition. We were able to start an IV and administer emergency care. We left him in care of a local physician and left plenty of food and vitamins for the whole family. I heard yesterday that he is well and back in school.

November 8-17
It is only a few hours from Medan to the Philippines. That is why I extended this trip to include a few days in Manila, Tagaytay, Cebu, Talisay and Mindinoa. I had several
reasons to visit each of these places and Salvador Cariaga took time to be my travel companion. I plan to continue working with Salvador and in the Philippines. I expect to go there at least once a year for several more years. Churches are being planted and growing in numbers and faith. I want to do what I can to encourage each of these congregations to become self edifying and self supporting.

I’m tired of writing and I am sure if you have read this far, you are tired of reading. But I want you to read on for a few more minutes. I want to tell you some of the great opportunities for serving in 2006.

I have been contacted to help in medical/dental missions in China, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Indonesia, Kenya, Nicaragua, Nigeria, and the Philippines,. I am sure that after the Medical Mission Seminar in January there will be many more opportunities to serve. The cost of doing one of these trips is about $3,000.00 ($2,000 travel expense and $1,000 materials and supplies). I tell you that so you will know how much you will need to accompany me on one of them.

We plan to help with the clef lip/palate surgeries in China again in 2006.The cost for surgery has increased to about $250 a patient. I am hopeful that we can fund through BandS Ministries at least 20 surgeries.

While in Nias in November we were presented with an unusual opportunity. The survey of the population found 5500 blind people on the island. 5000 of these are blind only because of cataracts. We can do cataract surgery for about $125.00 an eye. I am hopeful that we can share the cost of these surgeries that will take place at the Lukas Clinic with some of the service organizations. The cost for us will drop to about $60.00 if they will share equally in the cost. I am hoping that a lot of you will want to give at least one person their sight.

I have been ask if 5000 blind from cataracts is a high number for the 700,000 population. You need to know that there have not been very many cataract surgeries done on this island in many years. You can imagine the backlog there would be in a city of 700,000 in this country if there were no surgeries for several years.

We do all that we do in the name of Jesus. He is honored by our good works and we are honored to be called to do them. You can have a part in this ministry through prayer and financial support. Remember you can:

Give sight to a blind person $65.00 - $125.00
Repair a clef lip or palate $250.00
Cover the cost of one clinic where
Hundreds of patients will be treated $3,000.00

May your soul prosper and be in health. May this festive time of the year prove to be a great blessing to you and your family. And may the Lord bless you in the coming years.

Your brother,

John C. Bailey, D.M.D.