When people think of the African jungle, images of wild animals, exotic birds, and snakes often come to mind, as well as thoughts of darkness, fear, and foreboding. However, in the depths of the African jungle, there is a place of great hope and light. It is called Bongolo Hospital in Lebamba, Gabon, on the west coast of Central Africa.

A mission in this area was started in the 1930s by missionaries from the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church. The hospital, founded in 1977, provides medical care to poor people of Gabon and its neighboring countries. The light of the gospel of Jesus Christ is shared with every patient who arrives at the hospital complex. There are, on average, over 2,000 recorded professions of faith each year as a result of the ministry of the hospital staff.

Since 2014, Dr. Elizabeth (Izzi) Elliott, a member of the North Hills (Pittsburgh, Pa.) RPC, has served as part of the medical team of this extraordinary mission. Izzi is the director of maternity care at the hospital and the assistant team leader for the 17 missionaries stationed there.

In February 2018, Michelle LaMay, Jen O’Neill, and Pastor Harry Metzger, members of the North Hills RPC, traveled to Bongolo Hospital to visit Izzi and assist her in her ministry. Below is an account of their experiences.

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We were in Gabon for 11 days. Our goals were to encourage Izzi, observe and better understand her ministry, support the mission team at the hospital, and assist in spreading the good news of Jesus.

We arrived in Libreville, the capital of Gabon, on Friday, Feb. 16. After spending the night in the guest house in Libreville, we began the difficult nine-hour overland journey to Bongolo, arriving at the hospital late Saturday afternoon.

Early the next day, the Lord’s Day, accompanied by Dr. Renée Valach, the hospital’s medical director, and Izzi, we left for the remote village of Etéké, where a small church has been established. Renée and Izzi try to visit this small, isolated group of believers three or four times a year. A few years ago, a patient and his caregiver came from this village to receive treatment at the Bongolo Hospital. While there, they received Jesus as their Savior and Lord. After their return, the news quickly spread that the one man’s notorious anger was gone. This awakened a spiritual interest in the village, encouraging many people to purpose to follow Jesus. About 30–40 believers now meet regularly for worship in this small village.

Although Etéké is only about 50 miles from Bongolo, it took us five hours to get there! Traveling over virtually impassable roads, we eventually got stuck in the mud. With Renée driving, the four of us got out into the almost-knee-deep mud to push our vehicle out of the bog. No success! Realizing the hopelessness of our situation, we prayed a brief prayer asking the Lord to help. Within two minutes, the only other vehicle we saw for the entire journey came up behind us. Quickly and easily, we were towed out of the bog.

Our rescuers told us there was worse mud ahead but to follow them and they would lead us on the best path to maneuver through the mire. With them leading us, we eventually made it to Etéké.

We were an hour and a half late for the worship (no real problem by African standards!). While the worship service was going on, some of the Christians rushed out to greet us very warmly. They literally washed our feet, which were covered in dry mud. We quickly changed out of our mud-spattered clothes and joined them for the remainder of the service.

Harry preached a message from Ephesians 2:1–10 (“What we are apart from Christ, and what we are in Christ”), with Izzi translating into French. Following the message, the local pastor summarized the content into Mitogho, their tribal language. Three people came forward to receive Christ. Harry and Izzi reviewed the gospel with them and led them in a prayer to recognize Jesus as their Savior and Lord. We instructed them so that they might grow in the Christian faith, encouraging them in their study of the Bible, to learn to pray, and to take advantage of Christian fellowship.

At the end of the service, the whole congregation fervently prayed that we would make it back down the mountain safely. We completed the 50-mile return trip to the hospital, including passing through the bog where we were previously stuck, in a swift three hours. It was a long, tiring, but blessed, day; one we will never forget!

