Teethsaver teams have been busy travelling and doing much around the world. From Sierra Leone to

Malawi and Zambia, from Jinotega to San Juan Del Sur in Nicaragua, and more recently, our Executive

Director has been making contacts and setting up special educational Teethsavers booths at dental trade

shows in San Antonio and San Diego.

Firmly Established on 2 Continents—Africa and Central America

Teethsavers Mission — To introduce and facilitate the provision of simple and

inexpensive dental care for children—being careful to always give the credit to God.

June, 2012

Graduates Providing Services to Children in Nicaragua

In February of this year, Dr. Rudd, Tracy Ebarb, Susan Hunter and Joan

Sears made a trip to Jinotega, Nicaragua to our Teethsavers school there.

They and Dr. Rivera and Alan Oliva (our staff there) made trips to the districts

where our December graduates are working and seeing children. They also

visited with the government officials in these areas.

These young graduates, in cooperation with the

government officials in their areas, are seeing,

examining, and treating children and training their

parents in areas where no dental services have been

available in the past. Our team went on to San Juan,

Del Sur to where Keith Rodgers and his Teethsavers

graduates are providing services to observe them in

action. (We also have some Teethsavers graduates

working with a human services agency called Predisan

in Honduras.)

Dr. Rudd and Tracy Ebarb went to Sierra Leone in March of this year to evaluate our first class of

Teethsaver students and help prepare them for graduation. Dr. Patric

Davis had completed their training after Dr. Rudd had to leave Sierra

Leonne last October when he became ill with malaria and typhoid

fever. Dr. Davis will continue to monitor the graduates now as they

begin their employment in Freetown seeing, examining and treating

children. Their graduation ceremony was impressively attended by

government health officials and had a lot of media coverage, as it was

the first ever of this kind of dental training and anticipated provision

of services to children never before able to receive care.

Graduation in Sierra Leone

Dr. Rudd lending a hand

Teaching the Children in Sierra Leonne

Many of you may have already seen or heard

about Gene Day's report of his Mission Trip to

Malawi. He tells of the constant help from God

that made everything work when it seemed that

they had encountered insurmountable obstacles.

The first instance was when God seemed to

send extra help through unusual channels to get

Dr. Rivera (a native of Nicaragua) cleared

through customs in South Africa to go on to

Malawi when it appeared this could not happen

due to visa problems. Another major evidence of

G o d ' s

assistance

occurred in

Z a m b i a

when the

men of our

m i s s i o n

team were

going to

meet with government officials there and their

vehicle broke down for 9 hours in an isolated

area with no other humans around. They did

see a huge python cross the road in front of

them and did find scorpions on the road when

they tried getting out of the vehicle. They

received unexpected help at 4 am from some

natives who happened onto them and went out

of their way to help them get their vehicle

repaired. Gene said there was much other help

from God, also, but these were just two of the

outstanding instances.

I began the trip wondering what God

had in store for us. What a group of

dedicated workers we met in Lilongwe,

Malawi. It was awe-inspiring to watch

them work, never complaining, working

long hours without stopping. They were

so patient with us assisting them, when

in reality we were slowing them down. I

had the privilege of assisting Laita

Kaone and watching her work in the

mouths of Malawi children. What so

Miracles in South Africa and Zambia

Teethsavers Newsletter, June 2012 • Page 2

Mission team sent to Malawi

Mary Zickefoose's Malawi Mission Trip

inspired me was their heart for the Lord and for

the children of Malawi. We began each day with

the Teethsavers team in devotion and prayer and

enjoyed the team members’ inspiring words.

Having worked in social work all my life, I have

seen poverty, but never have I seen poverty in

such masses as in the villages in Malawi. The

homes were small (about 200 sq ft) made of hand

-made mud bricks with dirt floors and thatched

roofs. The children, for the most part, were

dressed in rags. We were there in the growing

season of Malawi so we did not see as much of

the hunger that usually accompanies the poorly

dressed children. It was such a blessing to love

on these children. As we arrived in the villages,

the children would come running and yelling

"Azungu" which means white people.

