Jarrett’s Prayer Letter
Volume 7, Number 13
June 23, 2006

Dear Friends and Family;

Thanks so much for your prayers. We are leaving Tenwek a week from today, so I wanted to update some prayer requests and then, perhaps, write a final letter before we depart.
Today we operated on the 8th grader who had an induced abortion near term; I had mentioned her situation in the last letter. She had a stormy course over the past two weeks with persistent pain in the uterus and a fever that initially went away with antibiotics, but then it returned and increased in magnitude making us believe that she might have an abscess developing. We had been following her with ultrasound examinations, and yesterday we were convinced that we were seeing an abscess develop around the top of the uterus near the ovary.
At surgery we found that the top right portion of the uterus was indeed involved with an abscess that had destroyed the corner where the Fallopian Tube enters. There was also an abscess beneath the tube. We cut away the infected, dead tissue after freeing the small intestine from the area where the uterus had been perforated with an instrument, either during the abortion or in a subsequent curettage where retained placental tissue had been removed. We reconstructed the uterus, so it may be capable of childbearing in the future even though a cesarean section would be required for delivery if she is so fortunate as to get pregnant. She has prayed to receive Jesus as her savior.
Early this morning, an 18-year-old girl presented with severe abdominal pain 9 days after giving birth at home to a premature baby. The situation looked remarkably similar to the first story. An area of the uterus on the front wall looks like it is involved with infection and tissue destruction. This patient had not sought medical attention until the present time, and she presented with symptoms of septic shock. She has responded to antibiotics and fluid resuscitation; we are trying to get enough blood replaced for her to have surgery tomorrow that may even extend to the point of a hysterectomy if it isn’t possible to reconstruct the uterus. Chepkirui didn’t admit to an abortion having been done until she talked with a chaplain at our referral. She gave her life to Jesus and said that she was sorry for what she had done. Please pray for God to spare her life and her uterus.
I had mentioned Lucy, a patient who had renal failure and infection after an abortion. Her kidney function returned after dialysis, but she continued to have a significant infection somewhere in her body. She has responded to a potent antibiotic, Vancomycin, and she may be discharged soon. Please continue to pray for her.
My “I’ve never seen that before” case of the week occurred on Tuesday. A middle-aged mother had been seen by one of our doctors in February, and a 13-week twin pregnancy with a questionable uterine fibroid in the uterus was diagnosed. We saw her in clinic last week and diagnosed that the babies had died at about 27 week’s gestation. We spent the weekend trying to induce labor with no success despite using all the tricks that we knew. We used Cytotec, Pitocin, and a Foley catheter inserted into the uterus, but she simply would not begin laboring. One of the doctors even tried unsuccessfully to rupture the membranes; he concluded that there wasn’t any fluid remaining. We finally decided to take her to surgery for a hysterotomy [mini-cesarean section].
In retrospect, our failures made perfect sense in light of what we found at surgery. The uterus was small and empty; the pregnancy was all outside the uterus. I’ve seen advanced “abdominal pregnancy” before, but this pregnancy was contained entirely within the left ovary. It had allowed both baby girls to develop up to nearly a pound and 1\2 apiece before they had died. It was a fairly simple surgery to remove the ovary; the patient is going home after only three days. Ovarian pregnancy is among the rarest forms of ectopic pregnancy.
The beginning of a pregnancy normally is preceded by ovulation [release of an egg from the ovary] which is picked up by the Fallopian Tube on the same side. Fertilization of the egg occurs in the tube, and a new human life has begun. It takes about four days for the fertilized egg to travel down the tube and implant into the lining of the uterus which has been hormonally prepared to receive it. All during this time, the egg is growing and developing. The pro-abortion groups argue that it isn’t really a pregnancy until it is implanted in the uterus; they utilize this semantic distinction to justify the use of the “morning after” pill as a method of contraception. Only it really isn’t contraception because conception occurred four days previously. They claim it isn’t an abortion because the fertilized egg hasn’t implanted.
There are lots of good arguments against the “morning after” pill being given OTC [over the counter] status by the FDA, including studies showing that it has no impact on the number of unwanted pregnancies in countries where it is widely available over the counter. And there is the larger problem that women will not seek professional care for unprotected sexual exposure which is far more often the source of sexually transmitted disease than it is of pregnancy. You can contract gonorrhea or Chlamydia infections every day of the month, but pregnancy can only occur in a one or two day period. A delay in diagnosis and treatment of STD’s often leads to sterility or other serious consequences. But here, once again, I have digressed.
