Karibu to all our Friends!

Bea’s New School

There is only one morning of a mother organized preschool for Beatrice and so I started looking into other opportunities for a local preschool. I called the headmistress of the local nursery school which is run by the local AIC Church (which is a 5 minute walk outside our compound) and we had a meeting. She was so excited about the opportunity of having a little wizungu (white) girl come to the school and she is such a lovely, gracious Christian woman named Blanche. She said that she had already spoken with the children that a new wizungu girl was coming to school and not to touch her golden hair! She also told me that Beatrice would be the first ever white child to enroll in the school! The school teaches in English and in Swahili – so our little Bea will learn Swahili which is wonderful!!

Today Bea and I went to school and what an experience!! There are 2 small school rooms – each room has about 30 kids. The paint on the wall is chipping and discolored and the plaster is crumbling in some places. The floor is concrete, no electricity. The window’s are bare – no curtains. The chalkboard is painted on one of the walls and starting to chip. The teachers have done their best to make things for the walls – they use feedsacks as a substitute for paper for wall hangings and they have numbers and letters of the alphabet written out on pieces of cardboard – doing their best with what they have. There were assorted tables and chairs – most of the chairs were plastic and broken, some of the tables had holes in them. Bea’s class has kids from the age of 2 up to 4 and the other room is 4-6.

Most of these children come from extremely poor backgrounds and the head mistress told me that several cannot afford the school fees and yet the school allows them to attend (it means that the teachers salary gets cut). To give you some perspective – the cost of the preschool program is $8 Cdn per month. Several of the children are so poor that they do not bring lunch to school and the headmistress shares what she has with them (these are the same children that cannot afford the school fees). She also told me that there is one little girl at the school who was in one of the churches in the Rift Valley when it was burned to the ground during the January fighting and she was rescued from the carnage – she now lives in the Kijabe mission hospital with her Grandma and sister as they are currently receiving rehab. It’s a different world – just a few blocks from our house!

When we walked into the classroom, 30 beautiful smiling excited faces (most of them smeared with green snot) greeted us and they sang such a lovely song in English (with a very thick accent) for Beatrice which went like this:

‘Welcome Beatrice, a very special Beatrice! Welcome Beatrice, we are happy you are here.

You are our friend, a very special friend! Welcome Beatrice, You are a Superstar!

She was a little alarmed because they were VERY loud and she started to cry!!

They had morning activities and passed out colored metal bottle caps which the kids had to sort according to color, they also had some homemade puzzles made of wood scraps and homemade counting cards. I was impressed with the variety considering the very limited resources. Beatrice was definitely the guest of honor and they gave her their only book – the other kids were craning their necks to take a look at the prized book as Bea looked through it. So yes, one book in the whole school. Shocking!! These activities lasted about 45 minutes and the kids were squished together like sardines! Then they had Friday assembly where they stood in a circle and sang songs, recited Bible verses and sang the superstar song to Beatrice again – several times over – loud enough to blow out your ears (but very cute).

Then was potty break which was enough to make your stomach turn. All these kids going to the bathroom in a grungy ’squat pot’ the floor covered with feces and urine, no way to wipe and the worst part…are you ready..no water or soap to wash hands! AGHHH! The spread of germs and bugs must be rampant and I’m sure most of these kids are infested with worms! All I could do was pray, Oh Lord, please protect my Bea and all these sweet children!! So my first project after school was to go to the local Duka (a small store selling essentials in the local village) and purchase 3 large bottles of handsoap with a pump and then order a 2 gallon jug of refill soap.

After potty break the kids went back to the classrooms and were handed their workbooks – there weren’t enough to go around so some kids including Bea were given some scraps of paper. Then she handed out the pencils – all the ends were chewed off – the only pencil sharpener was a razor blade which one of the kids picked up and started playing with it!! After some time the teacher came around with a prized box of pastels (oil crayons) and when she opened it up – she discovered there were only 8 left in very tiny small pieces. So one box of pastels for all the children (they shared it between classes). Beatrice again was given the honor of picking out one of the crayons to color on her paper.

After this morning class, the kids breaked for ‘chai time’ which is tea time. At 10am in Kenya, everyone stops for chai – they just drop whatever they are doing and leave for a half hour break! I was even told that at the hospital the staff will be doing a procedure and leave halfway through for chai – it’s quite funny! Before chai, the head teacher had all the children stand in a line and she brought out a bottle of water and proceeded to pour about 2 tablespoons of water in each child’s hand to wash up – the water didn’t do any good – just made mud in the palms of their hands which they proceeded to wipe on their dirty, tattered uniforms. Many of the kids did not have flasks to drink from but rather used mustard containers – they are very resourceful!