Our truck was stuck in the mud leaving the village

of Tillirane. The men and young boys of the

village literally lifted the truck back onto the road.

Several village children sang songs of Jesus, "Up

with Jesus, Down with the Devil." Some groups

of teenagers had formed Teethsavers clubs and

sang, danced and acted out skits on the topic of

oral health training - impressive.

Health care is non-existent, along with

transportation, in the villages. We met a woman

in one village who thought her infant child had

malaria. She had no way to get the child any

care. We arranged for someone to take her and

the baby on a bicycle to the nearest clinic.

I am still processing what God wanted to teach

me from this trip! What impressed me so far was

Teethsavers Newsletter, June 2012 • Page 3

Teaching the Children in Malawi

Malawi Team Plus Mission Team

Loading the truck to go to the field

Teethsaver Laita Kaone teaching the children

Teethsavers Newsletter, June 2012 • Page 4

This is our Executive Board in Malawi. They have been very

helpful to us, especially in dealing with matters of government

certifications and giving our Malawi team advice on various

problems they encounter.

Executive Board in Malawi

the fact that Malawi is about 70% Christian.

When we met with the Minister of Health for all of

Malawi, the meeting started and ended with

prayer! Additionally, God impressed me with the

tireless work of the Teethsavers team in Malawi.

They work long, long hours in adverse conditions

for very little pay, all in the name of Jesus. What

do we as Americans do with our time?

There was much talk amongst our traveling

group of the plans God has for Teethsavers.

Praise be to God for calling Jack Rudd to start this mission. There are other countries begging for this

service, as well as other areas of Malawi. Could Teethsavers become the next World Vision in terms

of oral health care? Be in prayer as to how God might want you to serve as part of this magnificent,

God-centered organization.

Mary Zickefoose, LMSW-IPR from Westminster Presbyterian

Friday Kanyinji, Fredson Sambani, Tracy Ebarb, Dr. Mutolo, Chief Dental Officer in Zambia, and Gene Day meet in Lusaka

New, In Process

Dr. Jack Rudd is working

on his life story and the

d e v e l o p m e n t o f

Teethsavers International.

It's called 'GREATFUL

F O R T H E P A I N '

Tentatively expected to be

submitted for publication

late 2012 or early 2013.

To Make Donations

The future holds many new areas for God's work through Teethsavers to be done with little children around the

world, but in order for us to do this, we need your help.

If you feel led by God to make a donation to Teethsavers, there are some different ways you can do this.

You can mail your donation to Teethsavers International, Inc., 3306 - 34th St, Lubbock, TX 79410 or donate

online by credit card at our Teethsavers website www.teethsaversinternational.org. For more information, you

can call our office at 806-368-7513 or call our Executive Director, Tracy Ebarb, at 325-320-1377.

You may also email Jack Rudd at jackruddteethsavers@gmail.com.

Teethsavers International is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization and all donations are tax deductible and are

appreciated.

Teethsavers Newsletter, June 2012 • Page 5

Exciting New Prospective Teethsaver Site

Recently, Teethsavers has had an exciting exploratory request from the Episcopalian Church wanting

us to train some young people from the Dominican Republic at our school in Jinotega and then help

them set up a Teethsavers site to care for the children in the Dominican Republic on a permanent

basis. If it was all approved, the Episcopalian Church would fund it as they have ministry and health

care centers in the Dominican Republic at present, and would like to have oral health care available

for the children, also.

In Memory of Jack Helms

Teethsavers was truly blessed this year to receive a special donation to Teethsavers in the

amount of $20,000 from the estate of Jack Helms. He had been a long time supporter of

Teethsavers and his family carried out his final wishes for Teethsavers as specified in his will.

He was appreciated not just for his donations but for the kind of person he was and the many kind

things he did in his lifetime.

Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Matt 25:40