Almost time to saddle up for Nairobi again! Some thoughts on ebola, our safety and more...

We’re now about a month away from our next mission trip to Kenya. We’ll be back in the slum of Kawangware, in Nairobi, where Redeemer got its start doing these vision clinics.  We will have a team of 4 this time, just like last October, when the Westgate Mall attack had all of our friends and families showing heightened concern for us.  This time, the buzz word is ebola.  You can’t turn the TV or radio on, or pick up a newspaper without the words Africa and ebola occupying the same sentence.  This has proved to be a hindrance in recruiting a larger team, but many blessings flowed from having a smaller crew last fall.  Among these was the empowering of our local volunteers, because of the necessity of them taking responsibility for larger portions of our vision clinic than ever before.  Everyone involved rose to the occasion and it was a joy to see the sense of accomplishment as our friends at the church in Kawangware truly shined while doing the Lord’s work.  It also humbled us quite a bit, as we realized we are not nearly as important or necessary as we would sometimes like to think.  The only thing that saddened me as one of the leaders of our group, was that we only had veterans of previous missions with us, which will be the case this time as the team will consist of Ralph Genz, Howard and Martha Faske and myself. One of my great satisfactions in life is to take newcomers with us on these missions.  I always wait to see when it dawns on them that they are really in Africa. Many times, it’s when we are on an early morning safari the first Saturday, after arriving in Nairobi late Friday night.  Up until this point, all they have seen is airports, airplanes and a late night ride through a very large city with billboards and neon signs in English that could be anywhere in the world. When they see their first giraffe, zebra, monkey or lion, the light bulb goes off.  We veterans feed off of the energy and enthusiasm of our first time team members, while our role is to keep everybody safe, show them some of the sights that we have come to love and make sure we have an effective clinic, both from a medical and from an evangelism standpoint.  Ralph and I will each be making our 12^th foray into Kenya, while the Faskes are not too far behind.

You might ask yourself, are we incredibly brave or incredibly foolish, making this trip during the ebola outbreak?  I have pointed out several factors to our concerned friends and loved ones when bombarded with variations on this question recently, sometimes with folks begging us not to go.  First, the continent of Africa is huge, well beyond what most Americans realize.  You could put 3 continental United States into Africa and have some room left over.  Second, the ebola outbreak in west Africa is from 3,000 to 3,300 miles away from Nairobi.  Check it for yourself, just Google how far Monrovia, Liberia is from Nairobi, Kenya.  We currently have a case of ebola in Dallas, only 200 miles from our home town of Austin, fifteen times closer.  Third, Kenya and other east African countries closed their borders and airports to people from west Africa earlier this year.  I would maintain that they are doing a better job of this than the United States is at this point.  I am probably more concerned with possible exposure to ebola or any other emerging infectious disease when we will be at London’s Heathrow Airport or some of our other teams go through Amsterdam, each are airports where people from all over the world get connecting flights.  The claims we hear in the U.S. is that you need contact with bodily fluids, that the virus doesn’t live on surfaces like jet plane seats or restrooms and is not transmitted through the air.  I’ve seen conflicting reports on each of these claims, and I’m sure we’ll be diligent about washing our hands and taking other precautions.  None of us is in any hurry to be a martyr, and each of us trusts our dear friends in Kenya when they say that it is safe there.  We have been guests in their homes and they have visited us in Texas as well.  I would be the first to recommend canceling this trip if I thought there was undue risk, but we follow the international news daily and I don’t think it is any less safe than it’s ever been for us.   Finally, my thought is that if we live our lives in fear, we are not really living, and the forces of terror and disease have robbed us of the abundant life we have been promised in the Gospel.  We would never take unnecessary risks, in fact, we always travel in groups, are out of the slums well before dark, always hire drivers that know the safest routes to take and stay in gated, guarded, secure lodgings every night.  We sleep very well.  I want to thank everybody for their heartfelt concerns for us, they are much appreciated.  My hope is that what I have just written has calmed some of those fears.  Please keep us in your prayers for a safe and effective mission as we take vision care and the lifesaving message of salvation through Jesus back to the slum of Kawangware this November.

