The Jones' Come to Kitale

It has been a very busy couple of weeks around here. Starting last Monday, Kelly & I begun our journey to Uganda to pick up Milt & Barbie Jones. On our way we made a stop at the Nile River again so Kelly could do a quick river kayak lesson, then we headed to Kampala where we spent the night with extended team members. We picked up the Jones’ first thing Wednesday morning, then headed back to Mbale to spend the night with the Tyler’s. Then the next day drove all the way to Kisumu to visit the Ring Road Orphan Day School which Northwest Church and CRF sponsor. The primary school kids at Northwest had raised money to buy new mosquito nets for all the kids there, so that was super fun to see them receive their new nets.We spent 2 days down there visiting our two projects and spending time with the guys that run them. Of course, we also had to take them out on Lake Victoria to see the hippos too.
We then came back to Kitale where we were joined by Shawn and Linda Tyler. This was our first time for visitors, and we had a great time hosting them, and showing them around our new home. We spent time at the Children’s home updating our files and meeting with the current home parents to discuss their needs.We also spent a lot of time in meetings with Milt & Shawn to have all our questions answered from the past four months being here. We have a lot of work to do, and it was great to have the opportunity to discuss our plan with the two of them. I think we are now in a much better position to move forward on some of the projects at the home, and get some more kids sponsored.
Milt and Greg had an unexpected meeting while they were at the District Hospital buying mosquito nets the other day. While they were there they talked with a women who informed them that we could open up our own HIV/AIDS clinic through the Ministry of Health with a program called Voluntary Counseling & Testing Centers. Since the government funds these clinics, they offer free testing, counseling, & drugs! We would have to go through about a months worth of training, but once that is complete, we would be free to open our own clinic. We are all very excited about this possibility, so please be in prayer about this as we meet with them next week to discuss the possibility more, as well as, for funding to pay for the training and clinic set up.
Before Milt & Barbie left we wanted to show them around the surrounding area a bit, so we took them up to Mt. Elgon to see the caves up there that have been carved out my elephants in the past searching for sodium.It was a great day of fun and relaxation in God’s beautiful creation. On the way down we also stopped by the small game park here in town (the one I wrote about before) where we had fun feeding giraffe’s and observing the other animals there.
Milt had to return to Uganda to teach a class at the theology school they run in Mbale, so we took them to the border yesterday to meet up with Shawn. We will go back to Uganda on Sunday to spend a few more days with them before they return home. It has been such a blessing to see them, it will be sad to see them go.