Final Stretch

Yesterday I was reminded of my previous post on this blog and I laughed at how different this week went from the “routine” I described. The week began fairly “normal” as Jason and I walked to a church that meets at a small school called Rorok. We enjoyed the service and were encouraged to participate. We ended up leading a few songs, reading some scripture, and praying for the church. In the evening we attended the group Bible study and then prepared for the week.

New Style

 Monday began with me getting all of my hair braided like a Kenyan’s! It took over 4.5 hours for it to be completely finished (I will try to post pictures on facebook for those who have asked). The woman who did my hair is a local Kenyan Christian and we had a good talk about God, culture, and our lives while she braided. When she finished, it felt like I had a hair transplant. :) They actually weave artificial hair in with your own so that it will stay longer and be stronger. Anyway, it was a fun experience and I’ve enjoyed not having to wash or fix my hair all week! :) They say you can leave it this way for up to a month – with washing it about once a week with the braids in. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to leave it in that long or not. Jason and I both like it, although it is definitely a different look for me.

Work

 I spent both Monday and Tuesday afternoon working with a visiting woman from Canada. Her husband is an anesthesiologist so while he was working in the hospital, her and I worked on cleaning out an old storage room that had some toys, books, clothes, etc. We cleaned and organized things so that we could make gift bags for various ages of children at the hospital. We had a pleasant time together and hopefully the children will have something to brighten their day now when they have a hospital stay.

   Jason and I had a fun opportunity on Friday morning to lead a CPR class for the nursing students and nurses. One of the doctors here put a power point together, but then got called to do an emergency C-section before the class was supposed to start. Jason and I were supposed to be helping anyway, but we gladly filled in. I did most of the lecture portion and Jason helped with the demonstration (thankfully we had a manikin from the nursing school :) ). I really enjoy teaching and the nurses and students seemed to be attentive learners. It has been hard to find or take opportunities to just jump in and teach, although I have been able to do some of this here. Please pray that I will see and take any available opportunities this week to build into the lives of the nurses and nursing students here. Please also continue to pray for Jason as he strives to both learn and be of help in the operating room and hospital here. They have had several more thyroidectomies and cleft lip and palate repairs, along with a lot of orthopedic surgeries. There is also much time spent on wound care and skin grafts for burns.

    Wednesday was a hard day at the hospital for me as I helped resuscitate a newly born baby for several hours. Despite our best efforts, he went to be with Jesus in the early afternoon. He had been born the previous day by C-section and although he initially seemed well, after a couple of minutes he had stopped breathing. We are still unsure if he aspirated some amniotic fluid (it got into his lungs), or if there was something else already going on with him. Even with oxygen support, by the next morning he was still breathing really hard and his oxygen level kept dropping low. We ended up placing a breathing tube into his trachea when he got too tired to breath on his own, but there are no ventilators here so we just gave him breaths with oxygen by hand for several hours. Eventually though, his lungs and heart just got too tired even with our help. My heart broke for the mother – she cried on my shoulder and I cried with her. I then cleaned up the baby and wrapped him in a clean blanket. The mother didn’t want to hold him again, and it was so hard for me to just place him aside, alone in a cold room, until the family decided where to bury him. Death is so much a part of life here. I saw the mother two days later, as she was being discharged from the hospital. She had a peaceful smile on her face, and kept thanking us for everything. It reminded me of a woman I met last week who had lost her newborn two weeks before. She seemed so joyful, and when asked about her joy, she said that she believes in Jesus, and knows that He is taking care of her baby and her family – that He is in control and that she can trust Him. He was her source of incredible strength and joy in the midst of intense pain and suffering. What a lesson for us all…

Fellowship

Tuesday evening all of the missionaries and visitors got together for a “breakfast for dinner” party. We enjoyed both great food and good company. We also enjoyed a movie night together on Wed, and another get-together where we had popcorn, hot chocolate, and s’mores with roasted marshmallows from an indoor fireplace last night. Our host last night had Christmas music playing and a small Christmas tree up, which made me excited about the coming holidays. I’m really looking forward to the time we’ll have with family and friends when we return to the States for 6 weeks.

