Cuba was just delayed until Autumn, 2010, as we could not be cleared for a visa by the gov't of the USA. 

Vietnam:

• Our multi-specialty team to Vietnam will be Oct 1-16, 2010, but Dr. Brent Senior is leading an ENT team to Hanoi for one week, 26 March - 3 April 2010.
• May—Pediatrics Multi-Specialty team (May 1-14)
• Oct—GI Multi-Specialty team (Oct 15-30)
• Nov—Family Medicine/Primary Care (Nov 5-20), contact Dan Mitchell at dmitchell@chartermi.net.   

Welcome to Parsons Ministries.  This is a website designed to tell you about several missionary opportunities, and to encourage you to be involved with us either by prayer or participation.  The photo above is my wife and me in the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem on one of our unique mission trips!  Wonderful!

Whenever I am in the mission field, I try to journal daily onto this website to allow you to know the challenges and accomplishments of our teams.  To read the daily reports select "Daily Journaling" on the left side of this screen, then select "Vietnam or Cuba."  I only recently learned to blog so that address is above.

Many of you are not able to join us on one of our trips, but your participation with us through prayer is greatly appreciated.  The power of such support is awesome.  Several of you have requested information how you could support someone who couldn't go without financial support.  Let me know, and I can get your support to them, anonymously, if desired.

Others of you would like to join us, so look on the left screen, "Mission Opportunities," to read more about our various experiences in Vietnam, Cuba, Mexico and Israel. 

Feel free to recruit!  Our door is open!  My numbers are below.
In His Grace, David

David S. Parsons, MD, FAAP, FACS  ><>
Clinical Professor, Universities of North & South Carolina
Pediatric Otolaryngology, Charlotte Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Associates
Office: 803 328 1864     Email: parsonsdav@aol.com

To read the daily journaling from the just completed trip to Vietnam, go to http://parsons-ministries.blogspot.com.

Here is a copy of the email I just sent to our email list of interested medical professionals.  Let me know if you would like to be on the list.

Thursday, 26 March 2009

Lou had a good night. Gloria was exhausted so Benito spent the night with him. His mind is clear and he is feisty (always a good sign)! He is still not discharged as of 3PM today.

Our purpose here in Havana is abundantly clear. There is something missing and all the doctors and their spouses want to know what it is. They are confused. They think if they had all that we have, they would be happy. They believe money and “things” would make their lives whole. One of the doctors came to me today and told me he had read my life story on the laptop. He wanted me to know that he agreed. He knows he has found the real meaning and purpose and it is NOT the money, etc. What a joy to know that we are helping our Cuban brothers and sisters!

Last night, Sam and I were able to have one of the Cubans and his wife out for a beautiful dinner. We discussed life, its meaning, what is behind it all and the need to make an important decision. We gave them a book, a longtime best seller, and we even read from parts of it. I think it is a very easy book to believe and we encouraged them to enjoy it! I was also able to give them one of Roger’s crosses and explain why it is naked and what that means. We felt they were appropriately receptive.

Today was another day of the sinus course and the ENT doctors (students) from the provinces really got to do a fair amount of the surgery. It went extremely well and they were thrilled to learn so much. We spent time in the clinic seeing patients they thought needed surgery, but we explained other options that were far better than surgery. I feel the patients left happy. Sam is currently doing a cosmetic nose and this is something ENT doctors don’t do here. They were thrilled for the experience.

Ronda was with us today. Ronda is Laura’s age and is bilingual. She has a marvelous sense of humor and is loved by the Cuban’s. She gave them a lot of new ideas about the airway and then translated for me during the sinus surgery.

We hear that all is going extremely well at HA. Lectures, surgery, relationship building, evening events, etc., are all going well. Craig missed yesterday being sick with the same as Lou but not as bad. Everyone else is well. Agnes is having a great experience at the Peds Hospital. She is such a pro!

Tonight Ronda and I are taking another couple out and she will share her story and translate. Tomorrow is our final day of surgery. It has been a very effective trip. Thank you for your prayers. In His Grace, David Special note!

Wednesday morning, 25 March 2009

Notice about Lou.  Lou will be 77 next month and is the heart and soul of REI Cuba. He has a little GI bug but has gotten dehydrated. He is now in the hospital but is OK.

