(Give me a clean heart, Lord)
What a wonderful morning! We had running water to take showers! All of us were smelling and feeling much better today as we made our way up to CURE. Thank You Father for the big blessings, and the small ones such as water!
Today marked our second to last day working at CURE, and I am already thinking about how much I will miss the people that I have met here. The joy that all of us have felt working at CURE was summed up perfectly when a beautiful little Kenyan girl came running up at full speed to greet Paul with a hug this morning as we entered the lobby of the hospital. We had the privilege of worshipping with the prosthetics/orthotics people in their workshop. I have to say, one of my favorite things here in Kenya is listening to the people sing praises to God in their language, and we got to hear them sing in Swahili this morning. The prosthetics/orthotics people (artists as I would call them) showed us the amazing work that they are doing to create prostheses for patients with a new knee joint that they actually learned about from Letourneau University in Texas! Man, it's a small world! A couple of hours after that, Elaine and I got to work with a patient who received one of these prostheses just today, and started the process of learning to walk with his new leg including helping him navigate stairs. I have to hand it to the “artists,” they did incredible work on that patient's leg, and I could see the joy in his face in knowing that he would be able to walk again.
The amazing gifts and talents of our team did not go unused today, as Dan and Greg worked their tails off to repair and actually rebuild the computers at the hospital. This is no small feat, I might add, with a temperamental and slow internet. Two of our nurses, Beth and Leah, spent some time this morning discussing PALS with the nurses at CURE, and then assisted Dr. Bob in casting a young girl with a femur fracture. There was plaster everywhere! Leah got to scrub in like a superstar on a C1-2 [spinal] fusion surgery with Dr. Mead, and Michael, being the stud that he is, was able to scrub in on a bilateral (both feet) clubfoot surgery with Dr. “Smooth Operator” Mendonsa, and also help put the casts on afterwards.
DJ, God bless his soul, did data entry from files dating back to 2008. DJ, you truly have a servant's heart! One bonus that came out of this was coming across a patient's name which the guys have decided is the Best. Name. Evar. … Killforce … It is now a race to see who will be the first to use it on his child.
Kristen, Elaine, and Hannah worked with Francesca (an absolute angel who works at CURE) in the “Pray Loom” (How Kenyans pronounce “play room”). They colored pictures, made bracelets, played games, and Francesca gave the gospel to a child with the evangicube. Every time I walked by the play room this morning, I could see the absolute joy on the faces of the children, and the workers, however..., there was one little girl who was very afraid of mzungus. Surprisingly, the guys (Michael, Greg, and Dan) were the ones who won her over.
At lunch Julie Mendonsa took us all to the Dukas (the Galleria of Kijabe), so that we could find some fun gifts for all of our beloved friends and family! Thenya was the woman who owned the shop that we were at, and she was so gracious to us. After we left the shop, Thenya thanked Julie profusely with tears because we had provided her with some business today. It was so awesome to be able to bless her in that way, and hopefully help provide for her and her family.
In the afternoon, most of the girls worked in the warehouse organizing all of the scrubs and tape. In the end, they were completely covered in dust, but had made a significant dent in the organization of the warehouse! Michael, Dan, and Greg had the privilege of helping out with the ward fellowship time, and Dan and Greg were the keynote speakers today. Greg gave his amazing testimony, while Dan preached to the parents and kids on the 5 core Preschool values taught at Kids Village back home at church!
The girls finished the afternoon off with attending Emily's basketball game. Emily is definitely becoming the female version of Dirk Nowitzki, and played like a champ! Will had a small run-in with the soccer ball and another soccer player. He ended up with a very manly looking shiner on his right eye. You should see the other guy!!
The evening came to a close with Paul telling inspiring and funny stories of his high school years up to the present, while Michael and DJ challenged all of us with such serious questions as “what is your least favorite food due to smell” and “what is your most embarrassing moment.” Dinner time has become some of the sweetest moments of this group as we sit around the table, tell stories, and laugh. Dan and Greg then both gave their testimonies. We have amazing men on our team!
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.” - Elliot
I feel that God is definitely calling us to give up all these silly things that we think we can't live without, to gain more of Him. The Kenyans that we have met over this past week have been such an amazing example of what this looks like in real life. May the Lord help us to mimic them in this way!
Things to Pray for:
Pray for us as we go to the IDP camp tomorrow that we will be able to minister to the people there and encourage them the way that God wants us to. Pray that we will be encouraging and helpful to the people of CURE on our last morning there, and pray for our hearts as we say goodbye to the friends that we have made in the hospital. Pray for safe travels for us as we return to Texas, and for Ty and Mande Clark as they fly from Texas to Nairobi on Saturday. Pray that God would provide rain here in Kenya and provide food and provision for these amazing people.