The next week, Harry led staff devotions each day. He shared from the “walk” commands of Ephesians 4 and 5—walk in a manner worthy of your calling (4:1–6, which means living in humility, unity, and in light of eternity), do not walk like the Gentiles in their futility (4:17), walk in love (5:1–2), and walk in light (5:7–10, which involves goodness, righteousness, and truth).

Following the daily devotions, we assisted Izzi with her ministry. We prepared materials for the Gabonese children who attend classes for the church that meets at the hospital. On Mondays, we taught an English Bible class to the children of the missionaries. Each day, Michelle and Jen helped with organizing and cleaning in the maternity ward of the hospital. Word spread throughout the hospital compound of the work these two ladies were doing. Some of the missionaries came to the maternity ward just to observe the transformation that was happening.

We also spent time preparing for perhaps our most daunting ministry task. Members and friends of the North Hills RPC had collected clothes for us to distribute to the Pygmies living around Bongolo. These are isolated people, who live in poverty and who rarely come out of the jungle. They are often held in suspicion and scorn by the outside world. There is no Bible in their language and no Christian leader among them. We organized clothes and food to be distributed to 38 families living in two Pygmy villages.

On Saturday, we traveled to the two remote villages accompanied by Izzi, Meladee, a missionary from Michigan, and Jacquie, a Gabonese believer and wife of the administrative director of the hospital. After our distribution of clothing and food, the Pygmies gathered to hear a short presentation of the good news of Jesus. Harry shared the Word of Life, with Izzi translating into French and then Jacquie translating into their tribal language. At one village, 13 people acknowledged that they wanted to receive Jesus as their Savior.

Knowing we would have to leave these people with neither a Bible nor a Bible teacher, Harry asked Izzi if there was anything we could do for them. We quickly had Izzi write out John 3:16 in French on a piece of paper. Jen and Michelle transcribed 12 other copies of this precious truth. We gave this verse to all who had prayed to receive Christ. It was a small gesture, we realize, but with some people in the village who are familiar with French, we hope and pray that the simple truth of this verse will spread throughout this village and beyond.

Izzi, Jacquie, and Meladee visit this village a few times a year. On their previous visit, in December, Izzi met a woman who needed surgery. Izzi told her that, if she could get to the Bongolo Hospital, they would perform the needed surgery at no cost to her. She was able to get to Bongolo, where she received the surgery. This woman was one of the people who came forward to receive Christ!

Each night we gathered with Izzi for a time of reflection, Bible reading, prayer, and psalm singing. This time became very precious to us as we bared our hearts and shared our joys and struggles. Izzi told us that these times gave her great strength for her ministry and were used to sustain her even after we left Gabon.

We are very thankful for the opportunity to travel to Africa to visit and minister alongside our dear friend, Izzi Elliott. Resting in the joy and strength of the Lord, we laughed a lot, cried quite a bit, experienced broken hearts in various ways, and rejoiced in how the Lord led us and worked through us.

We arrived home in Pittsburgh on Feb. 28, to a warm greeting by our families at the airport. It was a delightful and rewarding mission trip for each of us. It was also challenging in that we were faced constantly by poverty, the likes of which none of us had ever seen. In our devotional time together on Saturday evening after visiting the Pygmy villages, we sang from Psalm 36B. It was a great comfort to know that, although we were leaving this amazing ministry, and leaving people who are hungry for the Word but who do not have it, that we all—rich or poor, healthy or sick, new believers or mature ones—can drink from “the rivers full of His delight.”

If you would like to know more about Bongolo Hospital, the story of the mission’s founding is told in Beyond the Mist by David Thompson (Geneva College graduate, class of 1969). David also tells the story of his involvement with Bongolo in his autobiography, On Call. You can also visit their website (www.bongolohospital.org). In addition, any of the three of us would be happy to tell you more of our experiences. If feasible, Izzi would be happy to visit any of our churches when she is home next on furlough.

Pastor Harry Metzger, Michelle LaMay, and Jen O’Neill are all part of the North Hills (Pittsburgh, Pa.) RPC.