Knowing he is OK, I can tell the interesting stories about his care. Juan Hernandez, from Connecticutt, is our first hero. Knowing Lou was ill for the second day, he made a house call and declared Lou needed an IV and hospital care, not hotel care. Feeling this would be best handled by Adolfo, several of us took off for the hospital. I was praying and walking fast when suddenly a vehicle pulled in front of me and I started to walk around it. It was an ambulance! “Sam! Tell them we need them!” and Sam did the rest in Spanish.

They went to the hotel and I went to get Adolfo. He dropped everything immediately and we were off to the hotel. The ambulance team didn’t have to ask anyone. Off they went with Sam and Ray, our Anesthesiologist. By the time Adolfo and I arrived (up 20 floors at morning rush and the elevator stopped at every floor!), the IV was going and we were ready to transport.

Adolfo and Tony Paz at Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital, had arranged everything and the head of the hospital and head of the Internal Medicine Dept were waiting. Bottom line – Lou is in very good hands and is getting a first-hand look at medical conditions in Cuba. He will probably be discharged in the AM. Every attorney should have this experience! :o)

When we returned to CG, the entire hospital’s surgery program has been shut down because of no blood. We were doing Base of Skull surgery and we couldn’t argue with the decision. Sam is now lecturing and I have time to relax and write you. Whew! What a morning!

Tuesday, 24 March 2009

Hello all! Other than major website glitches, everything is wonderful. The team is really functioning well together. Everyone gets along famously and our goals are clearly similar. Lots of laughter! We have several Cuban cigar affectionatos!

This morning’s devotional by Craig was particularly meaningful to me. It is apparent that we are desirous of planting a strong future for Cuba, both medically and spiritually. As Cuba changes through the years ahead, what will be the direction of its growth? Will there be a core of leaders not unlike has happened in Korea over the last 50 years? Or will spirituality remain as sadly depressed as it appears to be right now?

I presented one of the laptops this morning Rich McKnight obtains used laptops, repairs them and furnishes them to us for free to give to various Third World locations! See what someone can do to promote ministry without leaving home?

On it are most of my PowerPoint lectures and my testimony in both Spanish/English, the Plan of Salvation, and a chapter in Mike Hamel’s book, Executive Influence, where I describe how a surgeon can become spiritually intimate with patients without offending them. In the past I’ve simply given the laptops with these computer programs, hoping someone would read them. But today I was able to talk about the need for doctors to be equipped to care for the whole person, both the body and the spirit. They were very receptive and one has already told me he read it!

Most of the team went to Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital. Their reports are excellent! Again lots of fun, good experiences and tonight they are having a banquet. Sam Girgis and I were alone at CG directing the province surgeons in complex sinus cases, then lecturing all afternoon. I am exhausted! They are extremely appreciative and we have really developed many dear friendships. I gave surgical scrub bonnets to the female staff from our Arthocare rep, and you would have thought I gave them the lottery! Such joy! You have to realize the level of poverty to understand the joy in such little gifts.

Tonight was particularly special to me as I took Berta and Pla to supper. Both are family to us. The conversation was very special and I was able to give Pla one of the beautiful handmade crosses Roger makes for our church and for the TIME trip to Mexico. I was able to explain its significance, just as I do to the people in Mexico. Very important!

I received a lovely Cuba photograph book as a gift today with an inscription that clearly tells me we are accomplishing our goals. This was a very joyous and fulfilling day! Thank you for your prayers! They are being answered… for sure! In His Service, David

Monday, 23 March 2009

A very good start! After our devotional and breakfast, we met with MINSAP and it went wonderfully. All restrictions were removed and we were able to plan the conference as we jointly desired. This is a major step forward and a clear answer to prayer! Thank you! (and you didn’t even know to pray about this because I haven’t put Sunday’s note online yet!)

Here is the team breakdown as to where everyone is working:

Craig Hedges, Joel Ernster, John McMahon and Juan Hernandez are at Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital.

Agnes Sax is at Central Habana Pediatric Hospital.

