Dear Friends and family

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you for your prayers over the last year. They have been felt. However, I need your prayers more than ever right now. I am trying to raise the funds to stay here another year and I am currently at 75% of my goal of $1,000 a month. Several people have told me that they are interested in contributing; however, they are yet to commit to how much. I have many decisions to make in the next month and one of them is deciding if I will be able to stay past Christmas.  My work here has been so fulfilling, but without support my work here is not possible. I am feeling disconnected from the US and am beginning to wonder if anyone even reads the blog I try to keep updated. If you could either e-mail me, comment on my blog, or let my parents know if you still want to support me in prayer or in other ways, I would appreciate it greatly.

Thank you!
 

God Bless,

Elizabeth Flow

And I thought I knew busy...

But this past month has shown me that my definition was far too relaxed.

Over the last month, my parents visited, I climbed Mt. Longonot, joined a missions team from my home church in NC, travelled to Naivasha, travelled to Embu, and followed up with a patient here in Kijabe.

Lets start with the Friday after my last post. My parents were scheduled to arrive on the evening of the 15th, Friday. Well, my Mom missed her flight in London and had to be rerouted through Amsterdam. My Dad arrived on time but his bags were the last off the plane so it took him an hour and a half just to find his luggage. My Mom's rerouted flight was due to arrive at 6am the next morning. By the time we left the airport, it was past 11pm. My Dad and I slept at a guest house, but were back to the airport by 7am. Short night! My Mom had some trouble going through immigration (the airlines did not give them the correct forms on the planes, so she had to wait through the immigration line twice before everything got straightened out.) However, even though my Mom arrived on the right flight her bags did not. They came on the 7:30am flight. We left the airport at around 10 am. My Mom was exhausted! After my parent's had a brief rest, we went to a comedy put on by the high-schoolers at RVA.
Sunday, we went to church and visited the Kijabe airstrip.
Monday, I showed my parents around Kijabe. (and forgot to feed them, I wasn't hungry and I forgot that they might be. Oops!!!!) We went to my Bible Study in the evening.
Tuesday, we went to Nakuru for a game drive. We left at 5am and got back to Kijabe at around 6:30 pm. Just in time for me to attend a Skype meeting with the LIMBS home office in the States at 7pm.
Wednesday,  we climbed Mt. Longonot and walked around the rim. All in all, we walked around 15 Km (9.5 miles).
Thursday, I worked at CURE Hospital while my parents slept/rested.
Friday, I worked, packed, took my Dad to the airport, and met the missions team from my home church in NC.

I spent Saturday through Thursday in Nairobi with the missions team.
Saturday, I visited the VBS site with the team and helped pick up supplies for VBS that week.
Sunday, I went to AIC Antioch near Nairobi and helped pick up even more supplies for the week. It rained Sunday night, so Monday morning the areas we were going to use for the VBS were either flooded or muddy.
Monday and Tuesday, I passed out snacks to 150 kids at VBS at a local school and helped serve them lunch. It rained both Monday night and drizzled Tuesday night, maintaining the muddy atmosphere.
By Wednesday, the children at the school had heard that we were doing VBS so many trudged through the mud to attend the VBS. I passed out snacks to over 200 children and helped serve them lunch.
Since there was no rain Wednesday night, on Thursday, we had over 250 children at the VBS. 100 of those were in first grade or below. I served them all snacks and helped serve lunch afterwards.

Benjamin was able to join us Thursday night and then escort me back to Kijabe Friday morning.

Friday morning I had to be back in Kijabe to catch a ride to Naivasha to represent the Orthopedic department of CURE for an exhibition. I spent all day Friday and Saturday in Naivasha. I almost entirely lost my voice.

Sunday, I went to church. In the afternoon, I had to have a serious conversation with some of my Kenyan friends about trust and what happened to some items that have gone missing. It was a tough conversation and I had to make some hard choices. Please pray for this situation! After the meeting, I returned to Nairobi and rejoined the team.
Monday,  I went with the missions team to amboseli game park and saw elephants, zebra, gazelle, hippos, and more others. We got back late on Monday so I spent the night in Nairobi.
Tuesday, I rushed back to Kijabe and met with a patient involved in the LIMBS knee assessment that I am overseeing.
Wednesday (July 4th), I helped out in the Orthopedic workshop all day since there was only one technologist there. The missions team left that night.
Thursday, I left early in the morning with Benjamin to go to Embu for the first of three LIMBS knee assessment visits. I spent the whole day there interviewing, taking pictures and video, and using Benjamin as a translator! We got back to Kijabe at 9pm.
Friday, I spent writing up the information I collected on Thursday, as well as, taking care of some admin work.
Saturday was my first break day since my parents arrived in the middle of June. I got some mending done, clothes washed, and house cleaned.
Sunday, I went to church and rested.

So this is probably more information than anyone wanted to know, but it is a snap shot into my life the last few weeks!