If you want to know more about our mission trips, past, present and future, please go through the summaries, the daily posts and pictures from our many experiences right here at this blog.  If you feel called to join us next Spring, we hope to take 2 teams to Kenya from Redeemer, since we will be leaving on the first Thursday after Memorial Day, later than we ever have gone.  This should allow couples with kids in school that couldn’t come before, as well as teachers and others that usually have more free time after the school year to make this incredible journey.  For more info, contact Pastor Kevin Westergren at pastor@redeemer.net or me, Dave DeVore at dave@mrpcaustin.com.

Stay tuned to this blog, much more material will be added here as the trip approaches and of course, during the mission itself.

To God be the Glory!!!

A Great Mission! Final Reflections on the Spring 2014 Kenya Trip

This is the summary blog entry for the Spring 2014 vision clinic mission to Kibera and Kericho.  As has become the custom at this space, the link to the final set of pictures is directly below and it's time to reflect on what this mission trip meant to me and the other team members.  The captions for the photos are still being worked on, a few more pictures will be added to the mix and I still need some help with identifying people, birds, animals, places and things from our various adventures.

Click here to go to Kenya Spring photos

One great blessing and joy for me has been, as always, to introduce new members of the team to our mission work in the wonderful country of Kenya and it's people, places, wildlife and flowers.  It was a pleasure to have Michelle join us this time as she got to travel with her father, Charles.  She had intended to come on one of our previous trips to Kiambu, but was unable to make it due to an emergency appendectomy shortly before we left.  She had tried to talk her doctors into letting her come anyway, but it was just too soon.  She fit right in, loved the people we worked with and is already talking about coming on a future trip.

Michelle and Charles at the Great Rift Valley

We were also blessed by the addition of Caroline Bullock to the team.  She has taught at Redeemer and has a huge heart for children.  She served in Kericho with Ralph and Louise and I'm sure she's already shared stories with the preschool kids at Redeemer that she works with.

Caroline at the clinic in Kericho

Finally, Merrilee's friend Shirley joined us on the Kibera team.  They met on a Paul Maier tour of the travels of St. Paul several years ago as roommates and have remained friends since.  She fit right in with all of the veteran team members and was a lot of fun to have around.  She told us amusing stories at dinner of having danced on Broadway and her life in Aspen, Colorado.  Our volunteers loved her little dance steps she would suddenly perform when she was overjoyed!

Merrilee and Shirley

For me, the renewing of old friendships at Kibera after a two year absence was very exciting.  We had finally been allowed to go back to the Nairobi slum of Kawangware last October after two years of security concerns which had required us to serve in the more rural area of Kiambu just outside of town. We only took a team of 4 members on that trip because it was just after the Westgate Mall incident and some of our prospective team members and their families were quite understandably nervous and canceled out, some after already having purchased plane tickets.  That was my tenth mission to Kenya and it taught us all a strong faith lesson as we were forced to completely rely on God and our local volunteers for the first time in my experience with these clinics.  Neither God nor the volunteers let us down and we had a very successful mission any way it could be measured.  In fact, the volunteers were overjoyed that they had been allowed to step up to the plate and be responsible for almost all of the functions of the clinic.  To see more about last October's mission, read the blog entries for that trip.

Worship in Kibera

Back to our recent Kibera trip.  We were glad to see our old friends and make new ones.  It was a joy to worship there on Sunday, the service and the music are at a whole new level.  The Holy Spirit was definitely present that morning!  Our Nairobi teams are particularly lucky because we get to worship with the congregations we will be serving, while other teams that go to outlying areas of Kenya must use their Sunday for travel.  Thus, we always get a head start on building relationships with our volunteers and the Pastor.

Springs of Life Lutheran Church, Kibera

A great deal of the credit for the success of our mission to Kibera lies squarely with the preparation that the local congregation at the Springs of Life Lutheran Church did prior to our arrival.  When I first saw Pastor James on Sunday before church, I had asked if any of our friends from the other Nairobi churches where we have served in the past would be supplying us with volunteers.  He was adamant that the whole clinic would be staffed only by volunteers from the local Springs of Life Lutheran Church.  He said some of our friends might pay us a visit, but that this clinic would be a partnership between our team and this church.  I was saddened at first, because I wanted to see my other good friends.  But, after some thought, I realized that this was a large step for the people of this flock, since they had never been able in the past to entertain a clinic without some outside help.  Not only that, when the volunteers arrived Monday morning, all of them were in medical scrubs, a nice display of the teamwork that had been instilled in the young people since our last visit two years ago.  The high volume of patients we treated very efficiently is a direct result of the commitment and dedication of the Pastor, the elders and the congregation members showed throughout the week.  