Sam Girgis, Augustine Moscotella, Ronda Alexander, Ray Sykola, and yours truly are at Calixto Garcia.

Ray, John and Joel will float to both hospitals.

You will read mostly about the Calixto Garcia Hospital experiences, because that is where I am, but I will try to get info to you about the others. I haven’t seen anyone else except the team I am with since this morning so I have limited info.

Our team met the Hospital Director (our third cup of coffee Cubano… breakfast, MINSAP), then went to see all our old friends at CG ENT. Lots of hugs and kisses (Cubanos are lovers!) then off to the OR. The medical goal of this trip is to try to help the smaller city ENT doctors get a feel for modern surgery with modern equipment. So today was all sinus. We were to do a laryngectomy but he had preop health problems. Sam was the primary surgeon and was able to give a lot of pointers to this packed OR.

After lunch (and the 4th cup of coffee Cubano), we went to the lecture hall for an all afternoon lecture on basic sinus surgery, which I gave and Ronda helped. The others went to the clinic. What was the most valuable today (and this is always the case) was the friendship building and re-establishing the warm bonds with our old friends. We’ve made dinner appointments to be one-on-one with doctors, friends and their spouses. This is the heart of what we are doing. This is where the deep and genuine conversations occur about life. We stay away from politics and just focus on the heart. Wonderful!

I will talk to you tomorrow and please continue to lift the team and our goals in prayer! In His Grace, David

Sunday, 22 March 09

Last night we had one of the finest discussion meetings we have ever had on any such trip. The REI team discussed our goals in light of the major changes that are occurring in Cuba.

First, you must understand the history here. This is clearly a Third World country with Third World medical issues… almost no modern equipment, no modern libraries, books, or journals, and no internet. Imagine a prize fighter defending his title with both hands tied behind his back!

Over the years we have seen the attitude of the doctors begin to shine as we brought new equipment, new ideas/techniques, upgraded and often created new libraries with books, journals, subscriptions, computers, and DVD’s. But still, there has been a general feeling of hopelessness among so many of the doctors. What a change since our last visit two years ago (remember we failed to get visas 3 times every 6 months)! Instead of our REI staff pushing to get visas with two warring governments, the Cuban Society of OtoRhinoLaryngologia (I love to say that!) made a commitment to battle to get us the visas. They They did it! They also dropped the typical selfish idea of “we need more of this/that” to “please help us advance the doctors in the smaller cities away from Habana.”

The outcome? Both governments approved the request for visas. I was mistaken, as it was the American government that restricted our team to 100% Christians (this was from the Obama team!). The Cuban government is non-restrictive on the spiritual side, but is highly desirous of our helping the Cuban doctors understand what we are blessed to see daily in our surgical practices. When asked, we can answer honestly, including the issues of praying with patients, spiritual counseling, etc.

As you can see, doors are opening in ways we could have never dreamed. The attitude of the Cuban doctors is changed. Hope is visible. It is an extremely exciting time to be here!

Church this morning… again, the Holy Spirit is dynamic and moving in Cuba. It is so fascinating to sit in a service, not understand anything beyond “Jesus te ama,” Glori a dios” and “Amen!” and cry tears of joy repetitively! Cuban traditional spiritual music is so exciting. The churches are facing such challenges, the people are poor and the pastors are the poorest (financially) but they keep pushing and the results are monumental!

This afternoon, we had a cultural exchange allowing us to see lots of the city, primarily Old Havana. But tonight was another monumental evening as we met with our Cuban colleagues to outline our plans for this week. We have had very remarkable government support and, in the morning, will meet with MINSAP, the govt agency that is overseeing all we do. It is an extremely important meeting and we surgeons have never been part of this before. This is an event that needs to be bathed in prayer.

In Charlotte, I have a new partner, Dr. Jim Pressly, an Ophthalmologist. He has been to Cuba 5 times and asked me to be in contact with one of the eye docs he has worked with, Dr. Clara. Well, quite unexpectedly, she and I will be operating together on Thursday! We had dinner together tonight, including her children. She meets all the requirements to be a member of the REI team except she is not an ENT! This is very uplifting!

