The last few weeks have literally flown by.  I have been very busy at the hospital.  Several surgeons have either been on well deserved vacation or have been back in the States on furlough.  That said, just a couple of us have been taking care of the busy surgical service here at Tenwek.  My usual week starts at 7 a.m. with morning rounds with one of the resident physicians or interns.  I have responsibility for the male and female surgical wards where we usually have between 50 and 75 patients.  Several mornings each week we have conferences with the rest of the medical and surgical staff.  On Wednesday mornings we have devotions. Surgery usually starts around 9 a.m. except on Fridays when we try to start at 8 a.m.  I help run a clinic on Tuesdays that has between 50 -100 patients.  Call is usually a couple of nights a week and I take call every third weekend.  That said, there are a tremendous number of emergencies that need to be taken care of each day.  Needless to say, the last few weeks have been incredibly busy but it has been such a joy being able to do what I feel like God has called me to do.  I love that line in the movie Chariots of Fire… “I feel God’s pleasure when I run”.  That is much the way I feel when I am ministering to the sick here in this remote part of Africa.

Jenn and the children are doing well.  Jenn is up early for an hour long walk with a friend.  She starts the children with their school work by 8 a.m. and we try to have our big meal of the day around 1 p.m.  I make it to this meal about half of the time.  The kids are having a great time with their old friends and their new friends here at the mission compound [but trust me they miss their family and friends back home!].  From our apartment balcony, most of the time we can hear them running around, swinging on the tree swing or playing soccer or kick ball with a whole group of children.  We try to take walks together as a family.  Last weekend we took a family trip to Kericho (hour and a half away) where we were able to tour a tea factory and a flower factory.  It was such a beautiful sight to see the rolling hills of western Kenya covered with hundreds of acres of tea fields. 

I’ll close with just a simple thought.  Before every operation we pray for our patient—for God’s safety and protection, for full recovery, for wisdom and guidance for those of us providing care.  Most of the time I pray, but occasionally I will ask one of the nurses to pray.  One nurse has a prayer he always prays:  “Father, we commit this patient into your able and mighty hands.”  Isn’t it a reassuring thought to rest in the fact that we are in the able and mighty hands of an awesome God? 

Thanks for all the prayers and e-mails.  We love you all. 

Paul

This past week all the missionary kids got together at one of the missionary homes to decorate cookies.  I think she made hundreds for us to decorate!  We had all colors of icing and a lot of different things to decorate with like chocolate chips, pretzels, MnMs, and nuts.  Since we can’t run out and buy sprinkles and things, we had to be really creative. We had two categories.  The first was decorate your favorite thing to do.  I TRIED to draw a drum set but it didn’t turn out so well.  The second category was decorate something to do with safari.  I made an alligator.  We got to keep and eat those two but then we iced about a hundred more cookies.  We delivered those to the pediatric ward, we had enough for the kids, their moms and the nurses.  I think the moms and nurses were just as excited as the kids to get a cookie! It was a really fun day.   ~Soph

Today we attended a traditional church service with all the missionaries. It has been something very new to me. I’ve learned many different old hymns, new things about the Bible that I never knew, and so much more. (Thanks to Chris Tomlin and Chris Rice I knew two or three hymns!)

We’ve been to several different orphanages. It still amazes me after seeing many orphanages over the past year how many children are orphaned in this country. Many children are orphaned because their parents died from AIDS, others because their parents abandoned them because they cannot feed them. But every single orphanage I have visited the children are filled with joy.

Last Saturday we took an hour and half car ride to an orphanage that took in forty of the neediest kids around the area. While my mom was shown around by the administrator of the orphanage I got the chance to play and talk with children. It was another awesome experience.

I also recently was reintroduced to Mr. John Stuery and his family. Mr. Stuery’s father was one of the founding doctors of Tenwek hospital. I really enjoyed being around Mr. John, Mrs. Vera and their two sons, Brendan and Ben.

If you ever come to Kenya you will find out that these Kenyans rock at football (as we call soccer)!!! Two days ago we play a soccer game out in the field (an open flat place) Kenyans vs. Americans. We got trampled! They beat us so badly. But the good side is that I learned a few cool tricks. 1. I learned how to bounce the ball off my head. (The first few times I suffered terrible headaches). 2. How to bounce the ball off my knee and to another player (I got really good at that). 3. How to really play soccer- Kenyan style!