In our case, the egg never left the ovary upon its maturation and a sperm still found its way to fertilize it. It’s likely that the embryo divided completely sometime later to form a set of identical twins which grew very well up to the point that the blood supply of the ovary was insufficient to allow them to continue their growth. [If they weren’t identical, then there had to be two separate eggs that never left the ovary and were both fertilized.] There are at least two case reports of full-term ovarian pregnancies where a baby survived. We are happy to have a surviving mother.
We have had six cases of anencephaly these past two weeks where the near-term baby is born without a brain. We have also had other variety of “neural tube defects” where the sac around the spinal cord and brain has incomplete development. This defect causes a great deal of pain and suffering [physical and emotional] for mothers here in Western Kenya. It is known that Folic Acid dietary deficiency can cause this problem, but I believe that the reason we see this problem is due to a mycotoxin called Fumonisin found in spoiled corn. There are pockets of this problem in areas of the world where corn is the main dietary staple. Esophageal cancer is also found in high numbers in the same groups of people. The fungal toxin attacks the myelin sheath that lines the nervous system and hinders its development and subsequent closure of the system. During times of starvation, people eat corn that would otherwise be discarded. We may see many more of these cases during the next year as starvation conditions still exist in many areas.
We have visited some of the children’s homes this past week. The most exciting developments have occurred at Kenduiwa. They received a grant from World Orphans for a dormitory, and construction has begun. They were “pouring” the foundation last week when we were there. The workers constructed a perimeter foundation of stone blocks about four deep. The floor was filled in with rock chips, and then cement was mixed by hand on site and distributed by wheelbarrow. No big red cement trucks here. The rocks had arrived by a wagon pulled by a tractor. Men sat on the ground and chipped the edges of the rocks away until they had a rectangular building blocks. The chips were used for the fill-in.
The “fundi” or contractor had hired 10 casual laborers from the local area to do the work alongside his two skilled workers; this serves to promote “ownership” of the children’s homes in the local area. The other exciting development was finding water in a 50-ft well that was dug. Very few places around here on top of a mountain have water available on site other than what little can be collected in a cistern or tank. And that supply is only available during rainy season. Otherwise, a trip to the river with a donkey or two is made daily; a donkey will carry several 5 gallon jugs on his back. At Kenduiwa, there was a shallow hole that had been dug by the previous owner of the land for use as an outhouse. But the location was not good for an outhouse since it was uphill from new dormitory. So they dug the hole deeper and found water! They were using the water for mixing cement; we’re hopeful that they can clean up the base of the hole so that the water will be useful for drinking and bathing. In the long run, potable water from the well would save hundreds of dollars in hauling costs not to mention time.
As I watched the construction, Marty and the girls were playing games and doing a Bible lesson with the children. We have been here often enough that the children are no longer shy around us. My attention was diverted away from the hole where the man was hauling up water with a bucket on a rope. On the other side of the dormitory near the fence, another man was hauling up a bucket from a hole, except he was dumping out dirt each time. I realized that there was someone down in the hole who was filling the bucket with dirt each time. I asked David Koech about this. We went over and looked down 30 feet to the bottom of the hole where a man was toiling away with his shovel. I asked David if there weren’t danger of a cave-in. He said that in this soil on the mountain, there wasn’t any danger of the sides of the hole caving in. That was how the 50-ft hole was dug. This other hole was to be for a new outhouse, but it was downhill from the dormitory. Now I know of yet another job that I would never want.
The dormitory should be completed within the next 3 to 6 months which will allow for the expansion of this home to over 40 children. The dorm will hold 36 boys. The girls will stay in the existing semi-permanent structure until a girls dormitory is built in the future. A larger kitchen and a dining hall are also planned. A work team from the Bemm’s church in Pittsburg is coming in July to begin this project. David hopes to have another building in the future that will house a medical clinic and a library to benefit the local community. The posho [corn-grinding] mill is also planned as an income producing project for the home. Please continue to pray for the Kenduiwa Children’s Home.
