I find myself missing Rita, and praying that we’ll be able to return to Kenya this summer to serve the precious children at our school in the slums of Nairobi.  They are all precious, but just like children everywhere, some of them have a way of wrapping themselves around your heart in a special way.  Rita is one of those!

When school resumes in January, Rita will have ‘graduated’ from Baby Class to Nursery Class, with 21 three-, four-, and five-year-olds.  All total, we will have 100 students from Baby Class to 5th Grade.  Pastor Nixon and his wife, Modester, are busy right now, moving out of the second floor of the building where the school has been housed for the past year, in order to make room for the school.  What a blessing The Pink House has been!

As we look forward to our next trip, we are thrilled that a dear college friend of ours, C.H. McClure, and his wife, Kathy, and her daughter, Michelle, will be heading to Western Kenya where John and I ministered last August.  C.H., a retired family practice physician from Lufkin, now living in Galveston, will be reopening the clinic at Ematsayi Mission, training clinic personnel to assess patient conditions.  He takes with him a lifetime of medical knowledge and experience, and a wife and step-daughter whose hearts are tender and ready to serve the Lord wherever He leads them.

At eighteen, Michelle’s life is getting ready to be transformed in a way she can’t even imagine!

In this rural area of Kenya near the Ugandan border, the closest doctor is probably 45 minutes away (by vehicle), and there is only one vehicle in the area.  It belongs to Bishop Javan Ommani and, as you can imagine, he has people knocking on his door at all hours of the day and night, seeking help in finding medical attention.  We are hopeful that once the clinic is back up and operational, we will be able to assist in supplying all of its needs – doctors, medical equipment, and medications.

What an incredible year this has been for us!  We look forward to 2013 with wide-eyed excitement, wondering what’s next!

Love,

Mary Catherine