Much love,

Georgia Grace

This past week the children and I visited two orphanages.  We traveled just outside of Bomet to Umoja Children’s Home where twenty five children live with Joseph Chepkwony and his family.  The girls and Jackson played soccer, jumped rope and colored with the younger kids.  We taught them the song “Our God is So Big, So Strong and So Mighty” and shared the story of Hannah.  We encouraged the kids to be like Hannah and carry their struggles to God- the One who can answer their hearts deepest desires.

I met with Joseph to assess the needs of the orphanage and see how we can help while we are in Kenya.  He has had success raising laying hens that not only provide eggs for the orphans at the home but provide a small profit when he sells the excess (he sells to the missionaries at Tenwek so we have been eating Umoja eggs!).  Joseph shared with me that he really needs more chickens to make more of a profit for the orphanage. His location is very close to Bomet and he could easily sell more eggs if he had them. I discussed the possibility of us helping him to purchase more chickens and with his present coops he could accommodate quite a few more. 

One of the missionaries at Tenwek decided to go in with me and we have given Joseph enough money to purchase 200 more chickens, now he will have over 300 chickens to feed his orphans and make some profit for the home. 

On Saturday we traveled for over an hour quite a distance over some very bumpy roads to reach Bosto Children’s Home which sits atop an unbelievable mountainside perch. Below us we could see a thick forest line at the bottom of the mountain which was the edge of the Maun Forest. 

I had not originally planned on visiting Bosto but when I heard of the dedication of the pastor and his wife who run the home and the great needs they have I decided I would try and visit them.  Within days God provided us with transporation to take us there on a Saturday morning.

Isaac Mutai and his wife, Emme, take care of 40 of the neediest orphans in the area.  While they have many needs, Isaac shared how recently the greatest need has just been feeding the children.  The land is rocky and sloped and he cannot grow anything on it, so all their food must be bought or donated to them.  He does not have a cow for milk and has only 15 chickens which barely provide any eggs for the childrenl.  His present coop is small and a falling down. A local man has promised to donate a good milk cow to the orphanage but the fencing is not adequate for livestock.

While the missionary kids and the girls played with children, I sat and spoke with Isaac about how we could help him feed his children.  We came up with a simple plan like fencing some of his land so he could keep a milk cow and save the 1600 KSH a month he spends on milk (which doesn’t pay for much milk weekly).  Isaac desperately also needs more chickens and new coops.  More chickens would provide eggs a couple of times a week for the kids and he can sell the eggs for a profit.  The money they save will pay for the feed for the chickens.  Isaac provided me with a detailed list of the cost for the fencing and the coops.  He expressed how he had been praying and asking the Lord for these specific needs.  I knew at that moment why I had travelled to Bosto that day.  I left Isaac with the money to construct the fence and new chicken coops, once those projects are done I committed to buy the orphanage 100 chickens. 

All the money I took to Bosto and to Umoja Children’s Home was raised by JLIFE at Lakewood Church this spring, I just had the awesome privilege of delivering the money for the projects. I shared with Isaac that morning how the money was from children in America who are young leaders in our church who love Jesus and wanted to help other kids all the way across the world in Africa.  We prayed together and thanked God that he had crossed our paths.  When he prayed He thanked God for you, JLIFE, and so do I!  I will post photos of what God allowed you and me to be a part of at these two orphanages as soon as I can. ~Jennifer

This morning Jackson joined a small group of the younger missionary children who went up to the hospital to entertain the patients and their families. Last week the kids made hand puppets so we carried those with us to help with our singing.  The children sang “Jesus Loves Me” and a Swahili song “Mambo Sawa Sawa”  and gave the patients stickers and coloring sheets with crayons.

Mambo sawa sawa.
Mambo sawa sawa.
Yesu akiwa enzini.
Mambo sawa sawa.

Which in English translates:

Things are getting better.
Things are getting better.
When the Lord is on the throne,
Things are getting better.

We made rounds outside where the some of the patients and their families congregate and in the Pediatric ward, nursery and eye ward.  The elderly Kenyans in the eye ward really enjoyed the songs and puppets.  It was a blessing to see their faces light up at the children and some even joined in the singing with us.  No matter what brought each patient to the hospital we confidently can encourage them that with Jesus on the throne things are truly already better. ~Jennifer

Hello everyone!  Thanks for taking the time to look at our blog; we really like reading your comments! Before I start telling you about what’s going on here in Kenya I want to tell you a little bit about what happened in me before we came.

