Monday, June 2, 2008

Final Kenya Update At Last






OK, I know I'm about a month late in adding this last update that I promised, but I suppose it's better late than never. I thought I might cheat a little and copy in the report I wrote to CMDA. It's a pretty good summary of the trip very condensed. Thanks to all who kept in touch with us through the blog. Love you all.

Praise the Lord! God has been so good to the Jones family. We recently returned from our family mission trip to Tenwek Hospital in Kenya, Africa. We are so thankful to God and to all those who supported us on our way. God truly did some amazing things in our hearts and through our hands as we served the people there. We were so impressed with the people of Kenya and felt God’s heart for them to know Him.
During our time there I was able to minister to patients at the 300 bed mission hospital. I was honestly at times overwhelmed with the difficulties of the situations they face. It was hard to see death and sickness every day. Their stories still touch my heart and my soul. I think of a young boy named Kipkorich who was diagnosed with Leukemia and when I met him he had a dangerously low blood level and was bleeding from his nose. He had been sent back from the national hospital because they didn’t have his rare blood type. Praise God that we were able to find him some blood and stop the bleeding. During his stay at our hospital he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior! Praise the Lord for His sovereignty and goodness. It was a joy to share with them the love of Jesus.
Vanessa and the kids had lots of fun as well. Hudson who is 3 was at home right away and made friends wherever he went. There were several other families there with small children so he spent a lot of time outside playing with his new friends. Vanessa and Hudson were able to go to an orphanage to see the work being done and love on the kids for a day. The orphans were so interested in Hudson and his funny looking white skin. Jude our 7 month old also did great even on the long plane rides. The Kenyan women loved to pat his little head. Vanessa also got to go to the hospital to hold the little babies in the nursery and pray over them. She loved it! Overall, we felt like Tenwek was a great environment for our family and we could see ourselves really thriving there.
There are so many other stories and thoughts to share. We covet your prayers as we seek God for further direction for our future. We are praying about what God would have us do after I finish my Family Medicine residency next year June 2009. Tenwek Hospital interestingly was in need of family doctors to help continue their family medicine training program. Maybe God had more in mind for us than just a short-term trip. May God bless you.