Asante Sana...Thank You...

In just a few hours we will be leaving Tenwek Hospital and will be on our way to Nairobi to board our plane to come home to Arizona.  I wanted to make one final blog post from Kenya to thank all of you for your prayers and contributions that have allowed us to come and to serve.

Because of the prayers and generosity of so many people, so much has been accomplished, and will continue to be done here in Bomet, Kenya at Tenwek Hospital.

When we first drove past the water towers of Tenwek Hospital, arriving nearly a month ago, we were eagerly looking forward to seeing how God would have us serve here.  We were so excited to be here.  Thank you.

Late in 2013 I sent out a letter telling you that we were raising funds for an ultrasound machine to bring with us to Tenwek, and within 60 days we had nearly enough money for this portable ultrasound.

Then in December we heard that there had been a power surge at the hospital that had wiped out all of their functioning ultrasound machines.  By February, five months before we even had arrived in Kenya, the ultrasound that you had provided was already at Tenwek Hospital working overtime in labor and delivery and frequently being borrowed by the other medical services at the hospital.  Thank you!

One of the ways that my wife Teresa and daughters Anna and Amber were able to serve was for them to go with Tabitha Ministries and help to finish the walls of a hut for a widow and her six children.  Mudding a hut is a dirty job, and they had a wonderful time helping in this way.  The widow was extremely grateful for their help.  Thank you!




We also had hoped and prayed to raise enough money to provide six widows with milk producing cows, and that we would be able to be the part of a cow dedication ceremony, also through Tabitha Ministries.  

What we saw was nothing short of amazing, as there was an outpouring of love and support for this part of the project.   Enough money was raised to pay for 30 cows!  You all contributed $9,000 to pay for 30 cows, which is such an incredible blessing.  Each month Tabitha Ministries does two cow dedications, after carefully selecting the widow and her family who will receive a cow.  Because of you they have enough cows for these dedications for the next 15 months!!!

The recipients of these cows will now have a way to provide food and money for their children, and their vocation will become the care of the cow.  This is an unbelievable life changing gift to these women and their children.  Thank you!

Two years ago you supported us to go with a medical team into the jungles of Papua New Guinea to be the first western trained physicians to go into the Hewa Tribe.  Since then a documentary has been made of that mission trip.  If you have not watched it, it is a short 30 minute documentary.  Here is the link: Healing for Hewa Documentary.

This past month, while we were here in Kenya, this documentary was released online.  We are extremely grateful to each of you who helped to send us to this remote place.  Thank you!

While we have been at Tenwek Hospital we have formed dozens of new relationships.  Most of the people that we "knew" here were only from brief introductions or by email communications.  Since then we have formed dozens of new relationships.  As we prepare to leave we reflect on the many new friends we have made here, and some of these will no doubt become lifelong relationships.

Dr. Elijah Terer has become a good friend.  Several weeks ago he invited our family to his house for dinner.  We stayed late into the evening, feasting on home grown and home cooked Kenyan food.  His wife, Emily, who also works in the Maternal Child Health (MCH) clinic at Tenwek, is such a good cook.  After dinner they served us the best chai that we have ever tasted.  They said that they had a secret spice that they grow in their garden that makes it taste so good.  (I think it was cardamom).   These kinds of relationships are invaluable as we strive to teach and support the work being done at Tenwek.  You made it possible.  Thank you!



Because of your generosity and giving hearts, we were able to bring donated medical and surgical supplies that would have cost over $200,000 at retail prices and to provide these to the hospital.  Just looking at this picture of me in this operating room, you donated the LED high tech battery powered surgical head light that I am wearing (it is much brighter than the operating room lights that are hanging from the ceiling).  You donated my hat, my scrubs, the surgical gown that I am wearing, and the gloves on my hands.  You donated the suture that I am using on this patient.  You donated the mask on my face.  You even donated the surgical scissors that I used to cut this suture after I finished tying the knot.  We arrived with thirteen trunks of supplies each weighing exactly 50 pounds, and we will leave with a few duffle bags of our clothes.


But even more so, you provided me an opportunity to come and to teach a handful of Kenyan doctors the skills that I have learned.  Because of you I was able to teach them the art of obstetric and gynecologic surgery.  And, I have been able to convey to them the importance of touching their patients as whole persons, not just addressing their physical needs, but also their spiritual needs.  My wife and daughters and I are extremely grateful to each of you.  Thank you!  God bless you.

One of my favorite quotes is attributed to John Wesley.  He was quoted to have said the following:

Do all the good you can.

By all the means you can.

In all the ways you can.

In all the places you can.

At all the times you can.

To all the people you can.

As long as ever you can.