My name is Felix Chibwe, a 35 year old Christian currently in my third year of my training in general surgery. I believe the Lord started teaching me to trust and wait upon Him very early in my long journey to a career in medicine. I say so because as a very young believer I was faced with having to deal with final year high school results that had gone missing for no good reason: This called for patience and trust in the Lord. So I look back and I now know i needed these lessons to prepare me for the journey ahead.

I got accepted into the University of Zambia two years later than i was supposed to due to a printing error that had skipped my final high school results but it was the right time because through the delay, the Lord had preserved me from the frequent closures that had characterized the university during the period I was waiting for my results such that when I finally got in I was able to go through my seven- year undergraduate training without any delay.

At the end of my internship I desired to work in an environment where I could freely use my career to serve the Lord alongside fellow believers. This is how my wife and I sought the Lord for an opportunity to serve at Kalene mission hospital which was under CMML in the northwestern province of Zambia. However, despite having put in a request to be sent to Kalene, the authorities decided to send me to a government hospital quite in the opposite direction but within northwestern province. So we obliged and went to this other hospital but continued to wait upon the Lord who in His faithfulness used the saints on the CMML health board to get us to Kalene after the last resident missionary doctor had been taken ill, barely two months after we got to the government hospital.

It was my greatest joy to serve the Lord at Kalene for three years (2013-2016) alongside other local and overseas believers, much more to see souls saved besides the help for these temporal bodies rendered through the medical services. But through it all, the greatest challenge was not being able to do much for those that needed more specialized surgical treatment on my own. So I began seeking the Lord for an opportunity to get some formal surgical training and this He provided in 2016 when I got accepted into the medical school under Copper Belt University, the second largest government run university based in a town called Ndola.

I am currently in my third year of my training with one year till I finish and the Lord has placed the right people along my path from whom I have learnt a great deal and He has taught me to trust Him more! I received a gift of $5000 in March this year from MMN at the time when I had come to the end of the resources I had and this has helped me with my accommodation and other school needs especially as I begin to prepare for my final clinical exam by September this year and seeking Ethics committee clearance for my research scheduled for the final year of the training, 2020.

I have acquired enough surgical and trauma/ critical care skills to enable me provide quality and safe surgical treatment to the rural poor who are horrified just at the thought of being referred to urban hospitals outside their comfort zone from which most have never stepped out. For this, I am most grateful to the Lord for the help rendered to me through MMN.

While here in Ndola, I have been gathering with believers who gather in a gospel hall within about 2 km from the hospital where I have been doing my training. I have been privileged to learn so much from the Bible study, the ministry meetings and I have participated in gospel outreach slated for each last Saturday of every month.

I have also been privileged to use my medical skills to serve the saints and their families through my house rounds. This has encouraged many, especially the elderly and those kept away from the meetings on account of ill health.

May the good Lord bless all the staff at MMN and all the partners for all the good work that you continue to do around the world.