Jarretts Ministry

Dear Friends and Family:

I appreciate your prayers very much. I want to update you first on my recovery from the stroke on Dec. 22, 2011. Laura has given birth to her first son who is also on our prayer list at this time. Please click on the link to read the entire message….

God has blessed me richly in many ways. As mentioned three weeks ago, I returned to work with no obvious deficits that would interfere with my work in surgery or at the hospital. The medical staff did not place me on night call to allow me to get extra rest which turned out to be a wise decision. I became progressively fatigued over the first two weeks of January with very little energy during the day.

I required a lot of extra rest, but also found that I was short of breath when climbing the hill to which I was acclimated after 4 months here. I checked my pulse and found it was around 100. I had a nurse check my blood pressure and found it was only 105\66; my normal BP has been 130\85 under normal circumstances.

It made sense to me that the small dose of blood pressure medicine was causing more than a 20 point drop making me somewhat hypotensive. I stopped the medication the next morning and found I was up 10 points. By the next morning, I was back to normal, and so was my energy. The doctors here agreed with holding the medicine until I visit the prescribing doctor in Nairobi on Feb. 2 this week for my scheduled appointment.

I still find that I need a full night’s sleep to have normal energy. This past Monday, I hadn’t slept so much on Saturday night and was very tired after the clinic day. When I came home at the end of the day, a new visitor came by and almost whispered to me for thirty minutes wanting to tell her life story and why she needed some money for school fees. I knew I needed a nap and was able to send her away with a promise to pray about her situation and make a decision soon.

I told Rachel I was going to lie down for a nap before dinner and then slept hard for an hour. She “called the cops” on me when she was worried. She had two surgeons and a family practice doctor come by to see me that evening. I was able to convince them I really was okay but had needed a nap; Mike Chupp could tell that I was not in the same situation as a month ago and let me pass. I had to show Rachel my pulse rate daily for the next five days before she really believed me.

I think the reason I lost sleep Sunday morning waking up at 4 am was probably related to the second anniversary of Marty’s passing that day. I knew all of us were thinking of Marty that day. I decided to write our children which I will share with you at this time.

Dear Children:

It will come as no surprise to any of you that today marks the second anniversary of your precious mother’s graduation to Heaven. I expect a wide range of emotions is represented throughout our family and perhaps within each individual as well. Playing the Chris Tomlin song, I Will Rise, no doubt will start the water works for most of us.

However, I didn’t play that song yet, nor did they ambush me by playing it at church today as occasionally happens. I woke up early this morning with thoughts about Marty; thankfulness dominates all other feelings today.

I could make a long list of things for which I am thankful, but I will only mention a few. Marty led me to the Lord – lovingly with perseverance. Without her preaching God’s Word with her words and life where would I be? Maybe I would be still lost, stumbling around in sin – only God knows. My salvation should be at the top of the list of eternal things.

You children and grandchildren have eternal life because of Jesus Christ, but Marty’s willingness to be His handmaiden and allow Him with thankfulness and without reluctance to put you in her womb must be acknowledged with great gratitude. How many men at this stage of his life can say he has this many descendants not just living but walking with the Lord with the help of the godly woman God gave him?

How many would willingly leave parent, home, and children to go with her husband to the end of the earth and lead people of another culture to her Savior? I am thankful that she spent so much time in prayer to hear God’s voice that orphan children needed parental love and help.

Yet I must not end the list without her example of her love for Jesus and His Word which she instilled in each of your lives as well as her encouragement to me to learn more and more of Him each day. I can’t begrudge our Lord having taken her to sit at the feet of His throne where she was prepared to be. I can only praise Him with thankfulness for the time I was given with Marty. We were all prepared by her to walk on our own feet alongside our loving Lord Jesus.

Love to each of you, Dad

Two days prior to this, Laura gave birth by Cesarean to Yoshiki James Noguchi in Japan. His name, Yoshiki, when written in Kanji, means “Joy in Christ.” He has a special challenge in his young life, a cleft palate and lip, which will require surgeries beginning in three to five months.