Umoja Children’s Home was also doing well when we made our final visit there for the year. The children are happy and well cared for. They send their greetings and thanks to all those who have been assisting them in support and prayer. Joseph Chepkwony, the director, showed me the title deed for the property. It is no longer in the name of his family; the title deed belongs to the Umoja Children’s Home. I believe it is now possible to promote this home to local churches abroad as well as other organizations. I have felt for quite a while that this home has been under supported due to our impression of private ownership, even though the children were receiving loving care in the name of Jesus Christ. Hopefully, others will feel more comfortable now in coming alongside to assist. Joseph has plans for increasing the dormitory space which will enable them to bring in more children. It costs around $6,000 to put up a 36 to 40 bed dormitory and several thousand more to equip it with beds and the necessary bedding. They have nearly 250 chickens, but only about 15 are laying eggs. Four times as many chickens from the same hatching located at Kitoben are laying, but that area is a bit warmer according to Joseph. Please keep the Umoja Children’s Home in prayer.
In the next letter, I will report on Bosto and Kitoben; we plan a final trip to both homes tomorrow. Our daughters have had a good time of ministry during their time here. Becki has been doing standardized testing for the missionary children who are being homeschooled. The mothers appreciate having a “yardstick” to see how successful they are with their children’s education. This past week Debbye and Amy helped the children with a fine arts workshop. Next week is a VBS week. They are leading worship and teaching children’s church for the Tenwek meeting-room fellowship. Elissa and Rachel have been helping out a lot as well. Laura is at home in the States making her final preparations for a year of ministry in Japan. Please continue to pray for her; her departure is scheduled for August 17.
I also had mentioned praying for three young men from our home church who were participating in an expedition in search of Noah’s Ark. They returned safely from Iran; recently, there was a release of the results of that trip with the appearance of Bob Cornuke on Fox News. The team believes that they have found the Ark, but it may take some time for all the samples to be tested; the world’s acceptance of the evidence is another matter. But you had a part in praying for the safety of this mission whatever the results are determined to be, so I felt obligated to pass along to you the information. Here is a copy of a website along with the link featuring an interview with Bob Cornuke:
http://www.worldviewweekend.com/secure/cwnetwork/article.php?&ArticleID=813+
Noah’s Ark?
For Real
By Brannon S. Howse
© Brannon S. Howse
June 16th, 2006
How many times have you yawned at the claim “Noah’s Ark Has Been Discovered”? Right, you say, and Elvis has been sighted again, too. People who hoped to find the famous vessel and the legendary voice have been pretty much in the same boat (so to speak)—No proof. Until today.
Led by explorer, adventurer, and featured Worldview Weekend speaker Dr. Bob Cornuke, a fourteen man crew returned this week from Iran bearing stunning evidence that theirs is the long-anticipated, even coveted discovery of the remains of Noah’s Ark. Bob’s team consisted of a Who’s Who of business, law, and ministry leaders including Barry Rand (former CEO of Avis), the multiple best-selling author and Christian apologist Josh McDowell, Frank Turek (co-author with Norm Geisler of I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist), Boone Powell (former CEO of Baylor Medical Systems), and Arch Bonnema (president of Joshua Financial).
The unusual object is perched on a slope 13,120 feet above sea level. After studying the discovery site, Bonnema observed, “These beams not only look like petrified wood, they are so impressive that they look like real wood—this is an amazing discovery that may be the oldest shipwreck in recorded history.”
Reg Lyle, oil and gas geologist said “the object appears to be a basalt dike, however, it is absolutely uncanny that the object looks like hand hewn timbers, even the grain and color look just like petrified wood….I really need to keep an open-mind about this.”
The team returned to the U.S. from rugged mountains in Iran with astonishing video footage of a monstrous black formation which looks like rock but bears the amazing image of hundreds of massive, wooden, hand-hewn beams. Could it be the lost ark on which two of every animal once sailed with their human rescuer?
Bob Cornuke, president of the BASE Institute, is a veteran of nearly 30 expeditions looking for yet-to-be-discovered locations and artifacts described by the Bible. He is cautiously—but enthusiastically—optimistic about the find: “We have no way of confirming for sure that this object is Noah’s Ark, but it is probably the most interesting and baffling object ever found by ark searchers…it sure gets my heart to pumping just thinking of what it could be.”
The arkish object is about 400 feet long and consists of rocks that look remarkably like blackened wood beams while other rock in the area is distinctively brown. And one visible piece is “cut” at 90-degree angle. Even more intriguing, some of the wood-like rocks were tested just this week and actually proved to be petrified wood, and it is noteworthy that Scripture recounts Noah sealed his ark with pitch—a decidedly black substance. Upon being cut open, one of these “rocks” also divulged a marine fissile that could have only originated undersea.
