By Joe Nelson, The San Bernardino Sun
Dr. Richard Parker, a Loma Linda University School of Dentistry graduate, and a team of dental students recently returned from a medical missionary trip to western Ethiopia, where they provided medical and dental service to more than 350 people.
Parker and his team spent two weeks at Gimbie Adventist Hospital. They also traveled the countryside to serve Ethiopians who rarely have dental care available.
Parker, who runs a private dental practice in Calimesa, said the missions are aimed at providing dental students an opportunity to practice dentistry in a setting outside the traditional clinic environment.
Parker’s first dental mission was to Guatemala in 1967.
“It gives you a sense of satisfaction to be able to do that, and I think the students get that same satisfaction,” Parker said.
Accompanying Parker on the most recent trip were his wife, Bonnie, their son, Scott, who is a dental student at Loma Linda University, and Scott’s wife, Erika, a physician. Dental student Tate Montgomery of Redlands also went on the trip.
One thought on “Dental mission to Ethiopia”
It doesn’t have a pope or a patriarch; its missionary work is its pope and its patriarch.
A missionary work accompanied by dentistry and other medical work in a developing country such as Ethiopia is indeed very helpful to the people of Ethiopia.
Helping the Ethiopian people by providing them medicine, religious education, and liberal arts, the Adventist Church deserves more credits than the dominant Ethiopian Orthodox Church. It is a fact the Adventist Church has a well-organized missionary activity all over the world and has an outstanding record of serving the local people without asking a governmental help. Of course, its primary duty is to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ; however, its remarkable teaching of the Gospel is not limited to the Gospel of Christ Jesus alone, but it also includes building schools, hospitals, and teaching the local people healthy living by avoiding smoking, drinking alcohol and eating meat.
The Adventist Church, because of its dedication to helping people all over the world, has dramatically increased its membership since its inception in the 19th century. One of its prominent and great teachers was Ellen G. White, author of several books: some of her distinguished writings include Steps to Christ, The Desire of Ages, and The Great Controversy. The Adventist Church advises people to be vegetarians so that they could lead healthier and longer lives.
The Adventist Church does not believe in the apostolic succession; therefore, it does not have bishops, archbishops, patriarchs, and popes. More than anything else, the Adventist Church gives more emphasis to the teaching of prophesies, especially to the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation without overlooking the other scriptures. The Adventist Church does not believe that Saints, Angels, and St. Mary will intercede between God and man. According to the doctrine of this distinguished Church, Mary is the mother of Jesus, not the mother of God. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church believes that the Saints, the Angels, and Mary can intercede between man and God, and Mary is woladite-amlak (the mother of God). Also, the Adventist Church does not believe in life after death, while the Ethiopian Orthodox Church advocates that a good person’s soul stays in paradise (Genet), a place of joy and solace, while the bad man’s soul stays in soul, a place of torment and suffering until the final day of judgment where the bad person goes to hell, and the good person goes to heaven.
Members of the Adventist Church go to church on Saturday – the Seventh Day – a holy day where God rested from his work (Genesis 2:3; Exodus 31:15). The Ethiopian Orthodox Church on the other hand recommends its members to go to church on Sunday, the first day of the week; some of its members also go to church on Saturday and on Sunday. (My grand-father Priest Golla observes both Saturday and Sunday.) According to St. Paul, a person can choose any day as a day of worship according to his conviction (Romans 14:5-6).
The beauty of the Adventist Church is that most of its members pay tithes to the church; most members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church do not pay tithes at all: they may bring food and drink to the priests on certain days, but this is not enough to support the church. For this reason, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church does not have a strong missionary activity that provides the people medical care and other health issues. On such and other important areas, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church remains weak and clueless. It needs dedicated people like Allen G. White that inspires its members in all areas –preaching the Gospel, healing the people by offering dentistry and other health issues. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church does not need a dormant person like Abune Paulos and a ruthless leader like Meles Seitanawi who cares nothing either for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church or for the people of Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church, because of its close relationship with Meles, has a limited right to expand its missionary activities in Ethiopia as well as abroad; it has some missionary activities in Trinidad, but that is not enough compared to the vibrant missionary activities of the Adventist Church all over the world, and it is a young and the fastest growing church, while the old Ethiopian Orthodox Church is diminishing in status and power.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is no doubt rich in paintings, artifacts, and arts; in contrast, the Adventist Church is empty, and there is nothing on its wall and ceilings. The main purpose of avoiding such paintings and pictures on the church wall, I think, is to prevent the lay person from worshipping them. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church allows its members to bow down in front of those beautiful pictures of the saints and the angels and to kiss them, but not to worship them. All in all, the Adventist Church is well equipped in advancing its modern missionary activities to the modern world, while the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is lagging behind because of incompetent leadership.