Kenya Trip April 2010

So sorry it did not work out to post to this blog while we were in Kenya. The internet connection was so erratic and so slow. We had a great trip. Don and I had a goal to lay all the plans necessary to take 15 people from our church on a mission trip there in September. We were able to do this with the help of the long term missionaries and the leadership at the hospital.
Don did well being on crutches. His wings were slightly clipped but everyone there was so appreciative on his making the effort to come. Most of our planning meetings were held in the little house where we were staying. He did get the opportunity to go into one of the neighboring communities and preach one Sunday which he really enjoyed.
Thanks to all who prayed for us...we certainly felt the power of your prayers.

Don was so concerned that he would slow everybody down having to do the trip on crutches, but we all benefitted from his handicap! The six of us were ushered to the front of every line and when we had to change terminals at Heathrow we were given our own private van transport. Anyone making an international trip might want to borrow his boot after he has finished with it!

Our trip was so pleasant...good connections and all our luggage (12 hugh pieces) arrived with us. We got to our hotel in Nairobi Friday evening late. Saturday morning our driver picked us up and took us to the Nakumat (big Walmart) to buy groceries. There are some things available there that we cannot get at Tenwek...things like yogurt, pasteurized milk. We had a good car trip to Tenwek. The roads are much improved from when I was here 8 years ago. It took five hours then...we made it in 3 hours Saturday.

When we arrived Tenwek Saturday about 1:00 Livingston had a nice lunch prepared for us. Livingston has been the cook at the guest house for about 16 years. It was good to see some old friends. Most of the full time missionaries are not here. They are attending a conference and will return the latter part of the week, so we really look forward to seeing them.

Sunday morning we worshipped at the church here at Tenwek then had a restful afternoon.

This morning (Monday) the docs went to the hospital and the 4 of us met with the leadership of the hospital to lay out our plans for this trip. It was a great meeting..they had given much thought to our visit and have some really neat things planned for us.
I will report on these as we go.

God always surprises us with serendipities when we come here. This morning I opened the laundry room door ( the washing machine is located in a small building behind our house) and there sat an old wheel chair! We have cleaned it up and Don now has a chariot..for places he cannot manage on crutches! Thank you, Lord, for going ahead of us. Wow!

We continue to feel your prayers for us...thank you.

Signing off now.....sure don't want to miss lunch!

Don and I are busy packing our gear for our trip to Tenwek Hospital in western Kenya. We leave on Thursday. We have prayed that God would make it clear to us if we are not supposed to go and He has done the opposite. Even though Don is on crutches because of achilles tendon surgery (2 1/2 weeks post op) we feel God really wants us to make this trip.
We will be going with our son David (pediatric surgeon), Mark (neurosurgeon), Will (general contractor) and Brian (financial advisor) so we will have some big guys to help us get there!
We will arrive Nairobi on Friday evening, spend the night there and then by ground to Tenwek (about 5 hour trip).
We are really looking forward to going back. Don was there last spring with our grandson Philip but I have not been since 2002.
We will see lots of old friends Tenwek holds a very special place in our hearts..I will try to post to this blog regularly so that you can follow our activities.
We really appreciate all your prayers....we can't wait to see what God has in store for us.