The Kericho Team

Redeemer had 11 members ready to serve on our team.  A good size for a team is 7 or 8, although, as mentioned above, with veteran volunteers a clinic can be fielded with as few as 4 of us.  Salem needed reinforcements for their team that was going to be serving in rural Kericho.  Ralph and Louise have always had a heart for serving in new and exciting places, so they, along with Caroline, went there with them.  From everything I have heard, it was a wonderful experience for both our team members and the local volunteers that they worked with.

Everlyn and me enroute to Nairobi

After every trip, I do a recap of the "God things" that I was personally involved in or witnessed.  On this mission, some of my "God things" actually began to happen before we ever got to Kenya.  As I wrote previously in the blog:

I thought I was going to have a whole row to myself for the trip to Nairobi.  God had a different plan.  Just before the doors were scheduled to be closed, a woman arrived at my row, carrying a large bag that would barely fit under one of the seats.  She was breathing hard and was obviously relieved to be on the plane.  If she had missed our flight, she would have spent a day in London waiting for the next one.  We made small talk and I learned her name is Everlyn and that she works for a large bank in Nairobi.  More importantly, once she and I had discussed our vision clinic for a minute or two, she let me know that she was head of the women’s ministry at a large Baptist congregation that worships more than 10,000 on any given weekend near where we would be staying.  Each ministry in her church is expected to do a mission of some sort and they are very strong on discipling their members.  Does this remind anyone at Redeemer of our Vision 20/20 blueprint? Also, her sister lives a short distance from Kibera, the site of our clinic.  By the time we were done with the first of a few wonderful and uplifting conversations about our respective walks of faith, I had given her my business card so she could follow this blog and she was planning to come to our clinic for some eye problems she is experiencing.  She plans on bringing some of her family and friends to the clinic as well.  She had begun her trek in California, we had started our travels in Texas and the Lord made sure we met in row 43 on this flight from London to Nairobi.  It is so amazing when a "God thing" is happening right in front of your eyes and you actually know it at the time.  Thank you, Jesus!

Dr. Chris performs a distance vision exam

Some members of Everlyn's family

The story didn't end there.  Six or seven of Everlyn's family, including her husband, came to the clinic during the week.  She was supposed to bring her father for a possible cataract surgery referral, but that didn't happen.  Also, I was hoping to see her and her husband for lunch on Saturday, but due to a mixup on my part, that also didn't happen.  I would love to make contact with her and see her again on our next trip to Kenya in November.  It was truly a pleasure to meet her and her remarkable family, what a deep faith they have.  It is humbling, especially when you already think you are a mature Christian, to meet people that inspire you to take your walk with God to the next level of faith.

Waiting tent and registration table

One day, during the heat of the afternoon, Howard and I were on the porch of the church looking over at the waiting tent, the last stop before registration and entry into the clinic for our patients.  This tent has about 150 plastic chairs that we rent, along with all the tents.  As several people would be summoned to the registration table, everyone would move over two or three seats as they inched toward the front of the line.  A person might move fifty or more times in the course of a half hour to forty five minute stay in the tent.  As we were watching, Pastor James and several of our evangelists passed in front of the tent and an old man leaped out at him.  He was very angry, had his walking stick raised in his hand and had to be pushed back down into his chair.  The crowd became pretty restless and I was beginning to think that things were about to go up for grabs.  All of a sudden, the old-timer became very repentant and asked for forgiveness.  By this time, several other elders of the congregation had arrived and before you knew it, they had all raised both arms to the sky over the man and were praying a blessing on him.  We found out later that the heat and being around too many women and children had been more than he could take!  We promptly got him registered for the clinic.

Waiting for eye drops to work

After an eyechart exam, Howard shepherded him to the doctors where he was treated for itchy, scratchy eyes, a common ailment in the slum.  