I brought a one kilo box of Sweet Marie vanilla biscuits which was a huge hit and we passed those around. Each of the kids brought their own thermos with sweet milky tea and they dipped their biscuits in the tea which as a real treat!! After Chai they had outdoor activities and they ran around and had a few running relays for PE and some follow the leader games. I had a blast running around with these little ones – everyone wanted to hold my hand. By this time, Beatrice was in on the action – running around, laughing, skipping and playing with the others -the language barrier was not an issue – playing needs no language – just lots of laughing and holding hands.

The teachers then went in for their break and asked me to watch the kids. Beatrice was playing soccer with one of the boys and as happy as a clown. I found a little girl who had been pushed to the ground and was crying on the grass. I sat her on my lap and started to sing to her, soon more and more kids came and joined us and then soon later the whole school was sitting there with me – singing songs to Jesus. I taught them ‘ This little light of Mine’ with the actions and then we sang ‘God is so Good’ which I had already learned in Kikuyu so we sang that together.

The Lyrics for God is so Good in Kikuyu are:

Ngai ni Mwega (God is so good) Ngai ni Mwega (God is so good)

Ngai ni Mwega (God is so good) Ni Mwega gwa kwa (He’s so good to me!)

For the first time since we got here I felt a great deal of contentment and joy – sitting on the grass with these sweet little ragamuffins singing songs and laughing. I have such a heart for these kids and for this school and I look forward to helping make this school a safer, better learning environment for the students and teachers.

After a bit of thinking and talking with the headmistress I’ve compiled a list of what the school could use:

• Disinfectant and a long handled scrub brush for the bathroom!
• Food (maize and beans) to start a feeding program to feed the students a nutritious lunch
• Hand washing station with soap
• New chairs and tables
• Fresh paint and plastering
• New coat of blackboard paint
• A new door and padlock for the door
• Curtains for the windows, Storage cupboard for supplies
• Crayons and paper, Pencils and pencil sharpeners
• Story, reading and picture books, wooden puzzles
• Toys like duplo and toy cars
• Colorful posters for walls

I am hoping that friends back home – either individuals or those involved in small groups, churches, clubs etc could organize a ‘Christmas Child’ collection for these local preschool kids and collect small toys, crayons, toothbrushes, washcloths, books, to send back here for the kids for Christmas. My mum Jane Burke will come to visit in mid – December and she could bring these things with her. Please email me or speak with my mom if you are interested in helping with this.

In time, we hope to set up a project account through AIM specifically for this school and if you want to donate money to help us refurbish this school – it will go directly to this project. If you are able to donate books, duplo or small toys in good condition that could be used in the classroom (and easily disinfected) that would be great. If you are a teacher and able to get your hands on some colorful classroom posters and supplies to donate that would be great too! Whatever you can do to help would be much appreciated. I know many of you are already supporting us personally but I just want to put this out there because I think this an excellent opportunity to bless this little school and community and hopefully start bridging the gap between the local community and us. In God’s eyes we are all one!

Escape from the Eldoret Massacre

As I mentioned earlier on in this letter, one of the little girls at the preschool was one of the victims who managed to escape from a church that was set ablaze during the January crisis here in Kenya. Teacher Blanche asked me to accompany her down to Bethany Kids Children’s ward down at the Kijabe mission’s hospital where 4 of these children live and so down I went for a visit. These children have been at this hospital now for 8 months and were brought here for amazing, loving medical care and rehabilitation. You can truly sense the love of Jesus in this place.

I was given a verbal account of what happened that fateful night in January. It was late Sunday night around 10pm in the city of Eldoret. Tribal clashes were rampant and many of the women and children in the town had to flee to a local Assemblies of God Church to seek haven within it’s walls. Surely a church – a place where God lives would protect them. They had brought their mattresses which were spread throughout the church and they were all starting to drift asleep. Soon later insurgents poured gasoline around the perimeter of the church and set it on fire. Chaos ensued. The mattresses caught on fire and soon the church was in flames. It was terrifying – women and children were screaming, choking from the acrid smoke and running through the flames to try and reach safety outside. There were also reports that children who attempted to escape were thrown back in the church by the insurgents who were outside who were armed with machetes. I’ve was told that over 30 people – mostly children and elderly were burnt alive in the fiery inferno and those who escaped suffered from severe 2^nd and 3^rd degree burns. Many didn’t survive their injuries.