Most of you know that we were in Kenya last January-February for six weeks. Everything was great and God really used us. But I really felt like God talked to me before we came on this trip. Last time we were here I was excited, but I felt that Africa was far from where I wanted to be. My passion is music and I feel like there is a ‘calling’ on my life in this area.  But I found when I was in Africa it was really tough to practice my music.  Before we left my schedule was God, family, music.  Music was all that I thought about.  I was constantly telling my parents about the big dreams I have, what I want to do, college I want to go to, and so on. But what I didn’t realize was that I wasn’t putting things into perspective!  I still have a good 5 years before I leave my family and go to college! I began to realize I was totally rushing things.

So back to Africa, last time I was here I was questioning God, why do you have me here? So far away from my dreams?! God you know the desires of my heart, why am I here when I want to be over in America? But then I remembered the scripture that says ask and you shall receive. Well, I will let you know that I took that scripture a little too seriously, I asked God about a million times to make me a better musician, for amazing windows of opportunity to open, and what did I get? Nothing. It wasn’t that God didn’t hear me, I know He did. But He just didn’t reply. Well, sometime last month I heard God speak to me. He said, “Georgia, why are you so focused on yourself? I have planted a dream inside you, just like the dream I planted inside your parents. Your dream still has time to come to pass, but your parents dreams are happening now.” That blew me away. I felt so selfish, that I couldn’t express my feelings to my parents. I then realized that my parents are living their dreams now, my dreams still have their own time!God has a plan for everything, don’t ever forget that! If he wants me to be a great musician, I will be, no doubt. But that’s all I was ever focused on, me. It might be years until God fulfills that promise he put in me. God put a dream inside of my dad at 12, and 30+ years later he’s fulfilling it. And guess what?  I get to be a part of his dream.  That is the greatest honor ever, to be a part of one of God’s plans—even if it is for someone else. So what I want you to know is don’t give up on a dream God put in you. And be ready to be a part of making someone else’s dreams come true. And make sure you don’t miss out on all of the great things and great people and great opportunities God has placed in your life right now.  I’m only 12 years old but I guess I’m learning that you can trust God with your dreams.

Georgia Grace

Wow!  It seems like just yesterday that I spoke at the weekend service for my brother (remember the banana photo?)!  It’s been a whirlwind ever since.  We left the following Tuesday with four of our children to spend the next ten weeks at Tenwek Hospital in Kenya, East Africa.  God granted us safe passage—all of our flights were on time, all connections made without problems and twelve bags (yes, I said 12!) arrived without any problems.  What a blessing!

We spent 3 nights in Nairobi getting over our jet lag, gathering supplies for our prolonged stay and seeing some of our friends.  We then drove 4 hours across the Great Rift Valley where we saw a herd of wild zebras!  We have now comfortably settled in to our home away from home for the next two and a half months.

All the staff here has really made us feel welcome. Jenn has done an admirable job making our small apartment have the warm feel of a home.  You may not know this—but Jenn is an amazing cook.  She can take the local vegetables and fruits that are available here and combine them with what we bought in Nairobi and produce some pretty incredible meals.  Rachael Ray has nothing on this lady!  The kids have really enjoyed re-connecting with their friends here at the mission compound.  Jackson has so enjoyed seeing his Kenyan friends—the Bii’s.  If Jackson is missing, all we have to do is find the Bii’s and we will have located Jack!

The children started back into their home school studies this week.  Georgia is in the 7th grade; Olivia the 6th, Sophia the 5th and Jackson is in pre-school.  They spent part of Saturday helping sort out medications that a visiting team brought to the hospital.  It’s really great to watch them volunteer to help however they are needed.

It’s been an easy transition back into the world of surgery here at Tenwek.  I didn’t realize how much time and energy it took last time we were here just learning the physical layout of the hospital, the drugs that are available, the way the clinics run and the routines of the different departments.

I’ve completed my first week and the very first patient I saw had been gored in the chest by a water buffalo.  The rest of the week was filled with a conference on the current treatment of malaria in Kenya, lots of endoscopy, two cases of typhoid fever with intestinal perforation, and a case where we resected the entire esophagus and replaced it with the colon.  The case took a little over eight hours!  Trust me, I slept well that night.

