He Is Risen!

Hello All,
Happy Easter to everyone!  The holidays here kind of sneak up on you.  There is no TV or ads at the shopping place to remind you constantly that you need to buy something for the upcoming holiday.  It is a blessing, but things can sneak up on you.  Good Friday was a holiday for the hospital and we sort of took the day off too.  Monday is also a holiday and we are going to have an afternoon BBQ with friends so it will feel like a day off.  Easter is such a special time for us in that we celebrate the sacrifice Jesus made for us and what it means.

Isa 40:28-31 says:

28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

I was listening to a song at the gym the other day and they quoted this.  It is really a comfort.

 

I have some pictures of Trevor's Zanzibar trip as promised.  There are lots of them so if you don't want to see, just skip past!

Beautiful flowers

 

All the kids on the Beach

the windows and doors are beautiful

great sunset

Coffee in the morning!

Bread to go with coffee

Fishing boats

drinking the juice from ??

The fish monger

the market

the market also

swimming with the dolphins

Crazy boys!

the spice market

wonderful doors

wow at that sunset

Trevor loves coffee!

Clock tower

Lunch!

The whole guy gang!

 

 

They had  a great time as you can see.

 

We are babysitting another dog.  When the school closes, many people need dog sitters.  Toby is just with us for a week, but he is a good dog.  He is just 7 months old and all legs, but well behaved.

 

Pepper on the left and Toby on the right

 

 

TB Clinic:  We are moving ahead and signed the contract for the contractor to begin work.  We think he will be here this coming week to actually start. 

 

Water Project:  This current project is a subset of the long term water project (i.e. a temporary solution).  We should have something in place in another week or so to fill some of the hospital tanks.  We have been running out of water even though the rains have started.  The rains do not seem to be as heavy as they were last year (so far) and that will cause drought problems later.

 

Bethany Kids Wing:  The contractor is still having difficulties getting enough material to keep the men moving.  They are losing days of work rapidly.  They have said they are working on making sure there is enough material, but we are still waiting.  The architect made a comment to Jim the other day that we need to anticipate a 2 year project and not 15 months as per the program!  That has put us on edge a bit and Jim is fighting everyday to get them moving. 

 

I started a class called Mizizi this week.  It is not really a bible study but is designed to help you grow in your transformation from the inside to be more Christ centered.  I am the only mzungu (white) and I wanted to do it to get to know some of the hospital staff a bit better.  As class mates, we will share things that are more personal and be able to pray for each other.  Jim and I feel out of touch sometimes with the locals and their struggles and this should give me an opportunity to change that a bit.

 

We had dinner with some old friends last night that were here 2 years ago and have now returned.  It was encouraging to hear from them how they can really see a difference in the campus with all the projects that we are involved in.  He said (without a prompt from us) that what we are doing is really making a difference in the lives of the people that come to this hospital.  Many times we feel out of touch not having daily interaction with the patients and their struggles, and we struggle with that.  But, we understand our role is a bit different and that is OK.  Someone has to mess with the septic system!  Our Engineering and Facilities team here has really grown and just looking around the campus tells the story of how well they are doing!  It was encouraging to hear the words! 

 

Hope you have a great Easter Day. 

He is Risen - He is Risen indeed!
And, remember:
... those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

 

In His Hands,

Jullie T.



 

Polygamy in Series - What?

Hello All,
So, school is officially out for the break!  The kids are very happy.  They have 4 weeks and 2 days to enjoy freedom before having to get out the door at 7:30 every morning again.  Hopefully, they will not drive us crazy with boredom!

Trevor got back from Zanzibar on Wednesday.  He looked tan and island like.  He had bought an island shirt, sunglasses and island pants.  I don't have pictures this week, but he is in charge of putting together the group video, so I hope to get some next week - Pole (Sorry).  He said they had a great time.  The meals were good but they had to wait over an hour each (things move slowly there), they got to swim and see dolphins and they went to the spice fields and the spice market.  I came away with some vanilla beans, saffron and other spices and a mango tea that is just wonderful!