Laura and Keisuke are coping very well with the adjustments recognizing that this has been no surprise to God and that He intends for them to be a witness throughout the process. A special encouragement has been that the government insurance covers everything including dental treatments in the future.

Our orphan ministry continues to go very well. God has blessed us with sufficient funds for the existing enrolled students as well as the four beginning freshmen students at Umoja and four at Kenduiwo. Thank you, Lord. Please pray that throughout the coming months, He will provide an equal amount of support divided equally in April and August. We had asked for guidance on how many we could start; we interpreted His provision of the needed amount for all eight students. God is good, all the time.

I am excited to report that we have started a cervical cancer screening clinic this month at Tenwek and some of the outlying clinics. Each Friday, I have been called to examine patients identified by a trained nurse who sees potential pre-cancerous conditions. Instead of seeing patients who have inoperable cancer, for the first time, I am seeing either immediately pre-cancerous or early stage conditions which can be treated effectively.

Seeing more cases requiring hysterectomies will add some extra patients on our already full schedule. We are meeting with the surgery department on Tuesday where we hope to agree on another day in the week where we can schedule cases. At this point, we only have one dedicated day in the five major operating rooms; trying to squeeze cases into our own operating room in Maternity is difficult to schedule with all our cesareans and other minor cases with a somewhat unpredictable availability of an anesthetist whom we share with the eye surgeons in their suite. Please pray for a reasonable plan to come from this meeting.

Please pray for a patient I will call Dorcas. She came to us a week ago with a “bad obstetrical history.” Sometimes this means one or no living children out of four or five pregnancies. Dorcas had her first two children born alive and survive, but then she lost the next at 34 weeks. The next 7 were stillborn at 26 weeks – once a year for the past 8 years.

This time she came to the clinic at 30 weeks with the baby still alive. We had an ultrasound performed in November which confirmed the date, but the baby was so tiny inside her womb now. The baby measured more like 25 weeks or a pound with a few ounces – not much growth in nearly 3 months. We used our only working fetal monitor and saw that the baby’s heart rate showed normal variability, a good sign, until a little Braxton-Hicks contraction occurred which immediately sent the heart rate down below 80 for a minute following. Obviously, this baby had no reserve for labor.

We discussed the situation with the pediatrician. He felt that the baby wouldn’t survive for very long in the nursery below 31 weeks; before this age in our set-up, most die from either lung immaturity or bowel death [necrotizing enterocolitis]. If we could watch it closely until the first of next week, the chance might be better with the corticosteroid injections we were giving to the mother. [We had been out for a few days, as the pharmacy hadn’t found a source in the country to restock – first time I had ever seen that medication run out.]

We did daily fetal monitor assessments showing the baby’s condition was unchanged. He was moving regularly. The mother was told she would need a cesarean for the earliest sign of labor or change in her situation; she had to come immediately to the labor room from her bed in the ward. I talked with the nurse in-charge to alert every nurse on duty that a prompt response was absolutely necessary.

Yesterday afternoon, the fetal monitor once again showed the baby’s condition was satisfactory with a “reactive non-stress test.” Four hours later, the mother came to the labor room saying she had a strong contraction. The team was alerted immediately, but the nurse had trouble finding the heartbeat. Dr. Bryan Myers, visiting here for two weeks, came up immediately as they prepared for a cesarean. It seemed like the baby’s heart was only twitching on the ultrasound. The immediate cesarean was fast but not enough to save the baby despite the pediatrician’s best efforts at resuscitation. Bryan said the placenta was only tiny and may have separated at the edge.

Please pray for us and Dorcas as we advise her for the future. We can say with certainty that she has much treasure in Heaven, but her body does not seem to have the ability to nourish a baby large enough to reach maturity or even given a chance under the best circumstances available here.

Please pray for my doctor’s visit on Thursday, Feb 2. I plan to stay overnight in Nairobi, do some grocery shopping, and come back Friday morning. I had hoped that my paperwork would be processed to combine this trip to the government building to get a long-term work permit and a re-entry visa for future trips. But it doesn’t seem it will be ready in time. Does God plan for me to return later in the year or at any time in the future? Please pray for this answer as well.