Yesterday (Saturday) morning, I operated on a newborn little girl named Rose who was born with her intestines outside of her body (gastroschisis).  Her surgery went well, but it usually takes about 2 weeks for the intestines to be completely replaced into her abdomen and begin functioning well enough so that the child can eat.  Supporting the child nutritionally is critical during these two weeks.  In the States we have a special IV fluid (called TPN) that can give adequate nutrition until the child can take milk.  If a child with gastroschisis receives TPN (a great majority of the time) they will survive.  If they don’t the survival drops considerably. Even though little Rose’s surgery went well, unfortunately, that special IV fluid isn’t available here.

As I thought about this little girl, I thought about all the children around the world that don’t have the one thing they need to survive into adulthood.  That ‘one thing’ may be enough food, or clean water or a mosquito net or a vaccination or dose of antibiotics or an available doctor to perform a simple life-saving operation.

If you think about it this week, remember to pray for little Rose.  And remember to pray for all the other little Roses all around the world.

Keep us in your prayers.

Paul

It’s just a little after 6 a.m. and I’m overlooking the Indian Ocean on the east coast of Kenya. The sun is sending it’s first few rays of light over the dark water below.  I love to hear the sound of the waves crashing to the shore in the dark of night.

After our final goodbyes, we flew out of a small air field in a pasture not far from the hospital and made our way back to Nairobi.  After one night there, we boarded another plane bound for Malindi where we will spend three days “decompressing” and relaxing before traveling home. So far it has been a great family time.

We are so grateful for what has happened over the last 5 weeks. We prayed that my skills in surgery would come back quickly, we prayed for protection for our family, we prayed that we would be an encouragement to all the people we came into contact with, we prayed that our hearts would be open to what God would have to say to us while here in Kenya.  Our prayers have been answered exceeding, abundantly above anything we could ask or think.

My final word is one of thanks.  Thanks to all of you for remembering us in your prayers.  We could “feel” the strength of your prayers supporting us during this entire trip.  We know (without a doubt), we could not have made it without you. Our internet connection was very erratic, but it seemed like when we needed it the most, we could access the web site and read the comments that so many of you left.  Thank you for your timely words of encouragement.  You will never know what a difference they made.

Please continue to pray for our safe travel back as we leave Kenya Thursday.

For our friends at Lakewood, we will see you this Sunday.

From Africa with love,
Paul

As our time here in Kenya comes to a close, I have been reflecting on what has been the most difficult part  of our mission trip so far.

Certainly some things come quickly to mind:  the language barrier or the cultural differences, the challenging travel conditions (did I mention small planes!), the diseases that are a constant threat to all of us, especially our children (malaria, typhoid, TB, worms), the conflict and violence all around our mission hospital and the constant news of encroaching threats, sleeping under mosquito nets (at least once I was nearly killed when I entangled myself in mine in an attempt to quickly get to the hospital in the middle of the night, thanks to Jenn for releasing me from its strangulating hold!), missing many of the “comforts” that we are so used to, having to collect rain water from our roof top, boil it for 10 minutes, then filter it and pour it into our month old, reused water bottles…

All these thing have certainly been different for us and in many ways have added to the difficulty of this mission trip.  But by far the most difficult thing we have experienced so far has been having to say good bye to some of the finest people we have ever had the privilege to meet.

Good bye to the Kenyan people–some of the most kind and caring and hospitable people on the planet.  When you say “karibu” (welcome), you mean it…you have opened your arms and your hearts to us and welcomed us into your lives.

Good bye to all the mission hospital staff who have accepted us as if we had been there forever–to Vincent in the theatre, Collins on the ward, David and Andrew in anesthesia, Solomon in PT, and I could go on and on.

Goodbye to Mr. John Wright a great man and a great administrator. Your joy is infectious.  The sacrifice you make for the Kingdom admirable.  Thanks for coffee and cinnamon rolls and a genuine interest in my family, especially my children.  Thanks for the coffee cake on the morning we left when we had very little food in the cottage.

