October 2014 Newsletter
June-July, September-October, 2014
If you have ever seen or operated an old wringer washing machine (popular in the 1930s-40s) with the tub on the bottom where clothes were agitated and at the top where they were fed between rollers to squeeze them out before they were hung up to dry, you will have some idea of how these past months at TCC have gone. While they have been productive and we are glad to have been here to serve, they also have seen us being squeezed between various projects until we are sure we have no juice left! Between modifying and approving school construction plans, getting bids from various builders, caring for clinic patients, conducting Bible studies, washing clothes by hand due to little water, and hosting numerous guests, there has hardly been time to catch our breath.
Speaking of visitors, Ralph and Twyla Williams stayed here for several weeks in May and determined to return in February, 2015 to hopefully construct a water collection and distribution system, which we sorely need and deeply appreciate. In July Phil, Elaine, and Evan Palmer (World Bible School) were hosted by Danny; Nancy stayed in the US to help with our new grandbaby. During the last two months we have been blessed by helpful visits from Tom Carr, (International Health Care Foundation) Charlotte Meeker who set up protocols for the new TCC Birthing Center, and 40 Harding University students with their faculty. Jo Jo Elliot (Harding grad and Vanderbilt ICU nurse), continues to be of tremendous assistance, especially during times we are away. She will be missed when she returns to the US 11/28 after having been at TCC since January.
Harding University students with Nancy after a Bible study with a Maasai family
Two additional UNWELCOME guests who toured our yard at night, each making quite a racket, have been a hyena and a huge weasel, the latter as big as a small fox. Since it is the end of the dry season, all the people AND animals in East Africa are seeking water and a good meal!
One of TCC’s guards holding up the weasel
One of the most interesting but sad patients we have seen lately has been a little girl with a five day history of Sydenham’s chorea following a severe sore throat. Her abnormal shoulder and arm movements, one sided weakness, and inability to walk normally were evident. Please pray antibiotics and other treatments will help.
On to other news: several with whom we are studying the Bible we hope will soon make their decision for Christ. These include a Maasai family who lives in the far distant bush, Sailepo, one of our Maasai guards, and TCCs lab technologist, Elijah Bosire. The latter has been attending church at the Monduli Juu congregation for several months.
Lastly, our container has finally arrived in Mombasa, Kenya, and should be here quickly. Thank you to so many who have donated a tractor, delivery bed, sheets, supply bags for new mothers, receiving blankets, desks, chairs, and tables for the secondary school, etc.. Hopefully, the new birthing center will soon open and school construction can begin right away. Seemingly, God is at work at TCC-let’s join Him!
With our love and “the grace which is reaching more and more people” (2 Cor. 4: 15),
Danny and Nancy Smelser