I thought I would be prepared for what was in store, but as I entered this room, I was in shock by what I saw. There were 4 children with their mothers in a small ward – one of them was little Jeddiah who is 4 years old – just 6 months older than our Bea. The room was bright and cheerful – full of natural sunlight, pictures and bright colors. There was one boy near the door, half of his face was basically melted, all the way down his neck and on his shoulders and chest.

In the bed next to him was Jeddiah’s cousin who is 16 years old named Mary – an absolutely beautiful girl with a gentle, radiant smile that could light up a room. Her hands and fingers, arms and legs were terribly scarred from severe burns – her skin was white in areas where the black pigmentation had been burnt off and she was terribly itchy. One of her hands was like a claw, completely disfigured. In the bed next to her was little Jeddiah – both her hands and parts of her leg were badly burnt (her burns were the least severe). Jeddiah and her Mary had been sleeping in the church when the fire started, Mary carried little Jeddiah on her back and started to run through the flames – Jeddiah’s hands clung around Mary’s neck and thus were burnt in the flames. Lying in the last bed next to the window was a girl named Mercy. Her burns were terrible – arms, torso, legs, and hands.

I went over to Mercy first, she avoided eye contact with me and so I sat on the bed next to her and gently patted her badly scarred arms and hands. I introduced myself as Aunty Sue and I looked into the eyes of child filled with deep pain. I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing down my face, I just couldn’t help the overwhelming emotions that I felt. I asked her if she could be my friend, I shared with her I was new to Kenya and feeling a bit lonely and I really needed to have a special friend, she smiled back and said yes! I went around the room and spoke to each of these beautiful children – brutally traumatized by an act of terrible violence but alive! Each of them has started on a journey towards healing and restoration. As I spoke to them, I knew I was in the presence of angels, in the presence of God. It’s hard to explain. I was in awe.

The children took out some textbooks that had been donated to them and asked me if I could tutor them in math. I explained to them that math is my worst subject ever, they collectively agreed that I could teach them English instead! I also asked them if they liked to sing and they were so excited! They will teach me Swahili songs!

I agreed to teach them English but on one condition – that they teach me Swahili! Well this certainly broke the ice…as I looked at Mercy – the once sad face was beaming and she was laughing and laughing! I went over and asked her what was so funny! She said, ‘Aunty Sue, Wizungu’s (White people) don’t learn, they only teach!’ She thought it was the funniest thing that I would want to learn from them! Anyways, I asked each of them to think of words that I should learn in Swahili and write them down for me and when they see me next week they can teach me. I also told them they could test me!! I am going to go down to Bethany Kids ward to visit these children once a week and I’m already looking forward to the next time I can go to learn, to teach and to share in their lives.

There was a Catholic Nun who had also come to visit and at the end of our visit, she led us together for a time of prayer. She started with a few words of encouragement to these children. She said, ‘Children, there is a very special reason why you are alive. God has His hand on your life – He has a special purpose and plan for each of you, He wants to use you in a very special way. We don’t understand why it had to happen this way, but don’t give up hope. You must believe in His purpose and trust that He will always be with you.’ As she spoke this I started to weep. She continued, ‘One day children, you must forgive those who did these terrible things to you and to others. This takes time, but as you forgive, you will also heal.’ I looked in these children’s faces as she said these words. I wondered, how could these little ones even consider forgiveness? But, as she said these words, these children nodded their heads and agreed.

‘Jesus however said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them; for it is to those who are childlike that the Kingdom of the Heavens belongs.” Matthew 19:14

So that is all for now, thank you for taking the time to read this and for sharing in our lives as we seek to serve God. You know, it’s interesting, before we came to Africa we wondered, how will we make a difference when there is so much need, where do you begin? The answer is one person at a time. I believe that God has handpicked the people and projects that He wants us to be involved in and woven those into our path.

