Pauline Baptist Church

Lydia went through her surgery fine. James said the doctor removed the pins from her arm. Then he put her arm under the x-ray machine and moved it around a little to see how everything had been healing. He said everything actually looked pretty good. The movement that you make when twisting a door knob, for Lydia wasn't where he would like it to be, but he said it was okay. That will be the last thing she gets back as far as movement and strength goes. So from here, she will wear this cast for 3 weeks. Then we will have it cut off here and x-rayed. The x-rays will be sent to Dr. Wells in South Africa. He will then tell us what to do for physical therapy for three weeks. During those three weeks she will only be able to do a few exercises per day. She will also have to wear a sling. Then we will talk to the doctor after those three weeks about whether we need to go back to South Africa so he can examine her arm. It may be the case that we only have to send more x-rays and do more extensive physical therapy here. So after 6 weeks from now she will have to do quite a bit of physical therapy including stretching. It's going to be a while before she gets good use of her arm. Bless her heart, James said she has done very well. They gave her some "happy" medicine before putting her to sleep so she had no problems at all. He said you wouldn't even know she had surgery. Thank you all so much for your prayers. They will arrive in Nairobi on Saturday night and will most likely drive home to Malindi on Sunday. Please pray for their continued safety in travelling.

The other children and I are doing great while they are away. We have done school and gone to judo as normal. Last night while the kids were at Judo, Sarah, Samuel, and I sat at our usual restaurant and ate. There were two little boys who sat at the table next to us and stared while we ate. This is not uncommon as Africans love to stare at white people. But just before we left, I ordered take away food for Josiah and Abigail. I stepped away from the table for a minute to greet the man who owns the restaurant. While I stepped away I noticed one of the boys swiped something off the table. It was a french fry that Samuel had not eaten. I realized these boys were hungry. So I told the waiter to bring them some chips(fries). They stood staring as the waiter took my plate that just had a chicken breast bone and some salad that I hadn't eaten, he stared hard to see if anything was left. I felt so bad. I told them that I had ordered them some chips. They didn't really react. So I began talking to them and asked if they were hungry. They said yes, so then the boy said, Did you really order us some chips? He didn't think I was serious. I told him, yes, I wouldn't lie to you. I said, in fact I'll wait right here until he brings them. They smiled so big when he brought them. They very politely said, thank you several times. Right now is still a hard time on the coast. There is no rain which means no crops, no work especially for those in the tourist market(taxis, hotels, crafts) because of low season, so many people are starving. I have noticed that the beggars in town have tripled. There are very few beggars here in Malindi. The same three widows and a blind man at the gas station is usually all I ever see. But just this month I have been asked for money or food nearly every place I go. Please pray for rain especially here. If the rains come then people will have food at least. The rains were supposed to start at the beginning of the month. Here is an example, Ricklynn, Godfry and Juma all do bora bora work (Bicycle taxi). They have gone from making around 300-400($5)minimum shillings a day to about 100($1.50) shillings a day, barely enough to buy food for their families. Please keep them in your prayers. This time comes every year. Some prepare for it, most don't or can't.

Thanks for reading and praying.