Jarretts Ministry

Jarrett’s Prayer Letter

Volume 7, Number 11

May 28, 2006

Dear Friends and Family:

I couldn’t believe that I had gone a whole month without a complete letter until I checked the website to verify this fact. Pole sana! That means “very sorry” in Swahili. I found that I had written 4 short prayer request updates during the month, however, so I can’t be accused of totally ignoring you. I’ll use the excuse of a vacation in the middle of the month as a reason for not writing. We do appreciate your prayers very much.

This week we are entering our final month of this term. It seems to us that it has gone very fast, but that’s how life seems to be at our ages. We have really enjoyed having family here with us for the past month. And we’re not finished yet with family visitors. Susanna and Chris leave on the night of May 30th while Debbye and Becki fly in on the morning of May 31st. The way I figure it, they should pass each other in the dark somewhere over France. Debbye and Becki will leave the US from separate cities on Monday evening but plan on finding each other at Heathrow airport and touring London during a 14-hour layover. Please pray for safety for travel for all of them. Also pray that they will be able to get an extra bag allotment on check-in Monday night and that the luggage will make it with them intact.

Dear Friends and Family:

Thanks for your prayers for travel safety. We just got back from our week in Mombasa. We had a great time and no travel problems. Chris and Susanna made it in on Saturday night, and their bags came on Sunday morning, in time to pick up for the trip to Mombasa. They were able to get the 2 extra bags without cost from American Airlines. More later. Paul, for the Jarretts in Kenya

Dear Friends and Family:

Thanks for your prayers for our family and for Kenya. It sounds as if the fuel shortage situation has been addressed, if not totally solved, so we are planning on continuing our trip to Mombasa on Sunday.

Please pray for Susanna and Chris as they leave the US on Friday afternoon with arrival in Kenya on Saturday night [about 2pm Indy time]. Please pray that on check-in at Indianapolis the American Airlines ticket agent will allow them to take the 2 extra bags of orphan clothing without charge, since British Air has waived the fee from Chicago to Nairobi. Pray that all the bags will make it without damage. [One bag was destroyed on Amy's trip - pray that BA will repair or replace it when we take it with us to the airport -- However, Amy failed to report the damage, so it may not be an obligation for them to help. Also pray for Susie and Chris's flights and passage through customs.

Pray for our trip to Nairobi on Saturday and our drive to Mombasa on Sunday with return to Nairobi next Saturday and to Tenwek on Sunday. Road conditions vary from great to terrible on different parts of each leg of the journey. Pray for safety for our time in heavily Muslim Mombasa -- we actually stay at the beach 20 miles south, but pass through the city.

Armed robbery is on the increase in Kenya. When the winner of the Boston and

Dear Friends and Family:

We have a prayer request for the upcoming week. Our daughter and son-in -law Susanna and Chris Gordon are coming this weekend, to arrive in Nairobi on Saturday night. Our plans are to pick them up and drive to Mombassa with them for a week's vacation before returning to Tenwek for the week.

There is a looming fuel shortage this week in Kenya. It has to do with the Kenya Revenue Authority demanding payment from the oil companies and pipeline companies by online payments instead of by check as has been the practice. There was no warning given, so everything shut down in the fuel distribution network; many places in the country are expected to run out of diesel and gasoline during the week. Some places already are out of diesel or gasoline or kerosene. Hopefully, it is a temporary situation, but this will naturally affect many lives - about 48 million people, including our plans for Mombassa potentially.

We have enough fuel to get to Nairobi and back to Tenwek if that's what we decide to do instead. Please pray for a quick resolution to this crisis. Thanks for your prayers. God is in control.

Also, we are driving 80 kilometers today for a visit to Bosto Children's Home after our worship service this morning. Please pray for a safe trip and one that will be productive for God's Kingdom.

Paul

PS: Last time Chris and Susie came

Dear Friends and Family:

Thanks for praying for our girls and all the travel arrangements. They even arrived a bit early on Wednesday night with all their luggage. They had no trouble with customs and were in great spirits.

Our trip to Nairobi and back was fine. I got my driver's license renewed in Narok without so much of a hassle as it can be in the States. I easily found the office where I was supposed to go and was asked only if I wanted 1 or 3 years renewal. I was done in about 4 minutes. The road past Narok is in bad shape, so it took over four hours driving in the rain to Nairobi. Coming back it was dry and took 20 minutes less.

We sat through lunch on both Wednesday and Thursday while terrific lightning and rain storms took place. We were eating on a porch restaurant on Thursday and lightning was striking all around. At one shopping center there were 9 vehicle alarms set off by the storm - what a racket! There was flooding in many areas of Nairobi so we stayed out of the downtown area where traffic tends to get paralyzed.

Thanks for praying for Joyce, the Turkana missionary. She is slowly improving, but still suffering from having had a major seizure and high blood pressure. Please pray for a complete recovery.

Marty, Amy, and I all have parts in the worship service on Sunday. Please pray for protection from

Dear Friends and Family:

Please pray for Amy and Elissa; they are now on their way to Kenya. Pray for good flights and connections as well as safety. Elissa says that she is apprehensive about security checks. Pray that they will have no difficulty in going through customs in Nairobi.

