Another awesome day starting with God in action!

 Every day in Kenya is an amazing day, but some days are more amazing than others. Today started off with what you might want to call a coincidence, but I’ll call it. God-orchestrated events. When Andi and I were praying this morning before going to breakfast, we prayed about a mission team that is also coming to Kenya and leaving tonight from Houston. This is a group from our church in Waco going to Nairobi with Hoopes for Hope. Our friend Jake is on that team. We prayed for them for a safe trip and for effective ministry in Nairobi. This was about 7:30 am our time in Kenya but 11:30 pm in Waco. When we finished praying, Andi texted Jake just to check up on him and let him know that we were thinking and praying for him. We instantly got a phone call back from Jake in a panic! He was scheduled to leave early the next afternoon and could not find his visa to allow him to enter Kenya. He said that he had cried out to the Lord for help with solving the problem and finding his visa. He had gone through the dumpster and his bags of trash and searched to no avail. Until I reminded him, he was not aware of the fact that his visa had come by email and was an attachment from the Kenyan ministry that administers the visa process. While we were still on the phone call, he was able to find the email and print a copy. You can call this whole this a coincidence or good fortune or whatever you want; I call it the provision of God to orchestrate events for His glory and to keep us in awe of Him. 

Once again today, we were headed back to the Kabitini area of Nakuru to the same A.I.C. church where we had done water filter distribution and vision clinic on Wednesday this week. When we got there, it was obvious that word had spread, and there were hundreds of people in line already for both services. We ended up doing training and distributing water filters to 361 people. In addition, we conducted vision examinations to well over 200 people and dispensed hundreds of readers and sunglasses and close to 100 pairs of prescription glasses. There is a real sense of accomplishment when you realize how many lives were changed because of being given the opportunity to have clean water and improved vision. At the same time, we get to share with people about the living water and the One who is its source. 

Several of our team members had the opportunity today to pray with some of the SWOK youth and people who were previously strangers. One of the topics that routinely came up in our group sharing and feedback session after dinner was the value of relationships, and we had the opportunity today for many lives to intersect and be changed by the building of relationships. It was definitely an anointed day! 

One of the hard things that we always deal with when doing vision clinics, whether we are staffed with a doctor or on our own as laymen, is the inability to deal with significant eye medical problems. We are always limited in what we can accomplish on our own. Last year, we identified 17 individuals who had serious eye medical conditions that needed further, more in-depth evaluation and treatment, often involving surgery. Fortunately, the Tenwick hospital in Bomet is staffed with trained medical professionals from the US and can provide the services that we can’t. The hospital is roughly a 3 hour drive northwest of Nakuru. Last year, after the team had gone back to the US, SWOK was able to arrange transportation and the needed medical care and surgeries for those 17 individuals and sent them all by bus one day to be treated at the hospital. The feedback from that was excellent and that they received care and treatment that was of substantial value to the patients. We know that this is one reason why the Lord blesses us with extra resources each year over and above the funds that we need to raise to send our team here. We always have been blessed with excess funds that can be used for this purpose. Today, we had seven individuals come through the clinic that need significant eye care that we are unable to provide, and four of them will be sent to this facility after we leave. In addition, the other three will be sent to local optometrists and ophthalmologists who can handle their less serious vision needs that we were unable to provide. It is the generosity of our supporters and those that the Lord leads to donate to this cause who provide the resources that allow us to extend this extra care. Thank you to all of you who allow us to have the resources to do this.

Tomorrow, we have the blessing to go back to the Gituamba school to do construction work. This is a school that we have been helping to construct and expand into a top-class facility for the last 13 years. We can’t wait to get back! Stay tuned!