We appreciate your prayers regarding these issues:

• Thanksgiving – we have started to adjust and make friends!
• Thanksgiving – we have been able to start a prayer meeting on Wednesday nights
• Thanksgiving – for having the opportunity to work with the local preschool and children from Bethany Kids ward
• Thanksgiving – for all the people who are working alongside us to help us with projects and financial needs.
• Request – for the healing and restoration of these 4 children badly burnt and traumatized in the Eldoret massacre.
• Request: For continued health and energy – there are lots of flu bugs going around
• Request: For safety here at RVA and as we travel in the community
• Request: For the purchase of a vehicle – we have found out that vehicles are much more expensive than originally we thought – we had saved $15,000 and now the cost will be at least $25-$30,000. We have a vehicle fund through our AIM account in Toronto.

PS – for those of you who are involved with us in the Uniforms for Akobo project – we haven’t forgotten. Dr Michael Tut Pur is hopefully coming to Nairobi again in October and we hope to make the final arrangements to purchase the uniforms at that time.

Hannah and Beatrice brought quite an extensive collection of stuffed animals with them and they all sit perched on their bunkbeds. Oma made each of them a special teddy bear with their initial embroidered on the front (in the picture you can see the girls with their cousin Jayme and Oma all holding their special teddy bears that Oma made).

At staff orientation our superintendent shared a teddy bear story with us that made us all sob and I want to share this with you to give you some insight into the lives of some of these kids. There was a boy here in Grade 12 (who has now graduated) who was a brilliant, loving kid with a tender heart. He had a very special teddy bear that he left on his bed in the dorm and often the other boys would constantly jab at him for fun and he would always remain quiet.

Finally one night while they were having group devotions the boy said he wanted to share about his teddy bear. He was with his family in a remote village and his father was out on a project and it was just him and his mom. All of a sudden in the middle of the night they heard gunshots and someone ran into their house and said that rebels were invading all the homes and killing all the inhabitants. They had no time to flee and the gunfire came closer and closer. He and his mom went into a back room and prayed – not that their lives would be spared, but that God would give them grace to face the end. Footsteps came closer and closer and then suddenly they stopped and went away. Their lives were spared.

The next day he ran over to his best friend’s house a few houses from his. As he walked through the door he saw his friend dead on the floor, bullets through his head. Lying next to his friend was his teddy bear, soaked in his friend’s blood. He picked up the teddy bear and brought it home. That was why he still had a teddy bear at age 17. These are the kind of raw stories you hear, it gives us a real respect for these kids, their parents and also our role in sharing in their lives. We count it a privilege.

God’s Faithfulness in the small things..

A few days after we arrived to our new house here in Kenya, we started unpacking and organizing our house. I must admit it’s kind of strange coming to a house with all the furniture and house contents that we had purchased mostly sight unseen! I don’t want you to think I am complaining..it was truly a blessing to walk into a fully furnished home, but I wanted to add my own touches to make it as homey as possible! I had only brought a few touches from our home in Canada to decorate – including a small wall hanging for the girl’s room, a few pictures and a large lovely homemade quilt depicting Canadian outdoor scenery – one of my mom’s masterpieces. Immediately I found the wall to hang it on but had one problem. I needed a pole to hang it from.

We went into town a few days later and I looked all around for a pole or a rod or a stick..anything! I came up with nothing that was long enough – the closest thing I could find was the plastic handle of a mop but it was too short. I was feeling discouraged….if I could hang this quilt up I would feel so much better. A few days later I was organizing a walk-in closet in our hallway and hanging up our jackets when I noticed a long wooden object propped up in the corner. My heart started beating a bit faster as I examined it closer…there it was, the quilt rod that I needed – exactly the right length, a long, smooth wooden stick! Later that day we hung the quilt up on the wall! God is indeed faithful in the small things and He cares for all our needs – even the ones that might seem insignificant. If he cares about the smallest of details in our lives, imagine how much he cares about the bigger things. He is certainly taking care of us as we continue to transition into our new lives here in Kenya.
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We have been in Africa now for just over 4 weeks! School started two weeks ago and all the missionary children arrived from all over Africa. We heard stories of children who take 18-20 hour trips to get here – first by boat, then prop plane, then train, then airline – often times traveling on their own. These kids are made of tough stuff! RVA starts boarding students as young as Grade 2 but most kids actually start boarding in Grade 5-6 and then make their way up through the high school grades. We participated in new parent orientation – where all the new parents of boarded kids come to see the school and have a chance to settle in their kids before school actually starts. The tears were flowing as parents had to say their goodbyes – I can’t imagine having to leave my kids at a boarding school but in many cases, if the kids couldn’t come here they would have to return to their country of origin as the places where their parents are involved in ministry are dangerous and remote. It is a privilege to be able to be a part of these kid’s lives and a job that all the staff here take very seriously.