We have only six weeks before Rachel and I leave Kenya on March 10. There are many questions for our immediate future. Our house has been for sale nearly two years this spring. Is this God’s season for us to sell the house? If not, will we be able to refinance the mortgage which will expire this year? Where would He have us live? Will the volunteer medical clinics in downtown Indianapolis find malpractice coverage for me and other retired doctors? Does God have other medical trips planned for me? These are questions I am praying for answers.

Susanna’s baby is due in the next few weeks; Debbye is due at the end of March. Please pray for safe arrivals for these two grandchildren as well as Yoshiki’s continued growth required for his surgery. Rachel’s ministry has been very effective with her helps ministry. Please pray that we will finish well here at Tenwek over the next six weeks.

I did finish my project of editing the Watchman Nee book, The Normal Christian Life, for my family. Several were encouraged by it. I encourage anyone to read that important book if he hasn’t done so. Nee’s knowledge and radical “big picture” thinking is not sufficiently appreciated in today’s church.

This very helpful book is regarded a Christian classic. Nee To-sheng [Watchman Nee] lived in China from 1903-1972. Much of the independent home church movement in China today has its roots in his teaching and leadership. Arrested on false charges by the communist government in 1952, he remained imprisoned until his death.
This book is based on his lectures in Europe in 1938-39 as recorded in transcriptions and private notebooks. It represents his personal understanding of the Christian life towards the end of the first twenty years of his pastoral ministry service. Although it may seem so, it is not a systematic treatise on Christian doctrine. He did not edit this book or the notes himself. First published in 1957, the edition I have read and reviewed is a revision from 1961 published in paperback by Tyndale in the US in 1977.

Again, thank you for your prayers and support. We give God all praise.
Serving Jesus with you,

Paul and Rachel in Kenya

Dear Friends and Family:

Thank you for your prayers. I want to share some stories from last week, an update on Joan, and the passing of my mentor and friend, Dr. Robert Livingstone Foster. I continue to gain strength; today I did three emergency major surgeries while others were working in our scheduled clinic which lasted past 7pm tonight. Please click on the link…

Joan greeted me with a smile this morning and thanked everyone for their prayers. She nursed her baby and walked in the hallway with no evidence that she was different than any other mother recovering from a cesarean. Thank you, Lord.

Last week was very busy causing Pastor David Kilel and I to postpone our visit out into the community each day until Friday. I want to thank God for providing enough fees to start our children this week. David was very busy buying items to send the children on to school while waiting for the wire transfer to pay the schools their funds. Please pray that God will provide the remainder of the funds within a short time for the forty plus students. In addition, we will soon learn how many of our orphans will have qualified on the exam to start Form 1 [freshman year] at the end of the month. I expect about ten children to pass the exam.

Funds for sending orphans to school and orphanage support can be sent to Hope Ministries, Inc., 9902 East 200 South, Zionsville, IN 46077. Mark the donation for Tenwek orphans. A receipt for tax credit will be issued. All funds are passed directly to orphan support in the Tenwek area as administration and expenses are covered by a donor.

I began Friday morning by confessing to the morning report group of medical staff and interns of my conviction of our need to be more active in being certain that our sicker patients need to hear about Jesus. This was prompted by the death of a mother on early Thursday am; on Wednesday morning she had experienced the worst outside delivery I had ever seen.

Since the dead baby’s delivery had already been finished by our nurse, I worked off and on all day stabilizing her pulse and blood pressure believing all of her injuries were external and all blood loss had stabilized; it was late in the afternoon before we realized she also had internal injuries including her bladder torn open as well as the uterus ruptured. She was taken to surgery and several surgeons worked on her, but unlike Joan’s situation, she did not survive three hours after the surgery. I could have talked with her through a translator when she was conscious. I just didn’t realize she was in such peril. Sometimes we don’t realize a person has no more chances to hear the gospel; I don’t know what her spiritual status was when she died.

