Fun group of International medicine fellows from
 David Platt's church in Birmingham.  They were "Radical!"

Good news!  Today the two ladies with pemphigus were both sitting up having chai and ndazis and watching an African worship video!  A remarkable improvement from the day before.  Their skin still looks pretty bad, but they obviously feel much better.  Thanks for praying for them.

Yesterday, two new friends and I went to Kitoben to visit, share and hand out the first of part of a keychain thing that we brought with bible promises and verses on it.  Mikelan made them for us at the last minute :))))  There are two things we are aiming to do this time with the kids at Kitoben.  The first is to give out these verse keychains, and try to give a story or word picture with each portion that helps it stick. The second is to start D groups with the older kids and encourage them to do the same at school and with the younger kids.  D group is a term I think coined by All Nations and it is just an easily reproducible kind of discipleship group/church with three ABC elements:  A for ask (thanksgivings and prayer requests), B for bible ( a passage read and discussed in a very specific and simple way) and C for commit (stating who you will pray for and tell this story to, and practicing how to tell it).  Its funny, but somehow doing these things  make me pretty nervous and are surely out of my comfort zone. I struggle to teach and communicate in that environment, and wish I had Julie or Kathy in my back pocket.  Anyway, the first one went great I think.  Whitney and Hannah helped and shared with the kids; they were amazing.  Whitney shared about God having a special plan for each kid and that we are all one big family in Jesus.  Their eyes and smiles were so expressive as she shared.  Hannah shared about how important it is to work hard in school and finish.  I think if I would have asked Alice and Samwel to script two talks, they would have been exactly right on!  We will try to do the D groups this weekend sometime.  We are praying that God's promises stay in their heart forever, and help get them through the rough times ahead.



Alice's sister Sharon (Brian's mom) and brother Benard who both care for the kids.  Hannah (middle)
just graduated from Wheaton and is working for Tenwek.  Whitney is an international adoption counselor
from Birmingham.  Whitney and Hannah were awesome sharing with the kids.

When we visit, we will  hand out the card for that time, share about it, and then the children
 bring them up for us to write their name in the space.  Hopefully the promise will become very personal to them. 

Last year we sat around the dinner table and talked about happies and crappies for the day. This is actually a great way to stay in touch with each other.  My happy yesterday was that Samwel told us that he and Alice took all the kids third grade and under out of school 3 months ago and hired 3 teachers to teach them at home.  They divided the building that Michael, Big Mike, Colin and Roy built last year into 3 classrooms and are using that as a school house.  They realized that this was financially wise and I think it will be great for the kids as well.  It is always gut wrenching to put a ceiling on how much you will give because the needs are endless, but this was very encouraging for us.  They are wisely making the best of what they have.  My crappy was that Mercy, a different Mercy, has developed a disease called scleroderma and is starting to have joint contractures, trouble swallowing, and some bad skin changes.  She is so quiet and timid anyway, so my heart breaks for her.  I will try to see if I can get her started on some treatment, find someone to follow her here, and get some braces made for her arms back in the US.


The Kitoben kids yesterday. Many home for break and 20-25 are there year round.  The high school  kids that are able have begun going to their home villages for breaks to reconnect so they have a place to go when they graduate.

I walked in to say Hi to Tommy today in the endoscopy lab, and he was helping Lando Justice (yes, that is his most awesome real name) were removing a piece of goat rib bone from someone's esophagus.  It was quite a struggle because it was lodged horizontally, but Lando triumphed and got it loose.  The man ended up spitting it out, so we were all happy to know it wouldn't get stuck again.  Apparently meat is considered more fresh here if it has bones in it...maybe not a good thing. Tommy is on call Friday and Monday, which is actually a real reason to be nervous.  Please pray for the mind of Christ and strength for him.




The funniest carrot I have ever seen!