Another friend went on a photography trip with some kids to the Masai Mara.  She loved it and shared this photo of a leopard.

She certainly learned something about photography!

The hospital held a couples dinner last night.  They have never done anything like this and are trying to do some things that will help the staff bond.  It was fun and we even did the Virginia Reel with about 60 people!  It was hysterical!  The Kenyans really know a beat and how to sing and dance but this kind of dancing is a foreign thing and it really showed.  It was a hoot!  The speaker was pretty funny.  He told a story about a wedding.  The groom wanted 1 John 4:18 put on the top of one of the wedding cakes.  It says:
18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
But, when they went to cut the cake they read the passage and found that the baker had made a mistake.  He went to John 4:18 (forgetting it was 1 John):  This says:
18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."
This was quite funny in a room filled with so many married couples!
But, he did say some things that made sense.  He talked about how we marry the one we did because we loved them, and we now love the one we are with because we married them.  I like that.  Marriage is a lot of work.  We commit to something and ride the rough times as well as enjoy the good.   No one is perfect and we will always find something "better" if we are looking.  God gave us not the best one but the right one.  The one He made for us is the right one.  Many people now a days want to "try on" the person without the commitment.  It is very easy in our society to return the item if we have no buy in.   He also talked about how we Europeans also practice polygamy but in a different way.  He was at a conference in Europe recently and a man introduced a lady as his second wife.  He thought that was quite odd thinking that a European had 2 wives (but he didn't say anything, thinking that was rude).  Then another man later introduced a woman as his third wife.  OK, now he had to ask some questions.  He did not think it was common practice especially among Christians to have more then one wife.  He then realized that the Kenyans practice polygamy in parallel, as we practice it in series!  Even if you divorce a person, you are still bound to them in many ways.  You will always have a tie with that person, so some of us have many spouses, just in series!

I want to say "Happy Birthday" to a special friend.  He is turning 60 today and I sure hope will have a great one!  That is a milestone, and God has many more adventures in your path to complete.  Have a great time with your family!

Bethany Kids:  We had a big contractor/architect meeting this week.  There were a few heated moments, but all in all it went well.  The contractor is behind a bit (2 + months), and not sure how they plan on catching up.  But, we are almost out of the ground with the columns and can start working on the ground floor.  That's a good thing since the rains have come.

Pretty columns!

working on the form work for the ground floor

We are happy to get to this point.  The new program of works has us finishing up in Mar or so of next year.  Just hope they don't push it too much more as we are leaving here in July of 2014!

Timothy had a band concert this week.  The elementary school does their concert for a half hour at the end of the school day.  He did great!  He is the only French Horn and I am very proud of him:

The Choir also sang.   He has an amazing voice.  In 3rd term, he is in the play and has a solo song!

I got to work on a building this week (designing on the computer).  That is always fun for me, but most of the time the work is urgent and we are under the gun to produce something.  This project was no different, but it was fun never the less.  The hospital wants a TB/HIV/AIDS clinic outside of the main building.  That in itself is a good thing, but our constraints are a bit frustrating.  It will get done though and hopefully will help many people.

This little town changes when school closes.  So many people go away or hibernate!  There are a lot less activities and many more people (Kenyans) coming to the door with problems because of the lack of income.  Please pray that we will handle it all with grace and compassion even if we don't have the funds to give out.

sunset over Kijabe

Hope you have a great week!
In His Hands,
Jullie T.

 

Rains have come Again!

Hello All,
The rains have come!  This is what they call the long rains and they are here.  The weather has turned over night.  Last week the days were so hot and sunny you could hardly stand it, now it is breezy and cool and we are getting periods of rain.  It is good for the shammbas (gardens) but we will now face the mud factor!

Bethany Kids Wing:  Work is progressing nicely on the wing.  There have been some delays in just getting people to to their jobs on time, but Jim, being a retired Navy Commander, expects people to do their jobs.  Imagine that!  But, it is frustrating to say the least.  Most of the columns are up.  It is looking like a real building will be there one day!