I got more chances with other patients Thursday night and Joan Friday night with emergency hysterectomies after deliveries as well as an ectopic [tubal] pregnancy on Friday who had lost 6 pints of blood.

We’ve had a patient in an intensive unit with a very unusual condition of ovarian hyperstimulation apparently spontaneously from her first pregnancy at age 18. The ovaries blew up with multiple follicles from the ovulation that gave rise to the pregnancy; instead of having at most one or two follicles the size of a marble, she had hundreds of hen’s eggs size in both ovaries. Her ovaries actually pushed up under her liver with a tremendous amount of fluid in her abdomen [ascites] and lungs [pleural effusion]. This usually happens in infertility cases with too much drug stimulation to cause too many follicles.

She has a live 9-week baby and needs to lie very quietly and definitely not be operated upon which would probably cause her to lose one or both ovaries. Left alone with minimal support, everything should regress. She looked better after four days. I had one case of these many years ago to a much smaller size using the fertility pill, Clomid, which I’ve used in thousands of patients.

On Friday evening, David and finally had a chance to go out for the first time. There was a poor mother named Rebekah who wanted to see me; I guess after a number of years of my working with Pastor Kilel and actually visiting out in the poor areas with him, my name is known some places – not sure how it happens. Anyway, we went down a road towards Ndaraweta off the road just north of Silibwet towards Litein. I have a fairly good sense of direction and remembered going down this road to see a widowed grandmother with 13 kids probably the very first time I went out with David in 2001. I remember most of her adult children were dead with HIV. I asked about it as we went by the place, and he said we’d stop on the way back.

We stopped outside a boarded up duka [store or shop] with some sheep tied up in front. David said it was the place, although it didn’t look like a house. Behind it attached were some storage sheds where the family was living. Rebekah looked to be in her latter forties. Her countenance was very sad, and the story she told was completely believable. She introduced me to her 28-year-old daughter, the oldest; there were three mid to young teenagers belonging to this single mother’s kids and some smaller ones from whom I’m not certain. Other members weren’t home yet. In a 7 ft by 5 ft room made of rough wooden boards turned black by cooking fires over years, we sat on very small stools on a dirt floor. Cardboard paper helped block some of the wind which wasn’t blowing this night. The other room where they cooked and slept was maybe half again as big. The door we walked in was about 2.5 feet in width, which I stepped in sideways. This looked more like an animal shed.

The family’s belongings were meager. From the only shelf I was shown some legal papers requesting assistance from various government agencies, a Kalingen [Kipsigis] bible David Kilel gave Rebekah in 1983, and some five or six family pictures in a plastic bag for protection. They paid 600 Kenya Shillings a month to stay in this shed [about $7.00] but the owner wants them to leave so he can use his shed for his business. They try to eke out a living by working day labor in neighbors’ gardens, picking tea, and sometimes begging. Rebekah’s husband chased out all the family in 1999; this is the fourth place they have lived in the area. They have no other income other than charity. The alcoholic father gave them nothing after sending them away.

The second born, a 25-year-old son, died two weeks ago; this was the first thing Rebekah told us — obviously a very sad situation. He had delivered a seizure disorder and drowned when he was washing his face at the river falling in when had a seizure. Another boy is in secondary school having received some support but has none for this year. Another daughter wanted to go to school but couldn’t. They had no food in the house the past five days. Their local church couldn’t help them right now since they were constructing a large church building within a block of their shack.

David and I prayed for all of these issues before we left. I had brought 500 KSh before leaving the house knowing there would be a need; it might provide some food for perhaps a week at most. But they were encouraged and appreciative. It seemed like a drop in the proverbial bucket.

We stopped at the other house for a very quick stop. There was a 20-something girl named Janet who had contacted David. Only the roof of the house was visible from the road, but down a steep hill I recognized the house because we first came to a large corn crib before seeing the house. That’s where we stopped and David showed me that Janet and her children were living in the corn crib. I remembered 11 years ago giving the occupants some large paper disposable surgical drapes from my shipment to block out the wind. Some family members were still living in the corn crib.