I had lunch today with Pla and Berta, our translator who was blind until she came to live with Begee and me in Greenville, where she had 5 operations and now has better vision than I do. We had a marvelous time and will be able to continue the great conversations that bring us back each time! We love you and thank you for your prayers. In His Service, David

Saturday, 21 March 09

My first journal entry is being written in the Habana airport. Very little of our baggage or boxes of donations arrived from Miami. So…. we are waiting… hours, for the next flights!

This is a good time to introduce you to the team. New team members:

1) Ronda Alexander, Neuro-Laryngologist, University of Texas at Houston (my alma mater!). Rhonda was raised in Queens, New York and has just recently moved to God’s country! :o)

2) Ray Sykola, Anesthesiologist in the suburbs of Charlotte, NC.

3) John McMahon, former academician in Head & Neck Surgery, now private practice in Chicago.

4) Augustine Moscatello, academician in ENT at New York Medical College. Has been with us in Vietnam. 2nd REI trip. Hosted one of our last Vietnamese Fellows.

5) Juan Hernandez, retiring academician at Yale in Head & Neck Surgery. Was with Augustine and our Vietnam REI team. Returnees:

6) Craig Hedges, the senior member of our team. Craig’s 8th Cuba trip and more than 20th REI trip. Sioux Falls, SD, private practice ENT. Craig received the American Academy of Otolaryngology’s Distinguished Award for Humanitarian Efforts in 2007. One heck of a teacher!

7) Sam Girgis, private practice ENT in Chicago and recruited John. Sam has made several trips to Cuba and has been with TIME in Mexico. Has hosted Vietnamese Fellows.

8) Joel Ernster, private practice ENT in Colorado Springs and one of the world’s experts on HPV disease in Head & Neck cancer. We were residents together in Denver.

9) Agnes Sax, RN, with the Emergency Transport Team at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Agnes and I have been on trips together for 15 years starting with TIME in Mexico. Her skills are phenomenal in ICU care for children.

10) Julia Roskamp, Audiologist, in Concord, NC. Julia is the former Exec Director of ComCare International, a hearing aid ministry, and she has done mission work all over the world. She was recognized in 2002 as the Humanitarian of the Year by the American Academy of Audiology.

11) Don Wallace, REI staff, retired middle school principle and a major leader of our work in Cuba. Don was a major league baseball player which makes him a hero, of sorts, in Cuba!

12) Lou and Gloria Shomette, REI staff, and the entire reason we are here. Without Lou & Gloria there would be no REI-Cuba and we wouldn’t have made 14 medical trips.

13) David Parsons comes to eat Cuban food and look at old cars!

14) Benito Lauzurique. You will read many notes about Benito. Benito is an extremely proud Cubano, who loves his country and his people. He has devoted his life to serving them. Before Fidel, Benito was in Asheville, NC, for undergraduate school, then seminary in Cuba to become a Presbyterian minister. He is the Cuban equivalent of Lou & Gloria.

15) Tony Paz and Adolfo Hidalgo are our surgeon sponsors as the Cuban Society of OtoRhinoLaryngologia is hosting us. Tony is the President and Adolfo is the Treasurer. We have not been able to get visas for two years and these two men are the Cuban reason we are here. Tony is a Neuro-Otologist and Adolfo is a Rhinologist. Both did advanced training in Spain. Craig and Tony have worked together at Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital (HA) and Adolfo and I have worked each year at Calixto Garcia (CG) Hospital.

Later… ALL the baggage and donations arrived safely. We are now at the Hotel Habana Libre. Our first meal was at the El Rocco (an old standby) where the same piano player (who looks like Billy Graham) has been playing for 32 years! The team is bonding nicely. Tonight we meet at Benito’s and his wife Deysi’s for dinner and continued team bonding time.

Tomorrow is completely planned, and I will just give you a head’s up that church will be something special! Make no mistake, the Holy Spirit is alive, well and dynamic in Habana! A final thought… Through the years I’ve instructed you to “read between the lines.” I hope we will be able to really be open with you about what is happening, more so than in years past.

(There should be a photo here!) Augustine Moscatello, John McMahon, Sam Girgis, me, Agnes Sax standing by many of the donations given by Medtronic-Xomed, hospitals and individuals. They all arrived safely.