The Harvest Is Plentiful:
Reflections from Gabon

It has been a little over a month since my return from my most recent visit to Gabon with our partner church, Stillwater Community Church. I find that I returned from this trip with my heart both joyful and burdened. Joyful, because the evidence of God's abundant harvest was visible on most of the days of our visit. Burdened, because the laborers are few, and the needs that we saw far exceeded our capacity.

Stillwater Community Church has been a long-time partner of E4 Project. We took a team of ten, and we planned to participate in activities organized by our partner organization, MINE (Ministry and Evangelism to Children), as well as wheelchair distributions and eye clinics with Pastor Jacob. The week was filled with amazing opportunities to collaborate with our partners. As a team, we organized three different eye clinics (with Global Vision 2020 eye kit), spoke at churches, helped dig a water line for Pastor Jacob's home (they have not had running water in three years), continued construction at PK27, assisted with a mobile medical clinic outside of Libreville, participated in the annual summer camp with children (a day full of fun with over 250 children) and distributed wheelchairs to people in need.

At the end of each day, the words of Christ kept surfacing in my mind: "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." (Matthew 9:37-38). The magnitude of the need was humbling; we had to turn people away when the sun set or our supplies were exhausted. As a visiting team, we were able to see how many people needed such basic care. For instance, here in the States, simple things like reading glasses are taken for granted. As an aging man myself, I know how frustrating it is to not have my readers nearby. However, I have no idea what it is like to have no access to them at all. To help people my age who face similar challenges every day, such as reading their Bibles, deciphering small print, or working with small objects, readers are essential. When we had to turn people away, they would literally beg us to do just one more exam. The light was fading, and we couldn’t see to use the eye charts or assemble glasses, but people kept arriving and asking for help. There was a certain point where I felt helpless, as we had glasses for about 300 people, yet many more kept coming.

And just as so many people needed basic eye care, they were spiritually in need and ready to hear the Gospel message. Pastor Jacob shared the Gospel at each clinic, and 66 people gave their lives to Christ. Imagine, as followers of Jesus, bringing vision to people physically, yet missing the opportunity to meet their eternal need for salvation. Fortunately, our partners in every country we serve share the message of Jesus with all who have their physical needs met through our programs.

The way we were able to serve alongside our partners during these clinics was just as impactful to me as it was to them. We came home, already strategizing how to purchase more eye kits so we could see at least 600 people next summer. I was very impacted by one woman we saw. She was an elderly woman, probably in her 80s, who came to get prescription glasses. When she came to the exam area, I could see that her eyes were grey and cloudy, most likely cataracts or glaucoma. As she sat 12 feet from the eye chart, we asked which way the letters were pointing: left, right, up, or down. She replied that she could make out a figure, maybe a man, near the chart, but couldn’t see anything else besides the figure. As we grabbed the highest corrective lenses we had and assembled her glasses, and handed them to her, she immediately was able to tell us which way the letters were pointing. It was such a joyous moment for her and our team.

Below is a short summary of our team's impact together with our partners.