Howard helps test out the new glasses

After a manual distance glasses exam, we made new Coke bottle glasses for him.  He needed lots of help with his distance vision and he could see just fine when we were all done.

Aloise shares a lighter moment

On his way out of the church grounds, the man encountered Aloise, a caretaker, usher and elder at the church who has an incredible joy about him at all times.  We all have come to know and love Aloise over the years we have been coming to Kibera.  They shared a laugh a two and the man was so happy with his new glasses and new found friends at the church that he jumped up, leaning on his cane and clicked his heals together before dancing a little jig. What a difference... Thank you, Jesus!

Dr. Milliam, Esther, Catherine and me

Another "God thing" that I was privileged to be a part of was when Catherine brought a woman wearing sunglasses into the clinic on Friday morning, the last day of the clinic.  The woman said "Dave, do you remember me?"  This happens at every clinic and it comes as no surprise to me that people know my name.  After all, I wear a name tag!  But yes, I did remember her as Esther, a  woman that had been referred for cataract surgery at a previous clinic.  I told her that I bet that she had come back to get the other eye taken care of and we would be glad to do it, since this has happened many times in the past.  I was ready to take her right to the doctors.  But Catherine said there was much more to this story.  When Esther had gone for the cataract surgery, they found fast acting cancer in the eye she was to have treated and an immediate decision had to be made to remove it.  She had come to thank us and was praising God for saving her life.  And, she had just one more request.  She removed her sunglasses to reveal the eye socket that had now healed.  She wanted a prosthetic eye so she could quit wearing the sunglasses.  We bring a budget of $1500 on each trip for cataract surgery referrals and other procedures that our doctors deem necessary that can be performed at a hospital or clinic in Nairobi.  Cataracts surgeries cost about $50-$65 each.  I had already approved 34 cataract referrals and several other possible procedures, so the budget was already more than gone by that Friday morning. I knew that an artificial eye cost maybe $800-$1000 in the U.S.  What could we do?  That's when Dr. Milliam went to work, calling labs in Nairobi that she has connections with.  She was able to write a referral for the glass eye that would only cost about $60.  I would have gladly paid it out of my own pocket if I had to, since we had started with Esther and needed to finish the job.  Redeemer is amazingly generous and I was confident we would find a way.  We always do.  The Lord provides...

This is the kind of encounter that keeps me coming back to Kenya time after time.  After reflecting for the last month on this woman's wonderful faith, I know that if I had been in Esther's shoes, I might very well have shaken my fist at God for the misfortune of losing an eye.  It's a natural reaction and being immersed in the me, me, me culture of America, it would have been totally understandable to say "Why me, Lord?"  Instead, she had a marvelous attitude of thanks and praise that through our clinic her cancer was discovered and her life had been saved. Not only that, her plea for an artificial eye was so humble and sincere that it still gives me chills and brings a tear to my eyes just thinking about it.  I wish I could bottle up the deep and wide faith that I run into everywhere I look in Kenya.  I wish that we here in the States could pray and believe that our loving Father will take care of us in the same trusting and child-like fashion.  There is much to learn when the Lord places people such as Esther in our paths.  It reminds me that our walk of faith is just that, a journey and not a destination.  Thank you Jesus, for teaching us through others by placing them in our lives.

Lions in the soft light of dawn

Our old friend

As on previous mission trips, we were blessed to have Saturday morning to spend as we wished, as the other teams were returning from the field.  Some of the team decided to sleep in late and do brunch and a little more shopping at the Junction Mall near Rosa Mystica.  The rest of us hit the road bright and early for one final photo safari at the National Game Park just on the outskirts of Nairobi.  We used to venture farther out, but when our van broke down two hours from town several years ago and we were lucky to make the flight out of Nairobi, things changed! Now that was an adventure.   I like to call these safaris worshiping in God's big church with no roof.  Being surrounded by the wonders and variety of His creation is a great way to decompress after spending a week in the slums with His children that He brings to us.

The Kibera team with Pastor James

Our next mission trip is tentatively scheduled for November 13-23, 2014.  If you would like more information on how to join us on that trip, please contact Pastor Kevin Westergren at 512-459-1500 or pastor@redeemer.net or me, Dave DeVore at dave@mrpcaustin.com or 512-323-5343.  We would love for you to share in the abundant blessings that we have been called to give and in the abundant blessings that he always bestows on us when we get out of the boat, having listened to His small still voice calling us and having responded "Here am I.  Send me, send me!"