Hannah started Grade 1 and she loves it! These pictures were taken on her first day of school. She has a morning teacher named Mrs. Kinzer and an afternoon teacher named Ms. Seymour. The classroom is brightly decorated and the teachers here go out of their way to make things special for the kids. Hannah was one of the class helpers this week and her responsibility was to hand out all the papers for the teacher so she was thrilled! There are 12 kids in total in her class. All of these kids are ‘station kids’ which means their parents live in Kijabe station. Upper Station is RVA and Lower Station is Kijabe Mission Hospital and Moffat Bible College – so these are the kids of the parents who minister in these different local areas. Hannah has become a real outside girl – playing fort with Titus (her Canadian buddy who is also in her class and lives a stones throw away), climbing trees, whirling down the zipline and playing dominos in the infirmary. She is adjusting well to all the change but has had her share of homesickness.

Beatrice is starting to settle in with all the adjustments. The other day we walked to the library and she was delighted to find Madeline books and Richard Scarry books so we checked them out. She loves cuddling and listening to stories! On Tuesdays there is a play group at different houses on station so Bea and I will go to that. We have started a preschool program for her on Wednesdays with two other little girls her age and the rest of the time she tags along with either Andrew or myself or stays home with Elisheba who is our new house-help. Elisheba is also happy to teach Beatrice some Swahili, to color with her, bake with her and take her to the playground! We had to find a new person for inside help because grandma Josephine (Sho-Sho) who we wrote about last time just didn’t have the energy to run around after Bea. So we interviewed Elisheba and she seems to be a good fit. She lives just a few minutes walk away in the local village with her elderly mom and sister.

Sue I now have my nursing schedule and will be working in Student Health every day except alternating Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It’s simple stuff here – common scrapes and bruises and colds and flu bugs but there is also more exotic stuff like malaria, typhoid fever, interesting worms and bugs and more (I won’t gross you out with the details). I am on call 2-3 evenings and nights per week and every third weekend, so yes, I’m busy! There are other ministry opportunities and projects available on weekends to get involved in but we want to get our schedules sorted out before we start anything else.

I went down to the hospital last week and spoke with a missionary nurse who has an office in the school of nursing. She gave me some advice for applying for my Kenyan nursing license and so I am hoping to write a cover letter and send down the papers to the office in Nairobi some time next week. Then I will find out what I have to do for my ‘orientation’ to become a registered nurse in Kenya. I’m actually looking forward to being able to go down to the mission hospital to learn some new things and connect with local staff. Working up in student health at the school is very much like a walk-in-clinic – minor stuff and kids needing a lot of TLC although we do take on more of a nurse practitioner role – prescribing medications and antibiotics, stitches, ordering x-rays, minor casting etc – the stitches and casting I’ll save to learn later – just figuring out all the antibiotics and the most common diagnosis are keeping me busy enough!

The Casualty/ER department down at the mission hospital is hard core – people lay on the grass outside waiting to get in – they see gunshots, stabbings, bad car accidents and the list goes on. People don’t complain – just wait patiently for their turn. There are four stretchers. There is no such thing as a defibrillator or any fancy resuscitation stuff. The blood bank is from the local missionaries – because that is the only blood supply that is reliable. They reuse oxygen equipment and intubation equipment. AIDS is so prevalent here – it makes working that much more stressful with the high ratio of patients who have it. There are many refugees and Somali’s who come to the hospital for treatment – many of which come on long trips just to get to the hospital because they are treated with respect, love and dignity. There is a mix of local and missionary doctors at the hospital. The nurses are all Kenyan.

Andrew Andrew has been working with the Finance and IT department and they are glad to have him! The billing system for the entire school crashed during that last term of school and has caused major headaches and stress. He has been diligently working to get it back and running and he’s getting some good ‘hands on’ experience. His schedule is pretty flexible right now so that he can work around my schedule and be with Beatrice while I’m working.

Andrew has also been trying his hand at maintenance. The other day Andrew ventured up on our roof with Dominique (see picture above) who is one of the outside workers to clean the solar panels (which when clean save us a lot of money on our electricity bill). Sue was in the infirmary and ran out to take the picture before the calamity. A few minutes later we heard a sickening thud! I ran outside to find Andrew dangling through a hole in the roof – holding on for his dear life. He got up and dusted himself off. A few minutes later we heard an even louder thud and for a second time he was dangling by his armpits. He escaped injury with minor scrapes and bruises and later on that day the maintenance crew came to repair two holes in the roof (we figured they needed replacement anyways – the tiles were rotten and that’s why Andrew fell (nothing to do with his body mass).. Later he found out that there is a special way to walk on the roof and usually no one over 170 pounds gets up there!!

