Ebola-infected Samaritan's Purse missionary Dr. Kent Brantly is reportedly improving after being moved from Liberia to a hospital in the United States.
Before leaving for Liberia several years ago, Brantly delivered a powerful sermon to his church, saying that God had a call on his life.
"In October, [my wife] Amber and the kids and I are moving to Monrovia, Liberia, to work as medical missionaries at ELWA Hospital," Brantly told the Southeastern Church of Christ in Indianapolis. "For two years we will live and work and serve among the people who, until the last 10 years of peace, had known nothing but the violence and devastation of war for the previous 20 years."
Brantly added that he had "never been to Liberia" but was going "because God has a call on my life. God did not give us a spirit of timidity," he said, quoting the Apostle Paul.
While working in Liberia with Christian nonprofit group Samaritan's Purse, Brantly contracted the Ebola virus. On Saturday, he recently arrived in the United States for treatment at a hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. In a "miraculous" turn of events, Brantly was doing well enough that he was able to walk into the hospital rather than being carried in on a gurney. Although they must remain in a protected area for fear of infections, his family is able to see him and speak with him.
"It was a relief to welcome Kent home today," his wife Amber said in a statement posted on the Samaritan's Purse website.
"I spoke with him, and he is glad to be back in the U.S. I am thankful to God for his safe transport and for giving him the strength to walk into the hospital. Please continue praying for Kent and Nancy [Writebol, another American missionary infected with Ebola] and please continue praying for the people of Liberia and those who continue to serve them there."
On Sunday, Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Brantly had improved drastically since receiving an experimental antibody serum and arriving in the United States.
"It's encouraging that he seems to be improving," Frieden said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
"That is really important, and we are hoping he will continue to improve."
"We praise God for the news that Kent's condition is improving," said a Sunday statement from Samaritan's Purse.
The second American infected with Ebola, Nancy Writebol, is also "improving" and "in good spirits," according to doctors.
"We can't wait to have her back home," Bruce Johnson, president of SIM USA, told NBC News.