To God be the Glory!!!

Kenya Spring Mission Trips Pictures are being Published

It's a slow process, especially when the jet lag has been worse than normal and two of my associates in my business are on vacation, leaving me with a little less time than normal.  I hope to have the bulk of the pictures from the Kibera and Kericho clinics available by the end of this weekend.  Please keep coming back often to see them as they are added.  I will be adding captions as time permits to help describe each one and will try to identify any animals or birds from our photo safaris.  Click the following link to get to the pictures.

Kenya Spring 2014 photos

5-4-2014 Flight Delayed from London to Houston

During the final check of our 747, the ground crew spotted a hydraulic fluid leak under one of the wings.  They removed the access panels, fixed whatever was leaking, sealed up the wing and gave the plane a clean bill of health.  We took off about 1 hour and 25 minutes late, but it looks like we are making up some of that time with favorable flying conditions.  I'm glad it was fixed before our flight!  I’ve been gathering up everybody’s camera cards today and just finished getting the last set of pictures, Caroline’s, into my laptop so I can begin work on getting pictures out on the blog and then making a nice DVD for team members to show their families and to remember the trip by.  I will send all of our pictures, the good, the bad and the ugly, to the team sometime within the next week or so.  I know we’ve got at least 2500 pictures from both of our teams that we had people on this time.  I only make sure personal photos from before the trip are erased, but if someone left their camera on and took an out of focus picture of their foot, it will be there.  This way, my team can select pictures they like for whatever their purposes are.  The blog and the DVD project will require me first rating all the pictures from 1-5.  I usually only include the 4s or 5s after I run them through some basic editing in Adobe Lightroom such as cropping, making the exposures better, sharpening or adding a little contrast, etc.  I then try to get to about the 300 best pictures for the blog and maybe 400-500 pictures for an hour long DVD slide show that I produce that can be played on any computer and most TVs.  This has taken 60-80 hours to complete in the past.  These DVDs are worth it, because I make extra copies to help show others what the Vision for Kenya project is all about and they help in recruiting other churches to join us in this mission field.  I still remember my first trip to help build churches in Mexico in 2005 when I had no idea what I was getting into.  I swore then that I would do these kind of photo projects to help make new recruits more comfortable instead of them being required to take such a huge leap of faith.  While I am a firm believer in leaps of faith, if they are too big of a barrier, it’s really hard to get people to come in the first place.  Even going all the way to Africa, one of my team was so impressed by her first time experience that she’s already talking about coming again in a year or so.  Many times, once we get home, the whole experience takes a while to percolate, be digested and processed a little at a time.  Many times, people that have joined us for one trip feel the Holy Spirit tugging at them and that small, still voice of God calling them to continue with the work.  In my case, I was hooked from the very beginning.  Stay tuned as I write a few more stories about the God things that happened on this trip and as I finally conclude with a summary of what the this team accomplished and what the trip meant to us.  Thanks be to God!

5-3 and 5-4-2014 Final Day in Kenya and Travel

We had a hurried breakfast before the safari because the kitchen staff had to clean up from a rather loud group of about 25 that arrived after 10pm that was also pretty loud while having a meal around 4am before departing for wherever they went.  It made for a short night of fitful sleep.  At least for once in wasn’t ugly Americans, the group clearly was being noisy in Swahili! Our 6:45 scheduled meal turned into after 7am and we scrambled to get to the Nairobi National Game Park on the outskirts of town.  Our driver from during the week, Stephen and I paid the fees for our group and the van to enter the park.  We spotted some giraffes and zebras right away, but Stephen sped past them, much to the group’s dismay.  I knew what was up, he had been alerted to several lions nearby by other drivers over the CB radio.  People love to see giraffes, but they don’t realize if it’s their initial trip to Kenya that getting to get up close and personal with some lions doesn’t happen more than once every 3 or 4 trips.  I got some great pictures in the warm yellow early morning light with my 55-300mm Nikon zoom lens on my DSLR camera, but they seemed a little cloudy.I soon found out why.  I had taken the lens from the warmer drier room into the relatively cool and more humid van and condensation had formed inside the lens.  A good lens has 9 or more elements or lenses within it and this is not good.  If not dried out quickly, mold can form and render the lens ruined.  I removed it from the camera and it road in the sunshine on the dash the rest of the morning. I switched to my standard 18-55mm kit lens and continued shooting.  The good news is that with a 24MP camera like I have, I can crop and zoom in quite a bit on the rest of the pictures and get good results.  We saw almost every bird and animal I had ever seen at this park with the exceptions of the saddle-billed stork and the rhino.  Considering Nairobi had been getting rain, which scatters the animals to higher ground when water is plentiful and it means the grass and other vegetation is much taller and thicker making the animals harder to spot, we had a very successful morning indeed. 