Goodbye to Dr. Russ and Beth White, Dr. Carol Spears, Dr. Mike and Pam Chupp, Dr. Mike and Julie Ganey, Dr. Chuck and Amy Bemm, Dr. Ben and Jeni Roberts and Dr. John and Linda Sprigel–long term missionary doctors.  You “risk it all” for the sake of the Kingdom.  You are true heroes of the faith.  I admire you all. Russ, Carol and Mike–thanks for watching over me as I was re-introduced to surgery.  Words can’t express my appreciation to the three of you.

Goodbye to Dr. Zach Kasapoi, Dr. Geoffrey Kiprono and Dr. Agneta Odera three of the finest doctors I have ever met.

Goodbye to Adam and Jamie, and Julie and Mel and David and Luke and every other missionary kid who so welcomed my children and made them feel at home.  Goodbye to Jack’s Kenyan “best friends” the Bii’s. The valentine card you gave him will forever be a memory.

Goodbye to Dr. Carolyn Stickney and Dr. Brent and Marg Mundy and Dr. Fritz and Elaine Westerhaut–short-term missionary doctors (just like us) who we came to know and appreciate.  Fritz, thanks for teaching me how to do a C-section, thanks for choosing to celebrate your 50th wedding anniversary on the mission field advancing the Kingdom.  What an example you all are to us. Marg and Elaine, thanks for allowing Jack into your lives and into your cottages (at all hours and without our knowledge!).

Goodbye to Dr. Mary Hermes, a 30 + year missionary nurse and educator.  We will never forget your smile and your joy.

Goodbye to Trish and Scott Hughett, our new friends.  Thanks for your overwhelming generosity to us.

The most difficult thing so far on our missions trip to Kenya has been saying goodbye.  We take great comfort though, in knowing goodbye won’t be forever.

From Africa with love,
Paul

All three arrived at Casualty at the same time.  A dispute over cows had turned ugly.  Guns were fired, two were killed and the rest were brought to our hospital.  The most seriously injured were taken to the operating theatre immediately.  A few minutes later, Dr. Russ and I took this patient to surgery.  He had been shot in the leg just below the knee.  The bones were shattered, the foot was cold and numb.  He lost a lot of blood at the time of the injury and on the way.  A makeshift tourniquet wrapped tightly around the injury and soaked in blood had probably saved his life.

In the operating room, the bleeding was controlled and the injuries quickly assessed.  The main artery and vein behind the knee were torn in two.  Only a few fibers held the main nerve together.  Any chance of saving this man’s leg would require immediately restoring blood flow to the leg.  We quickly removed a vein from his other leg and proceeded to replace his torn artery with this harvested vein.  The operation is difficult because of the location of the injury, deep behind the knee.  Nevertheless, within a little over an hour, the blood was again pulsating to his leg.  Once the flow was restored though, the leg began to ooze blood from where all the bullet fragments had torn through the tissue.  The patient became unstable, his blood pressure dropped, he was cold and his blood was as thin as Kool-Aid.  All of us at the OR table knew that the combination of a cold patient in shock with continued bleeding is often a spiral that cannot be reversed, quickly leading to death.

We called for blood, but the technicians in the lab reported that it wouldn’t be available for another 25 minutes, and they said, when it was available, it would be cold, straight from refrigeration.  The situation was desperate.  The patient continued to bleed, the blood pressure continued to plummet.  Dr. Russ dropped out of the case; he said he wanted to go to the lab to see if he could help retrieve the blood while we continued the resuscitation.  Fifteen minutes later, he returned with a big bag of warm blood.  It was quickly transfused, the patient began to stabilize, and we were able to proceed with an operation that controlled his bleeding.  Everyone in the operating theatre knew that the blood that saved this man’s life was Dr. Russ’s.

A few hours later, I talked to the young man about the operation, and I explained to him that if it had not been for Dr. Russ donating his blood, he would have died on the OR table.  The realization that a man who was a total stranger gave his blood to save his life began to sink in.  He had no words to convey his gratitude.

Later, I was there when Dr. Russ asked him if he knew Jesus as his Savior.  He did not.  And then Dr. Russ explained that it was one thing for him (Dr. Russ) to give his blood to save this young man’s physical life. But two thousand years ago, Jesus gave His blood to save us and give us eternal life.  Even though this young man didn’t commit his life to Jesus that night, I believe a seed was planted in his heart that he will never forget.  That night in a remote mission hospital in Africa, I was reminded that we have no words to convey our gratitude for what Jesus has done for us.

From Africa with love,
Paul