  Another fun time this week was taking one of the visiting families with three children (along with another missionary boy) to milk a cow. I know, milking cows seems to be a re-occurring theme here. :) The family who owns the cow said that I needed more practice milking, so I decided to bring some first-timers along with me. They all seemed to have a good time and we definitely laughed a lot once again.

Another funny animal story happened Friday when a group of us went to a nearby village school. We met with several leaders from the school as they shared with us about their ministry and needs. Right before we left, the group of leaders gave one of the missionary men a rooster as a parting gift. This is a common but still very special gift in this area of Kenya. The man thanked them and placed the rooster (whose legs were tied together) into the back of our vehicle. When we were heading back to Kapsowar, the man’s son (who is 6 years old) looked behind his seat, saw the rooster for the first time, and said “Woah! Why did they put a dead rooster in the back of our car, and how did they get that past my Dad?!” :) We explained that the rooster was actually alive, and that his Dad knew all about it. :)

Rain, Rain, and More Rain

It has been raining again almost all week so it is hard to do much outside. For this reason, we have not done our morning walks / runs, nor have we been outside much at all. This has been kind of frustrating for us because we love to be outdoors, and because I seem to have major allergy issues when our house is closed up (it has been pretty cool as well – in the 50s and 60s fairly often). Anyway, according to all of the local people and long term missionaries, it is usually dry and warm this time of year. The excessive rain and cool temperatures are actually ruining the harvesting time for many people. Pray that people will still be able to harvest their maize and that their crops will be sufficient, as this is the primary income and food for a majority of the people here.

   Yesterday afternoon, Jason and I decided to get out of the house and go for a walk to the market to buy a few things and to practice our limited Swahili. Right about the time we were finishing up our purchases, it started pouring rain again. We were very unprepared (not really sure why with the above info I just gave you… :)) so the local people all stared at us (from underneath their buildings or umbrellas) as we walked back to our house, completely soaked, carrying our wet groceries in our arms. We get laughed at and talked about very often here – I guess it is usually for good reason… We’ve been trying to use the extra time indoors to work on our language study, but it has still felt like very slow progress. Even as I write this, it just started raining again while Jason is out running… Oh well, good thing he’s tough. :)

Thanksgiving

Happy Belated Thanksgiving to you all! We hope you all had a wonderful time with family and friends, enjoying food and time together. It’s such a great day to be reminded of the many things we have to be thankful for, and for all that God has brought us through. I was struggling on Thursday with wanting to be with our family, and longing for the comforts of home. However, God used even this to remind me of who He is, and of all He has given me. How gracious He is to us!

I spent most of the afternoon cooking as we all pitched in and had a big thanksgiving dinner at one of the missionary’s homes. The food was wonderful, and one of the men had a taped football game from last year, so he brought his TV over and we all watched football while eating. :) All in all, it was a good day. I am so thankful for God’s sustaining grace, my amazing husband and family, and the many incredible blessings He has given us!

Slight Change of Plans

So our original plan was to leave Kapsowar at the end of this week. We were going to spend a day in both Eldoret and Kijabe, wrapping things up for the research project, and then also spend a day and a half enjoying a safari called Nukuru. We were then planning to return to Nairobi for a few days before heading to London, and then home. We’ve just recently found out that one of the missionary family’s are planning a trip to the valley, to a group of people called the Pokot over this coming weekend. They are helping to start a clinic, drill a couple of wells, and encourage these people in the Lord. We would really love to be involved in this trip, and since it is just Saturday and Sunday, we could change our plans slightly and still get everything done that we need to. We have been hearing about the ministry being done in the valley, as it is in even more need than here, and they have very few reaching out to them. Please pray for us as we try to decide how to best use our short time left here. The only thing we would end up cutting out would be our trip to Nukuru. However, we’ve done a safari before and could fairly easily do this on our return trip as well. Anyway, if we decide to add this trip on, then we will probably be leaving Kapsowar early Monday morning (Dec 5^th) instead of this coming Friday. We will keep you all updated! 

Please pray that we will finish strong and use this last week well! Pray that we will be an encouragement to the missionaries, visitors, and local people. Please continue to pray for our families back home as well.

Thank you all so much and please let us know how you’re doing! We love hearing from you! - Meridith