 

After the safari, we went to the Veranda restaurant and gift shop as planned and had a great lunch.  Charles and Shirley had a dish made out of a huge avocado, Michelle had fired prawns and Stephen and I each had fish and chips.  We went back to the Little Sisters lodge around 2:30pm and waited for the arrival of the Salem team.  They ran a little late and got in around 4pm.  We loaded up our luggage and footlockers in a truck, said our fond farewells to Catherine and headed for the airport a little earlier than planned, around 6pm, because of reports of heavy traffic.  Getting though security was uneventful and we waited about 3 hours to board, sharing meals and stories with other teams at the Java House in the airport.  We took off on time around midnight, our next stop will be early Sunday morning in London.  Dinner was served about 45 minutes after takeoff and the choice was fish or beef. I had the beef, which was actually pretty good.  Then it was lights out, except for those who were reading.  I got a fair amount of sleep, but it was a little more difficult than it needed to be.  A large blonde German man, maybe in his 50’s, came and forced himself into the middle seat next to me.  He wanted more leg room.  He overflowed his seat in both directions.  He was a nice enough guy, but didn’t speak a word of English and I’m no whiz at Deutsch.  I had done it the right way, having gotten up at midnight Friday to choose my seat online.  I got to meet another character in my life. 

As I write this, we are about an hour and a half from London. The cabin lights have just been turned on and the crew is beginning to distribute special meals to passengers who requested them.  A small box breakfast can’t be too far behind.  I was right, the breakfast consisted of a croissant with tomato in it, a Frosted Flakes bar, strawberry yogurt and coffee.  I gave my yogurt to the German guy and another lady from Nairobi gave hers to him as well.  He won the lottery on this flight. 

We arrived at Heathrow about 5 minutes late after circling for about 15 minutes waiting for a landing slot.  Everyone cleared the heightened security smoothly this time and set about to having breakfast with old friends from past missions, shopping or just lazing around.  We have about 2 hours until we need to worry about a gate assignment and checking in for British Air Flight 195 to Houston.  More to follow and plenty of pictures soon after we return to Austin.  Thank you Jesus!

5-2-2014 The Kibera clinic finishes with a bang!

We had our usual breakfast of chicken sausage, cold cereal with hot milk, eggs to order by our cook, fruit, bread, juice and instant coffee or tea.  We were running a little early, so a stop was made at Java House for some real coffee for those that wished.  We arrived and setup the clinic in record time.  I did a devotion based on the one in the Portals of Prayer for today about happiness.  It was based on the Beatitudes and especially about “blessed are the poor in spirit”.  I modified it a bit to compare and contrast worldly happiness with the joy that we Christians have and share that is not based on circumstances but on our relationship with a loving God who gave us an empty tomb to ponder and be amazed by.  Our morning was very steady and we were at slightly over 300 patients in the clinic by noon.  Looming gray clouds threatened all day, but it never rained.  Knowing we would shut down a little early to celebrate the clinic with the volunteers after packing our gear, I never dreamed that we would be blessed with another day bigger than the previous one.  At a little after 4pm, we quit taking in any patients and ended the day at 586 and the week at 2711 people that got vision treatment and the Gospel.  125 people proclaimed Jesus as Lord and the angels are having a big celebration in heaven!