Also, pray that I can get my Kenya driver's license renewed tomorrow as we go through Narok. Marty reminds me that we should take nothing for granted here. Doesn't seem like a biggy, but who knows? Also, pray that our car will work well for us. It worked flawlessly on a long trip last week with Dr. Myers.

Please pray for one of my patients, Joyce, who is a national missionary to the Turkana people. She had an eclamptic seizure 48 hours after delivery and is very slow to recover total consciousness now some 48 hours after the seizure.

Thanks so much for your prayers.

Paul, for the Jarretts in Kenya

Jarrett’s Prayer Letter

Volume 7, Number 10

April 29, 2006

Dear Friends and Family:

Praise God for His provision, protection, and enablement. He is sufficient to meet our every need. We have seen His hand at work again this week in several different ways. Thanks so much for your prayers.

My practice of OBGYN in Indianapolis was very enjoyable, and occasionally, we had the opportunity to save lives in difficult situations. But most days were not so dramatic, even though there were many opportunities to serve God in witnessing and encouraging others. This past Friday, we were able to save six lives before lunch.

The morning began innocently enough as I came up the hill to see when we could do our exploratory surgery for a patient with cervical cancer; the surgery schedule had been too full on Thursday to squeeze in this case, so we hoped for a slot on Friday even though it wasn’t our normal operating day for scheduled cases. Alas, the day was absolutely packed since there was a visiting neurosurgeon as well as a team of an Ear, Nose, and Throat surgeon with his friend, an Oral Surgeon; the latter had planned a long surgery for a woman with a huge tumor on her jaw. These short-term visiting specialists often operate fairly intensively [daily with several cases] since they are here for only 1 or 2 weeks. Many cases are “stored up” for them that require their special expertise.

By 8am both major procedure rooms had operations going

Jarrett’s Prayer Letter

Volume 7, Number 9

April 15, 2006

1 Cor 15:3-4

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures NIV

Dear Friends and Family:

Happy Easter! He is Risen, just as He said. We are celebrating our 8th consecutive Easter weekend in Kenya. Tomorrow, Lord willing, we will have a sunrise service. Most of the Easters here have had beautiful sunrises, but not all of the previous 7 as I recall. Both Good Friday and Easter Monday are holidays in Kenya and many churches have big celebrations.

Today we held an Easter egg hunt in our back yard for children of all the missionary families and of some of the Kenyan staff who are our next door neighbors. It was a bright sunny morning despite a soaking rain yesterday and last night. After Marty told the Easter story with puppets and props, we piled things in the car and headed for Kenduiwa Children’s Home for a repeat of the message. Most of the visitors and many of the missionary adults headed for the prison in Bomet to share the good news of Jesus.

Marty, Rachel, and I took flannel graph materials, papers, crayons, a cake, and some candy gifts with us to the children’s home. Twelve-year-olds Rebecca Spriegal and Nick Manchester went with us as they had not been to Kenduiwa before. The

Dear Family and Friends,

I want to share some praises with you and hope they bring you joy this day as you hear how God is working in this place. Great answers to prayer have come about this week. On Wednesday, Rev. Kilel (works with us to minister to the orphans) brought to the house a young woman of 18 years of age who had just graduated from Form School. (high school) Scola came to show her appreciation for all our friends---meaning you---have done to enable her to finish school. She was praising God for His faithfulness to her that was shown through your prayers and support for orphans. Her heart's desire is to continue on with either Bible College or Medical School. She is praying and seeking God's direction for her. She just knows that she wants to do and be all that God has planned for her. It is her desire to impact others for the Lord. Philippians 2: 13 " For it is God Who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."

Scola showed me her report card which gave me some insight into her abilities. She did excellent work in language studies (English and Swahilli), history and government, and Religious studies. Her skills in mathematics, biology, and chemistry seemed to be severely lacking, and these are important studies for medical school. I pointed out to her that her God-given talents seemed to be in the former

Please respond to pauljar@gmail.com

Jarrett’s Prayer Letter

Volume 7, Number 8

March 28, 2006

Dear Friends and Family:

Our trip to Nairobi was very productive from many viewpoints. Thanks for your prayers for safety in travel. I now have several more prayer requests to add to your already long list for ministry here in Kenya. My apologies in advance for the length, extra commas, and content, as my proofreader has gone to bed with a cold tonight.

We left on Thursday morning under clear skies. The rain which has been almost daily for the past several weeks has ceased, and we have now had a dry week. The farmers aren’t complaining yet. The roads which were in bad shape last month are much worse now after the heavy rains, and no repairs are underway. Large sections of the road are devoid of the 2 inches of blacktop that was used in the substandard construction. It has left either craters or wavy sections of dried mud. In several areas, it is far better to drive off the road onto the shoulder or even farther to the side, except where drivers have done this for so long that this area is also destroyed. The pavement is chipped away on both edges to be essentially a one-lane road, so that drivers have to play “chicken” to see who gives way. The busses and lorries [trucks] always win. Hitting a major, deep chuckhole after many miles of good pavement always takes the driver by surprise, so a bone-jarring