Scouring the mountains all around the object, team participant Steve Crampton found thousands of fossilized sea shells blanketing the landscape. Cornuke brought back a one-inch thick rock slab choked with fossilized clams.
High above the ark suspect, the team also found wood splinters and broken pottery shards under snow and rock at the 15,300 foot level. It showed evidence that ancients had thought this an important worship site for hundreds—if not thousands—of years. The landing location would also be an unusually hospitable place to live. The team notes that every ecosystem helpful to humans and the animals is reachable within a 25-mile radius of the ark’s location.
Cornuke initially got involved in the search for the ark after meeting Apollo 15, moon walking astronaut Jim Irwin. In the 1980’s Cornuke participated with Irwin in several searches on Mount Ararat in Turkey but was disappointed with the results. After several years of frustrating expeditions, Cornuke started looking elsewhere for the ark.
Cornuke found clues in the Bible that the ark might be on a mountain other than the famed Mount Ararat of Turkey. His observation was based on the Genesis 11 account that says descendants of Noah came to the Mesopotamian valley from the east. According to Cornuke, that would put the Biblical mountains of Ararat somewhere in the northern reaches of Iran. He also cited ancient historians such as Nicholas of Damascus and Flavius Josephus who wrote just before and after Christ that timbers of the ark had survived in what would today be the higher mountains of Iran.
Although his research is by far the most definitive ever, Dr. Cornuke is not the first to suggest Noah’s Ark came to rest in Iran rather than Turkey. In 1943 an army observer named Ed Davis said he saw the ark on a high mountain in Iran. Sergeant Davis was a road construction engineer in Iran during World War II, building army highways from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea. During his tour of duty there, some Iranian friends told Davis of the ark and led him to the site. After the war, Sgt. Davis passed a lie detector test affirming his testimony about actually seeing timbers from an ark-like object high in the mountains of Iran.
Before his death, Davis became acquainted with Bob Cornuke and gave him a map showing the way to the object. “It was right where Ed said it was in his map,” Cornuke relayed, “After seeing it from a distance I thought it at first unimpressive, but once we stood on the object we were all amazed at how it looked just like a huge pile of black and brown stone beams.”
Mary Irwin, wife of late Apollo 15 astronaut Jim Irwin, viewed the evidence and stated that it was “compelling and certainly could be the actual Ark of Noah.”
Many Christians will be eager to see the pictures and video footage, and hear the Biblical evidence for why Noah’s Ark and the mountains of Ararat must be in Iran. Unfortunately, I also expect that Dr. Cornuke will be venomously attacked by both Christians and non-Christians. His discovery will greatly distress evolutionists who do not want the story of Noah and a worldwide flood to be verified. And many Christians that have spent years and millions of dollars searching on Mt. Ararat in Turkey will be quick to dismiss Cornuke’s discovery out of jealousy (and perhaps a bit of embarrassment that they spent so much time looking in the wrong place).
Dr. Cornuke has used the Bible as his primary guidebook to one Biblical location and artifact after another. Has he once again overcome huge odds to make what is arguably one of the greatest archeological discoveries of all time? Has this crime-scene-
investigator-turned-explorer pieced together clues from years of examination and discovered the remains of Noah’s Ark?
Some of America’s leading businessmen, an attorney who has argued several cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and two leading apologists believed the evidence was compelling enough that they made a daring trip to the politically volatile state of Iran and climbed a harsh mountain to see the object firsthand. Now that they’ve returned, they seem anything but disappointed. Elvis may have long since left the building, but it looks as if the Ark may have just appeared at the door.
For media appearance and/or interviews with Dr. Bob Cornuke, please contact Brannon Howse at Brannon@worldviewweekend.com

Distributed by www.ChristianWorldviewNetwork.com

Paul writing again:
Please continue to pray for our last week here. Please pray that we will be able to find a suitable housing and working situation for Rosaline, a mother with two blind children whom we have mentioned in many of our letters. Also pray for funds to come in for the orphans’ school fees. There currently is only a fraction of what is needed for the fees that are due in September. The containers are still being held in Nairobi; pray for their immediate release. Thanks so much for your prayers and support.
Paul, for the Jarretts in Kenya

AGC Tenwek Area Education Fund [sending orphans to school or orphanage support] contributions: Checks payable to and send to: Christian Foundation of Indiana, 8445 Keystone Crossing Blvd, Suite 200, Indianapolis, IN 46240. Indicate for Tenwek Education Fund or specific orphanage support on a separate piece of paper.