After packing up, we awarded our certificates of appreciation to our volunteers, the evangelists and Pastor James, with each getting their photo taken with me and the Pastor.  The congregation serenaded us with a blessing song and we sang the Doxology for them.  Simultaneous tearful and joyful goodbyes were said, hugs and promises to come back were said.  We loaded up our footlockers into a truck headed for Little Sisters.  We got back to Rosa Mystica, got cleaned up and were ready to walk to the Junction to eat at an Italian restaurant when a torrential downpour began.  We were blessed all week by rain holding off during the amazing clinic and I think the Lord wanted us to know that he had held it at bay for us.  We took 2 cabs the block and a half to the Junction and enjoyed a great meal with Catherine.  Some had baked lasagna, Catherine had a spring chicken, Shirley had veal, Michelle enjoyed a lobster and I had calamari and shrimp with chips (British for French fries).

I am finishing packing up because Charles, Michelle, Shirley and I will be doing a safari in the morning at the National Game Park and need to take our stuff with us.  Afterwards, we will lunch and shop at the Veranda restaurant and gift shop.  Evelyn, the Godly woman from the plane ride from London to Nairobi, has just called and is going to meet us, along with her husband, for lunch as well.  What a blessing that will be.  Howard, Martha and Jane will laze around tomorrow morning, shop at the Junction and will meet up with us later at Little Sisters before we depart for the airport.  I may have one more story before we leave Nairobi, depending on Internet access and how much time I have.  Otherwise, I expect to be able to make another post from Heathrow early Saturday morning London time.  We have had a dream clinic and I praise God that everyone worked well together and we all stayed healthy, despite all the ways one can fall ill from food or drink during any foreign travel.  Many miracles occurred this week and, even though we’re all dog tired, I am already getting excited about coming back to Nairobi in the fall to continue our ministry.  Thanks be to God!

5-1-2014 Thursday evening before bed, what a day!

We were able to get some good Starbucks type coffee at Java House on our way to the clinic this morning, what a nice change of pace from Nescafe.  Because of the May Day holiday, traffic was even less than the lighter than usual traffic of the school break had been so far.  Pastor James led a devotion after a nice song was sung by all and we got to work right away.  Once again, we only had around 250 patients by noon.  This time, I didn’t doubt God’s power to finish out the day and when He was done, we had served 577 patients.  Our grand total for the week is now over 2100 people who have been helped with vision problems and all have been prayed over individually and given a Gospel presentation. 

I have just returned with Howard and Martha from Catherine’s mother’s house for dinner.  Her brother, his wife, a daughter and a granddaughter were there and our driver Stephen joined us also.  The food was marvelous, with chapatti bread, spinach, a dish made from potatoes and peas about the consistency of mashed potatoes and greenish in color, some meat, green beans, rice and some other dishes.  It was serve yourself and we ate very well.  The only thing better than the meal was the fellowship.  A good time was had by all and our exhausted crew ended the night with me being asked to pray for Mama’s health concerns and for the group as a whole.  Afterwards, Mama finished the night off with a beautiful prayer in Swahili.  Even though we didn’t understand much of it, it was very powerful and it had an exquisite rhythm to it.  She is truly a woman of God.  Catherine later told us it was a sweet prayer beyond all measure.  What a special way to end a perfect evening!

The rest of the team went to the Junction Mall next to Rosa Mystica for dinner and some shopping with the exception of Jane.  She had eaten a big lunch late in the afternoon with the volunteers, a special treat indeed.  The Holy Spirit had also used her in a mighty way as she witnessed to many people in every situation she was in.  An unchurched man came to Jesus as his Lord and Savior during her time with him and she was on Cloud 9 after that.  I'm sure God moved in many more situations during the day among us, this is just one special one that I'm aware of.  What a blessing.

It’s been a long day and we have a very full one tomorrow, first running the clinic, then deciding when to shut down so that we see as many patients as possible while still allowing us to pack up all of our supplies and equipment, have an awards ceremony for our volunteers and still leave in time for Merrilee to be ready to leave our lodgings for the airport at 7pm for her flight to London and then back to the U.S. for her grandson's Confirmation this coming Sunday.  We will be on a safari Saturday morning at the local game park, will have a nice lunch and do some shopping and then will gather the teams up at Little Sisters (Daughters?, we keep hearing it both ways) of St. Joseph prior to our heading to the airport as a group.  More reports to follow as I have the time and Internet access.  Lights out!  I need some rest… Thank you, Jesus!