Well, we are finally on our way! We are on a KLM flight mid-way between Amsterdam and Nairobi. I’m watching a beautiful sunset over the continent of Africa as I type this note. The unrest in Kenya quieted down enough for us to have a window of opportunity to travel. Even as we make the last leg of our flight to Nairobi, the plane is only 30% full—a clear reminder of the toll the unrest has taken on foreign tourism. We will be in Nairobi two days and then we will load our family and all our bags and supplies into two small Cessna airplanes four a 140 mile trip into western Kenya. We will be working in a 300 bed mission hospital that was founded in the 1950’s and is run by several mission organizations (African Inland Mission, World Gospel Mission among others). We will be working alongside several full-time missionary doctors/surgeons. The plan is for us to work with them two weeks and then several of us short term doctors give them a two week “break” to travel to attend a conference for continuing medical education. Jenn will continue to home school the kids during the morning. In the afternoons they will hike, go to the local village, and work in the pediatric wards, perhaps even an orphanage. Most of you know that Jenn is a registered nurse. I hope to get her back in the OR with me.
We will live on the hospital grounds in a guest cottage within walking distance of the hospital. The children are excited because there will be 8-10 other missionary children at the hospital/compound during our stay. This should supply lots of social interaction after they have done their school work.
Pray for our safe passage through Nairobi and on to western Kenya. Pray for our continued good health. Pray that my skills in surgery would return to me quickly. Pray that we will be a blessing and encouragement to all the missionaries. Pray that we will have lots of opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus reaching out to a world in need.
We will stay in touch.
Paul and Jennifer
P.S. Many thanks to Duncan Dodds and Jeana Lawrence for the help with the web site. We really appreciate your time and expertise.