Janet came up to us and shook our hands. She told me she had been to my house. I vaguely remember some of the family had visited us at Tenwek after my visit there to the grandmother with 13 kids. Janet was probably a teenager then. Her mother had chased her away. I presume she is a single mother – a very rough life in this society where there is no welfare safety net or such things as aid to dependent children or food supplements.

David Kilel, the Tenwek staff pastor, has a difficult job because many destitute people in the community and orphans come to his office. He is pastor to our 500+ employees, but his long standing in the community and church makes him recognizable everywhere and sought out. We have provided a very small benevolence fund through Hope Ministries which has given him some way to assist a little in emergency situations. As with our visit, prayer and a small amount of money is a tremendous encouragement.

A person often feels so desperate that one may try to take his or her life, but intervention and pointing people to our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ, his Son, sometimes saves people at their lowest point. Rebekah gave her testimony when Jesus saved her back in 1983; she was thinking of killing herself before she met David Kilel who helped her give her life to Jesus.

Despite the prosperity gospel preaching, Christian people often remain in a hand to mouth existence. Our loving God provides their needs although sometimes He is expecting His church to be His hands and feet. He isn’t always asking for large, permanent buildings although there is nothing inherently wrong with a church building. But those members living in the shadow of the church must also be considered and assisted in times of emergencies.

Robert Livingstone Foster, 1924-2012

Dr. Bob Foster preached God’s word and trusted God in so many ways that influenced my life more than any living person; in my estimation, he is in the highest tier with Hudson Taylor and George Mueller of generations before him. Because our family had ten children, no mission organization encouraged us to serve overseas as a family – except for Bob and Belva Foster who had raised seven children on the mission fields of Zambia and Angola. He constantly challenged and encouraged Marty and me. He and Belva, who survives him, were personal friends for twenty years. I have served God as an overseas missionary off and on for the past 17 years because of Bob Foster’s impact on my life. When I get to Heaven, I will listen for his booming laugh; he won’t be hard to find.

Samaritan’s Purse did a video with him 9 months ago; his voice was a little weaker at that time, but, at 87, his mind was sharp telling his some of his stories. You can listen to the interview on the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1W1u2S9b3I)

Testimonials to Bob Foster can be read at:

http://drbobfoster.blogspot.com/

Your partnership in our ministry is so greatly appreciated. Your prayers enable us more than you will ever know. Thank you so much.

Serving Jesus with you,

Paul, for the Jarretts

Personal support for our ministry can be sent to World Medical Mission, which can be found on https://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/giving/wmm_doctors/ and find my name or contact World Medical Mission for my account #2355

Dear Praying Friends:

Thank you so much for your prayers. Joan seems to be out of danger but not without the efforts of many people and God’s intervention. Details will follow how God intervened through his people…

Carrie Huber stayed up all night checking on Joan’s progress after calling me after 2am; she consulted with Matilda, our Internal Medicine colleague, as well. All decided the next step was finding fresh blood. Our hospital staff members who had not donated within a fairly short time period began to arrive at the blood bank. Since only one technician is typically on call during the wee hours of the night, another person must have come in from off duty to process drawing the blood, testing for infections as required, and cross matching against Joan’s blood. Only O positive patients could be used – about 40% of the population.

As the blood became ready, one pint at a time was taken to ICU and given to Joan. By 7am, five fresh units of blood had been given. More blood was being processed, but Joan continued to bleed actively, despite being awake with good blood pressure restored. After having removed the packing Carrie decided it was now time to go back for inspection. She called me up to help her with the surgery and a surgery consultant was making rounds nearby if he were needed.

As we opened the old incision, we looked closely at everything after removing a large amount of clotted blood. I clamped many small vessels which were bleeding, particularly on the lower uterus segment below the closure of the upper segment after the removal of the uterine fundus. I recommended we remove the cervix and the lower portion of the uterus and Carrie agreed. From that point forward, we progressively got control of the bleeding. After removing the entire lower uterus, we had complete hemostasis [lack of active bleeding]; we irrigated all debris with saline and closed the incision – a little more than two and a half hour procedure.

