Spring 2018 Kenya Mission Trip

Dr. Lilian serving neighborhood school children

After each mission trip, and after I've edited all of my photos, I write a review of what the trip meant to me and what the Lord did through us.  It's that time again.  We were blessed to have 20 team members for this trip to Kenya to do vision clinics in the slums of Nairobi, helping people with both their physical vision issues and helping them to see the Light of the World, Jesus Christ.  Of the 20 missionaries on the team, 15 were with us for the first time.  Pastor Kevin and I were very excited about that many people willing to get out of their comfort zones to serve the Lord.  This high percentage of new team members gave us great energy and enthusiasm.  Experiencing a foreign mission trip is a real life changer. I know I thought about my first trip to Mexico and my first one to Africa for months afterwards, pondering what more I could have done and what I might have done better.  And praying for an opportunity to go again.

Here is a link to a photo album of our mission and the extra days of safaris we were blessed to partake in:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Eo3yN8LgmJBRZEXg8

Because we had such a large team, we were able to do two clinics simultaneously, one in Waithaka and one with a church on the other side of town commonly known as Pipeline.  Pastor Kevin led the Pipeline team and I handled Waithaka.  We had several team members serve at both locations during the week, they got the blessing of seeing the differences and the similarities in each neighborhood.  Both clinics saw approximately 2500 patients during the week and 100 people received cataract surgeries on one eye.  Many others received read glasses, eye drops or distance glasses that we made for them on location.

Each evening, we share the "God things" that happened in the clinics with the rest of the team over dinner.  In the past, I was happy if there was one big thing for me per trip that really stuck out.  Maybe I'm more attuned now, but they seemed to come almost daily for me this time.  I'll briefly share several things that were special this time that I was involved with.

First, we were blessed that cataract surgeries were being performed about a mile away from my clinic this time.  In the past, we have given patients vouchers for a local hospital and we often didn't see results until our next trip.  This time, patients came in for referrals to the clinic one day and came back the next day to have the bandages removed from the eye that had been operated on.  In every case there were smiles and praising God!  One really cool thing that happened was Alison and I had the privilege of being allowed to see a couple of cataract surgeries performed by our friend Dr. Francis.  He explained what he was doing each step of the way and was actually teaching other doctors as the operations unfolded.  He wanted me to take pictures over his shoulder and I got many closeups of the patients eyes during each stage of the procedures.  When I showed him the pictures the next day, he remarked that they were more detailed than what he sees through his microscope during surgery.  Wow!  The first surgery was done for an elderly woman, already being operated on when we got there.  They have a cloth over the patients faces, with only the eye being worked on visible.  Alison noticed the woman was breathing shallowly and rapidly and asked if she could hold her hand and pray for her.  When she did, the woman immediately calmed down. Thank you, Jesus!

Alison prays over our patient

The second operation I filmed was on a man in his 30's that had been poked in the eye a year ago.  A cataract formed of fibrous material as a scar.  The doctor removed all of the obstruction and placed a new lens in his eye for him.  I have a much greater appreciation now for the life changing benefits our clinics bring to those who really need this help.  It keeps me going strong!

During the surgery

Afterwards with our patient

Another cataract surgery that stood out for me was because of the humorous results when the bandages were removed.  My friend Will, who is a big guy, asked if he could be there as the bandages were being removed.  Dr. Francis gave us permission and we were standing in front of an elderly woman as the bandage was taken from her eye.  The first thing she saw was this huge white guy and she screamed "It didn't work!".  She looked like she had seen Sasquatch, so that became Will's nickname for the rest of the trip.  Dr. Francis calmed her down and she saw the humor in it too.

My final cataract surgery story started when my friend Patrick from previous clinics emailed me and asked if he could bring his grandfather to the next vision clinic.  Of course I replied "Yes, by all means!"  As it turned out, his grandfather had not seen him since he was a young boy because of his cataracts.  When the bandages were removed and he saw Patrick, he jumped up on his walking stick and was dancing around.  Praise God!  He was so happy he asked Dr. Francis to do the other eye also.  This isn't usually done, just in case there is infection, but Dr. Francis was so pleased with how the first eye was already healing that he took grandfather back to the clinic that day and fixed him up.  Wow!

Patrick, Grandfather and me after the second surgery.  He has plain glasses on that we gave him to protect his eyes while they healed.

One of the benefits of short term mission trips with long term commitments to the same churches and locations is that we make lifelong friends and this strengthens the faith of all involved.  It is always joyful with lots of hugs when we first arrive and we feel right at home, while it is also joyful with lots of hugs, and a few tears, when we part company because we know that we will see each other again.

In addition to the wonderful things that happened each and every day at our clinics, including many people coming to the faith or renewing their belief, we were blessed to have an extended trip arranged by my dear friend Catherine Wangari and her company Mission Opportunities.  She arranges for all of our lodging, transportation, drivers and activities while we are on a mission.  Afterwards, she has incredible contacts for photo safaris and travel within Kenya and east Africa for anyone that can stay a few extra days.  It's very affordable, since our airfare has already been covered and we're there anyway.  Before the trip, I let it be known that I would be happy to take people with me for 4 extra days on photo safaris and would instruct serious photographers in wildlife techniques.  Out of 20 of us, I expected maybe 4 or 5 to say yes.  16 team members plus myself stayed over, what a blessing.  The group ranged in age from 16 to 80 something (I'm being kind here!).  We went to the Masai Mara National Game Park along the Tanzanian border, the park is about half the size of the King Ranch for you Texans, measuring about 589 square miles.  We spent about 2 days there, staying in a 4 star hotel with wonderful food, our rooms were permanent tents with hardwood floors and western style bathrooms.  Breakfast and dinner were buffet style, but each item was entree quality.  I never made it to the dessert bar, I was always full from the main courses, but others tell me the desserts were out of this world.  We traveled from there to spend a day at Lake Nakuru National Game Park.  Our hotel was within the park with real buildings and wonderful food as well.  It is famous for pink flamingos, which we only saw from the distance.  But we saw a wealth of other wildlife and birds.  Our final stop on the way back to Nairobi was Lake Naivasha.  We took three boats and got photos of hippos in the water, African fish eagles swooping down from trees for fish that our guides enticed them with and many, many shore birds including kingfishers, herons, egrets, cormorants, weavers and others.

Again, the photo album for the entire mission and after trip can be seen at this link:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Eo3yN8LgmJBRZEXg8

This was my 18th trip to Kenya since 2009 and I'm still pinching myself that I have been blessed in this way to be a blessing to my friends in Kenya.  I have certainly received far more blessings than I have given.  I used to feel a little guilty about this, but a pastor friend told me not to let it trouble me, I had discovered "God's economy."  By this he meant that when you get out of the boat and serve others for Him, the Lord will bless both the giver and the receiver abundantly.  The only way to prove this is to try it.  He has never failed me in this regard!

Our next mission trip will be from May 30th to June 10th for the main team and we hope to have enough team members to be able to conduct two vision clinics once again.  I will be leading another 4 day after trip out into the Kenyan countryside for more photo safaris.  Details are still being worked out, so check back here or at www.redeemer.net as things come together.  There will be an online application at the church's web site in the near future with much more information about the trip than I can disclose here.  So, if you hear the small still voice of the Lord calling you to get out of your comfort zone to serve Him by serving others, please contact me, Dave DeVore at 512-815-5045 or Pastor Kevin Westergren at 512-459-1500 at work.   Blessings everybody!