And..that’s not all! Guess what!! Andrew is teaching piano lessons, yes, you heard me right! In one of our staff meetings the music director said that they were very short on piano teachers and anyone with piano training would be most helpful to teach the younger kids. Andrew looked at me and said ‘ I could do that’! So…now he has 3 students assigned to him as well as Hannah. In the 8 years that I’ve known Andrew, I’ve never heard him play the piano and now he’s teaching lessons! It’s great!

Visit with Mark Musembi and Dr Micheal Tut Pur

A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to visit with our friend Mark Musembi who it the brother of Mumo (who is living in our house in Toronto). Mark is such a fantastic guy, he drove up here on a Saturday morning and then drove us all into Nairobi and took us on the grand tour! We got to see rich parts with all the embassy’s and ambassador’s residences, industrial areas, the metal-workers area and one of the slums. As we drove through one slum, we felt like we were in a World Vision infomercial – hoards of people, piles of trash burning, a very poor and dangerous area. Mark surprised us by taking us out for a ‘Welcome to Kenya’ lunch at a golf club he is a member at – we had to drive through a slum to get there. It was like walking into a 5 star resort! Mark says he doesn’t golf much so Andrew said he’d be happy to accompany him!! We are so thankful to have Mark as a friend and look forward to continuing our relationship with him.

After lunch we were excited to visit with our Sudanese friend Dr Tut Pur in a nearby town. He had just arrived from Sudan to visit his newborn baby (who is absolutely adorable), wife and family. As we’ve mentioned on our website he one of now two physicians working in Akobo and has a huge task at hand. We had such a lovely time visiting with them – he has such a beautiful, joyful family! They live in a very simple concrete house – all of them (8 in a room), limited electricity and running water but clean, tidy and they were all so happy! They served us local fare – mixed kale and cabbage with pieces of goat meat and astarch that was kind of like rice but made of cornmeal and wheat flour. Afterwards Michael’s mom gave me a gift of a bedspread and matching pillowcases embroidered with eggplants and flowers – what a special gift. Michael is coming back again in October and we are hoping to go with him into Nairobi to purchase the uniforms for Burawell school, we are also going to see about purchasing some surgical instruments with money that was donated by Knox Presbyterian Church in Oakville. Sue is hoping to fly into Akobo in December for a visit if it is deemed safe.

We love your emails and even more your snail mail letters – we can’t tell you how much it means to get a card or a small package – especially during these adjustment months as we all deal with homesickness and figuring out how we fit in.

Prayer Requests:

• Sue just found out that one of her ER colleagues back home has been diagnosed with 3rd stage breast cancer and undergoing chemo and radiation. Please pray for Jash, for her healing and restoration.

• We are looking for a reliable vehicle within a suitable price range, please pray that something will come up soon which will make us more mobile and able to connect with local projects. We thought that we could find something for $12-$15 thousand but it now looks like it will cost over $20,000.

• For opportunities to connect with the local people here – there seems to be quite a large gap between the ‘wizungu’s’ (white’s) and the locals and we really have a heart to try and bridge the gap however we can. Sue is hoping to join one of the local women’s church groups and we are also hoping to send Beatrice to a local preschool run by the AIC church for a couple mornings a week (either Sue or Elisheba would go with her).

• That the Kenyan nursing registration will go smoothly so that Sue will be able to connect in at the local mission hospital as well as the local nursing school.

• That we will feel connected with others and develop close friendships with some others here. We are planning to start a prayer group on Wednesday evenings at our home and use material by Jim Cymbala on prayer which Sue picked up from The Brooklyn Tabernacle while in NYC.

• For ongoing health for all of us – being in such a close-knit community there are lots of bugs floating around – cold’s, flu’s and infections of various sorts. Sue has been sick for the past 6 days – and in bed for the past 3 days with decreased energy levels.

Well that’s all for now folks!

We miss you and we’re so incredibly thankful for you love, your notes of encouragement, your support and your care! Please let us know how your doing!!

Love,

Andrew, Sue, Hannah and Beatrice