Hand Digging the pits for the columns

 

These are 5.5 and 6 meters deep!

 

 

The columns rising from the ground

 

this is s double column

 

 

 

Trevor left on Interim this week.  All of the Seniors and Juniors go on a week long trip somewhere in East Africa to have experiences.  He went with a group to Zanzibar.  It is an island east of the southern end of Tanzania, but considered part of Tanzania.  They are famous for their spice trade.  So, I hope I get some cool spices when he gets back!  The school held the band concerts this past week before the kids left.  It was wonderful as usual.  The Jazz Band is my favorite.  Here is a link to a you tube video that Jim set up:

 

Click Here

 

 

 

Not a great picture but you get the idea.  So Proud of him!

 

Looks like we started a new project this week.  It is a place called Upendo Village (Love village) near Naivasha (about 40 minutes from here).  They are an HIV/AIDS outreach run by the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru.  The sister that is the executive director is very sharp!  She knows a lot about building and is so excited about this project.  They have a compound with several building that were complete some years ago.  At this point, they are continuing with the master plan and have funds for about 1 1/2 more buildings (Admin and Kitchen block).  They want us to be part of the construction committee to oversee things.  We are honoured and hope that we can help as they strive to serve the needy in Naivasha and surrounding areas.

 

A picture from the back of the property

 

They have a very cool model of what it will be when finished!

The building in front will be the new Admin building.  The one in the back is already there.

 

This is the living quarters for the nuns and it is already there.

 

 

Tragedy has struck the missionary community here this week.  A new missionary family serving at Tenwek Hospital about 3 hours from here lost their 13 month old daughter.  She had been sick with vomiting since their arrival in late January.  Last Wed in the middle of the night, they discovered a brain tumor.  They rushed her here to Kijabe to have our neurosurgeon operate, which he did, but she died about 12 hours later.  They have 3 older boys (oldest is about 7).  He uses the verse of

Isaiah 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
NIV

You can go to their blog to donate to the Hannah Kelley Homecoming Fund and read how their faith is keeping them going.  Their blog is www.aaroninkenya.com

 

Another tragedy:  There is a little baby named Emmanuel.  He was born without the frontal lobe of his brain and some other congenital defects.  He is not expected to live long.  He is one of the many Kenyan babies that come here to Kijabe for treatments and to give their families hope.  Another missionary here took some great pictures and I was able to print them for her.  He is so precious!

 

 

 

He is one of the many tragedies that happen here every week.  Jim and I do not interact with the patients much, so we can be at a distance from that aspect of the hospital.  Our jobs are so different from what the Doctors and Chaplains do.  I am thankful for that in one respect - I can be ignorant.  But in another respect, we need to pay more attention to the suffering that is present all the time.

 

 

Please pray for:
1. Us as we start a new project at Upendo Village.
2. that the rains will be adequate and not torrential like last year!
3. The Kelley family as they mourn their lost one.
4. Trevor to get back to us safely.
5. The Bethany Kids Wing, that they will continue to raise the funds needed to finish this project.
6. Emmanuel and his family.

Thank you All!
In His Hands,
Jullie T.
One last picture:
 

Mac the puppy (next door) with the cats.  Who do you think is in charge here?



 

 



Elections are done??

Hello All,

Elections: They finally got the tally done and have determined a winner!  Uhuru Kenyatta won by a slight margin.  He had 50.03% of the vote and Odinga had 43.28%.  The law requires the winner to have 50% + 1 vote and take > 25% of half the counties (24).  So, we are very fortunate that Kenyatta has the extra .03%!  Actually, this just happened at 4am this morning.  We awoke to shouting and screaming in the area around us.  The sounds were happy sounds of celebration though!  All of the people went to the polls last Monday.  The Kenyans are amazingly patient.  Some people had to wait 7-9 hours to vote in the hot sun!  Then they have been waiting all week for the results.  The electronic system went kaput about Wednesday, so they went back to hand counting.  This is a joyous time around here because this area is Kikuyu and so is Kenyatta.  We are being told to stay put for at least today and see how the celebrations continue.  But, there has been very little violence during this election (not like the previous).  There were 6 police killed last Sunday and Monday and that was the worst of it.  We are praying that Odinga will bow out graciously and accept the defeat, then we can get on with our lives!