-Ginny
Jeremiah 29:11
Today marked our second to last day working at CURE, and I am already thinking about how much I will miss the people that I have met here. The joy that all of us have felt working at CURE was summed up perfectly when a beautiful little Kenyan girl came running up at full speed to greet Paul with a hug this morning as we entered the lobby of the hospital. We had the privilege of worshipping with the prosthetics/orthotics people in their workshop. I have to say, one of my favorite things here in Kenya is listening to the people sing praises to God in their language, and we got to hear them sing in Swahili this morning. The prosthetics/orthotics people (artists as I would call them) showed us the amazing work that they are doing to create prostheses for patients with a new knee joint that they actually learned about from Letourneau University in Texas! Man, it's a small world! A couple of hours after that, Elaine and I got to work with a patient who received one of these prostheses just today, and started the process of learning to walk with his new leg including helping him navigate stairs. I have to hand it to the “artists,” they did incredible work on that patient's leg, and I could see the joy in his face in knowing that he would be able to walk again.
The amazing gifts and talents of our team did not go unused today, as Dan and Greg worked their tails off to repair and actually rebuild the computers at the hospital. This is no small feat, I might add, with a temperamental and slow internet. Two of our nurses, Beth and Leah, spent some time this morning discussing PALS with the nurses at CURE, and then assisted Dr. Bob in casting a young girl with a femur fracture. There was plaster everywhere! Leah got to scrub in like a superstar on a C1-2 [spinal] fusion surgery with Dr. Mead, and Michael, being the stud that he is, was able to scrub in on a bilateral (both feet) clubfoot surgery with Dr. “Smooth Operator” Mendonsa, and also help put the casts on afterwards.
DJ, God bless his soul, did data entry from files dating back to 2008. DJ, you truly have a servant's heart! One bonus that came out of this was coming across a patient's name which the guys have decided is the Best. Name. Evar. … Killforce … It is now a race to see who will be the first to use it on his child.
Kristen, Elaine, and Hannah worked with Francesca (an absolute angel who works at CURE) in the “Pray Loom” (How Kenyans pronounce “play room”). They colored pictures, made bracelets, played games, and Francesca gave the gospel to a child with the evangicube. Every time I walked by the play room this morning, I could see the absolute joy on the faces of the children, and the workers, however..., there was one little girl who was very afraid of mzungus. Surprisingly, the guys (Michael, Greg, and Dan) were the ones who won her over.
At lunch Julie Mendonsa took us all to the Dukas (the Galleria of Kijabe), so that we could find some fun gifts for all of our beloved friends and family! Thenya was the woman who owned the shop that we were at, and she was so gracious to us. After we left the shop, Thenya thanked Julie profusely with tears because we had provided her with some business today. It was so awesome to be able to bless her in that way, and hopefully help provide for her and her family.
In the afternoon, most of the girls worked in the warehouse organizing all of the scrubs and tape. In the end, they were completely covered in dust, but had made a significant dent in the organization of the warehouse! Michael, Dan, and Greg had the privilege of helping out with the ward fellowship time, and Dan and Greg were the keynote speakers today. Greg gave his amazing testimony, while Dan preached to the parents and kids on the 5 core Preschool values taught at Kids Village back home at church!
The girls finished the afternoon off with attending Emily's basketball game. Emily is definitely becoming the female version of Dirk Nowitzki, and played like a champ! Will had a small run-in with the soccer ball and another soccer player. He ended up with a very manly looking shiner on his right eye. You should see the other guy!!
The evening came to a close with Paul telling inspiring and funny stories of his high school years up to the present, while Michael and DJ challenged all of us with such serious questions as “what is your least favorite food due to smell” and “what is your most embarrassing moment.” Dinner time has become some of the sweetest moments of this group as we sit around the table, tell stories, and laugh. Dan and Greg then both gave their testimonies. We have amazing men on our team!
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.” - Elliot
I feel that God is definitely calling us to give up all these silly things that we think we can't live without, to gain more of Him. The Kenyans that we have met over this past week have been such an amazing example of what this looks like in real life. May the Lord help us to mimic them in this way!
Things to Pray for:
Pray for us as we go to the IDP camp tomorrow that we will be able to minister to the people there and encourage them the way that God wants us to. Pray that we will be encouraging and helpful to the people of CURE on our last morning there, and pray for our hearts as we say goodbye to the friends that we have made in the hospital. Pray for safe travels for us as we return to Texas, and for Ty and Mande Clark as they fly from Texas to Nairobi on Saturday. Pray that God would provide rain here in Kenya and provide food and provision for these amazing people.
-Ginny
Jeremiah 29:11
Thanks, Ginny. Suzie, Nixon and I anxiously await your safe return.
ReplyDelete"Who da 'chefs'"?
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