Hello from Kenya! We made it. Communication has been challenging, but wanted to let you know that we are here and have begun work at the hospital. We also got to drop by the children's home the first day we got here and everything looks great! The buildings and playground are being put to full use, the crops are growing, two of the cows are giving milk, the water tanks are full, there is some electricity, and a lot of life! About 50 of the kids were there and it was so much fun to see them, the place was buzzing. We would appreciate your prayers for our work at the hospital, and especially pray for our time with the kids. We plan to talk to them about discipleship and living out their faith in Jesus. We will write more when we are less jet- lagged. Thank you for your prayers and support, Love Tom and Anne


Playground built by Mike Kokinos

Beans and other crops in the distance





The newest building in the distance and the retaining wall
that Michael Gromer, Colin and Roy worked on last fall



Some of you remember Brian.  He has grown!



Immigration at the Nairobi airport temporary tent.  The international portion was destroyed by fire recently.  Baggage claim was a ZOO!

 

 

Blogging is all new for us, but we decided it was the best way to get some pictures mixed in since Michael, the facebook whiz, is sadly not with us this time. We have had a packed full few days. I just have to start out with the highlight so far, and I can't really imagine anything else taking over its place as #1. This morning we were sitting in morning report at the hospital when a young woman caught my eye. She smiled and waved shyly at me, and my brain said "Is that... no it can't be... maybe??..." And indeed it was!!! Mercy, one of the many Mercys at Kitoben Childrens Home, graduated from high school and started Clinical Officer training (like a PA at home) almost a year ago, and is doing a clinical rotation at Tenwek!!! She is one of a sibling group of three that Alice and Samwel welcomed in 12 years ago. You can imagine our sense of joy in seeing her there and realizing again how much she has overcome with God's help! 

The brightest moments always seem to come after discouragement, maybe that's what makes them so bright.Last night was kind of a low point, the usual thoughts and questions flooded in: "What in the world are we doing here?" "Can we even think straight any more, much less remember the name of a disease process or a person that we know?"  "How in the world do we communicate the immensity of your love and trustworthiness to these kids? "Will I ever get to sleep and can I just throw all technology away once and for all?"  "How does anything we do really make a dent in problems this big?" and of course, "There is no way we have what it takes!?" And surely we don't, but we do have to arrive at that very point by a different road every time we serve. And we all do. The bright spots are awesome, but God's movement is so very often underground or over our heads, out of our sight and recognition. Our only hope is to just keep walking along by faith, one foot in front of another. As we do that, He is working in ways we can't even dream up. He describes it in Ephesians as " beyond, beyond what we can imagine or think." So once again we set our minds and hearts like flint to believe God, and "look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal, brief and fleeting, but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting" (2 corinth 4:18).

On the hospital front, The dermatology consult business has been busier than ever. I have seen some really challenging and unusual cases already, even life-threatening, which is not my standard fare for the US of A. There are two ladies in the hospital with pemphigus vulgaris, a serious blistering disease that is somewhat like being a burn victim. Please pray for their rapid healing and that they would feel God's presence as they endure this awful condition. Another woman has a blistering diesease of pregnancy which we are treating, but she needs prayer for the health of her unborn child. This morning a man was admitted with a tumor on his head almost the size of another head. He was humiliated and I don't know whether they will try to operate or not. I pray that they all experience the love of Jesus here, and I am thankful that there are chaplains here that share Good News with the patients in their own heart language.  Tommy is enjoying endoscopy and has great people to work with.. They are a fun group, and he keeps them laughing. He is gathering stories to write about, so he will be keeping us all laughing too:)) As always, the residents and interns are so much fun to work with and most of them love to learn.  This year there are so many young visiting doctors and their families, and that always keeps things lively.  Yesterday we had lunch at A-Aron's house.  Tomorrow morning I have four young women going to Kitoben with me. Two of them asked me if I would take them there and then the group kept growing. One of them was on the track team at Wheaton with Ian McGregor, and one is interestingly an international adoption counselor with Lifeline Children's Services. Please pray that we can love well, present truth in a way that lasts, and that faith would be increased all around. 

With much love and gratitude, Anne

Old friends Eliud and Julius.  We DID remember their names.



Mercy Chepngeno at Tenwek now in Clinical Officer training.  Came to Kitoben with her
brother and sister in 2001 after the death of her single
 mother due to HIV