A picture that Liz took when she visited the orphanage

 

Bethany Kids Wing:  This is a short section this week because the contractor was not here because of the elections!  They are still working on getting "out of the ground" before the rains come (getting the columns done and back filled).  And the rains seem to be starting.  We had a short 5 minute rain on Wed and then a long rain on Thurs night.  We woke up to the smell of wet ground - it was delightful!  We haven't had rain since about early Jan.  So, they should be back on Monday and hitting it hard to get high and dry before its too late!

 

Dinner with Pastor Samuel and Ruth:  We went to a friend's house for dinner last week.  He is a pastor here at Kijabe Hospital.  They are a great family.  His wife has been sick a bit, but she made a lovely dinner of stew, chapatis, rice and cabbage.  They have young kids about Timothy and Sallie's ages.  They live near here on the edge of a cliff, but have a nice home.  We really enjoy their friendship.  Friendships with Kenyans are sometimes difficult because once you are a friend, you are part of their circle and therefore eligible to be asked for "help."  This makes us shy of friendships!  But, there are a few that are wonderful and we are grateful for that.  Here are a few pictures:

 

Timothy playing with Candice (she adores him!)

Maureen, Ruth and Brian

All the young kids

Candice and Maureen

Sallie playing ball with Candice

 

Farming God's Way:  I mentioned the class that I took last week called Farming God's Way.  We concluded on Saturday.  Here are a few pictures:

 

Cabbages done FGW on the left and conventional on the right

Rose in her FGW potato patch!  She is thrilled!

 

I enjoyed the class except for the planting potato and beans part in the hot sun for 3 hours!

 

ENT Building:  We actually did get some work done this week even though many people were missing.  The hospital broke ground on the Ear, Nose and Throat building!  It is going to be a facility just for them, where before they were sharing with Dental and could not find the quiet that they needed.  This should be done in about November of this year.  What you are seeing in the picture below is the frame that will define the level of the ground floor! 

 

 

 

Have you ever heard of Micheal Plant?  He was a renown sailor of Around the World races who died in 1992 when his boat capsized in the Atlantic.  A pastor recently gave a sermon in which he referenced this man because of his circumstances.  He had a radical new boat, designed by himself.  He had very little backing but was stalwart in his zeal to be the best.  He was rushed beyond what was safe to complete his task and therefore had some fatal errors that lead to his death.  The pastor compared this man's circumstances to ours in that we need to be firm in our foundation in Jesus Christ and life everyday with deliberate zeal for Him and our devotion to whatever life's work He has for us.  Luke 6:48 - 49 says:







48 He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.
49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete."
NIV

I sailed for many years as a kid.  I understand how people become obsessed with winning.  But, if we get obsessed, we can forget who our Rock is!  Nothing is beyond compare of what he is to us.

Eph 4:1
4 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
NIV

Thank you for all who have been praying for Kenya and the elections and our safety.  We are continuing to pray for peace.  This will be a monumental occurrence for Kenya; having established a new constitution, having held elections with minor violence and having had fair and equitable voting.  We are praying that Kenyatta will lead this country to a new level (and get our road to Kijabe fixed as he promised back in November)!

Take Care! 
In His Hands,
Jullie T.

Election Week - At last!

Hello All,
Well, its election week here in Kenya.  The time that many have looked forward to and some have been dreading.  The elections are scheduled for Monday and we just heard possibly Tues.  The last time the Kenyans went to the polls there was wide spread violence leading to over 1,100 deaths and 600,000 injuries.  We are praying that that doesn't happen again!  The papers are optimistic that things will be better this time.  One of the front runners Uhuru Kenyata, a Kukuyu, has teamed up with a running mate named William Ruto, a Kalenjin.  It was these 2 tribes that were fighting the most in 2007/08.  But, the issue may come if there is a run off between the top two and that is likely to happen.  If there is a tie (or close to it) the run off will be 30 days after the results are announced. That is when there is likely to be trouble if it happens. They should be announcing results by the end of the week. The sooner the better because it is the delay in the announcements that causes people to be concerned.  We are in a lockdown here for about a week or until we see that all is calm.  We have stocked up on essential supplies like peanut butter!  Please pray for this country and for all of us here in Kijabe.

The following is a picture that I got from a friend this past week of the moon set:

The moon has been beautiful in the mornings lately!  The hill there is Mt Longonot, and ancient volcano.

I am taking a class (3 days) called Farming God's way.  Today is the last class and we are planting maize and beans today (in the hot sun)!  It has been very enlightening.  Craig Sorley of Care of Creation teaches it and he talks about how we should not plow up the soil and we should mulch it very well.  This helps the soil to regain nutrients and retain moisture.  We harvested maize yesterday from 2 of the test plots.  One was done the Farming God's Way and the other by conventional means.  On the FGW plot we got about 45 kg of corn.  On the other there was 31.7 kg.  This amounted to a 54% increase in produce on the FGW plot.  That is significant!  It is especially pronounced when there is a dry spell here.  He says the results can be dramatic as in zero or very little produce on the conventional plot and at least some on the FGW plot when we have a dry rainy season.

on the right the "undisturbed" soil - it retain its shape in water

On the right a mulched area.  The water runoff was over 50% more on the left side

As we were beginning to harvest the corn.

 

Liz left this past Sunday.  We took her to the airport and drove home in the dark.  It is always a challenge to drive here in the dark, but we made it.  She was a pleasure to have with us for a time and we pray that she will use her experience here in future endeavors.  She said in a parting letter: "...- so eyeopening and inspiring.  I am constantly impressed.... by the work that you do at the hospital, but also by the grace with which you live everyday life in this culture so different from America.  I think one of the biggest things I will take away from this adventure will be an understanding of the "small" everyday frustrations and trials that missionaries have to deal with...."   She sees a glimpse of what we deal with everyday in the cultural differences.  We will miss her!

 

We have made good progress at the hospital this week.  The Quonset hut (2/3 part) is almost complete and they started and almost finished the 1/3 part too.  These will be the new material receiving area and the new medical gases.

 

The 1/3 QH assembled on the ground

 

 

The 1/3 going up 

 

The Bethany Kids wing was going well this week too.  We are almost back up to ground level with the construction - meaning, they have been working on footings and foundations for the past 3 months and are now back filling around the column bases back to ground level.  Here are a few pictures:

 

Final touches on the base

 

What a pretty column!

 

Back filling around the bases

 

Look at how they bend Y32 rebar (32mm thick)!

 

We also had our fuel tank delivered this week.  We wanted it in before the elections so that we could fill it and be ready to camp out for a month or so.  Not sure if they actually got it filled, but we did receive the tank:

 

as the truck arrives

 

off loading it

 

the pit dug for the tank

 

in its final resting place.

 

 

Our friends the Sorleys are building a house here (I have mentioned before).  It is going along well.  Their builder is a really good one and we are very pleased with how he is working.  Here are some up to date pictures:

 

Most homes are built out of stone

This is the front entrance (left) and the kitchen in the foreground.

 

 

Rose, my Kenyan house help, took the Farming God's Way class back in Dec.  She is so inspired!  She planted potatoes and now says they are like this:  and waves her hand about thigh height.  Her neighbors are all doubters and she is sticking it out to see what will happen.  One of the principles of FGW is to help local people have productive gardens so that they can share the extra - feed the poor.  Some of her neighbors are in this class and they are really enjoying it too.  Craig has a vision where there are pockets of FGW plots in the local villages where people can learn and grow together! 

 

Hope you have a great week.  I have to get to my last class now and get the beans planted!

In His Hands,

Jullie T.