Joan was stable throughout the procedure today, unlike the night before. We thought we had accounted for 3 more pints of blood loss, and those units were replaced with additional fresh blood. We counted 11 pints of blood transfused, a total exchange of Joan’s own blood.

Jennifer stayed with her sister in theatre and ICU all night long; she is one of our surgical technicians whom I have known since my first visit here in 1999. I remembered being impressed with her when she was a patient attendant, a lower position than her current job, because she had refused marriage proposals in order to be the provider for her younger siblings after her father had died. Joan is her older sister with six children. She is very thankful to God and everyone for their role in saving the life of her sister.

Complications can always occur in the post-operative time period, but we are very optimistic that she will go home with her baby hopefully next week. Thank you for your role in saving Joan’s life by “holding the ropes.”

Serving Jesus with you,
Paul, at Tenwek

Dear Praying Friends and Family:
Please pray for God to spare the life of Joan, a sister of one of our staff members who has continued to bleed after an emergency hysterectomy after an emergency cesarean. Her blood pressure is 50 over 30 with pressure packing placed as a last resort. She needs more fresh blood.

Joan’s sixth delivery was complicated by a breech presentation, so a cesarean seemed to be the best choice for safety delivery of her baby. The baby is doing very well in our nursery. Bleeding began after the cesarean and Dr. Carrie Huber was called up from home to assist the capable Kenyan staff doctor who did the cesarean section.

One problem we face here is our dependancy on blood bank with no extra clotting factors which are lost on the shelf without isolating platelets which must be kept frozen. When a patient has a major hemorrhage, she has used up her own platelets, a major component of blood coagulation. In this state, bleeding often continues on cut surfaces normally from small vessels rather than the big arteries which have been tied off. I’m simplifying the coagulation process by referring only to platelets, because there are many other factors found only in fresh blood in our setting.

Our only recourse in this situation is to get fresh blood from donors and give it as soon as possible. Pressure packing may help when all arteries have been tied off, but we can only pray for God to help from that point on; so we ask you to join us in prayer.

Also pray for Carrie. She is carrying a very heavy load with my not helping on night call after my stroke. I have worked a full load in the last three days and have felt tired in the evenings. I wouldn’t have been much help tonight after all surgery has been done anyway. My blood is on thinners that wouldn’t help even as a donor. This is the third night where we have had major obstetrical trauma requring Carrie to do a hysterectomy; the first two nights were referred in from long distances away with a ruptured uterus and a dead baby. Tonight was our own case. The first patient died in the intensive care unit with no more blood available of compatible type. The second case should survive. Joan’s situation is very critical.

Please pray that Carrie won’t be discouraged and worn out with night after night of hard cases. She did rest during the day both Thursday and Friday while I covered I hope this letter makes sense because it’s 3 am here and Carrie called to run the situation by me and ask for prayer.

We appreciate your standing with us in prayer.
Serving Jesus with you,

Paul in Kenya for our staff and patients.

Dear Family and Friends:
I reflected today on God’s healing of my stroke on Dec 22; it is neither an accident nor a mistaken diagnosis – the MRI films are available to see the damage in my brain. God performed a miracle for His own purpose for which I don’t know yet precisely. But I knew I was healed the moment God showed me the scripture of Psalm 41:1-3.

I returned to work a week ago but only made rounds until Dec 30 when I did two minor surgeries and a cesarean section as well as seeing three patients in clinic. I felt no adverse effects, and my interns have certified that my thinking is okay. I do occasionally have to search for a word which is wandering around somewhere else in my brain.

As I’ve rested and read, often aloud to help remake word recall pathways more effectively, I’ve read several missionary biographies, Nate Saint, Lottie Moon, John Birch, and Betty Olsen. Currently, I’m reading a biography of Watchmen [To-sheng] Nee by Bob Laurent, a Heroes of the Faith book by Barbour Publishing, 1998.

I wrote the following to my children but felt the message was sufficiently important to include you in the thoughts God has impressed on my mind:

You have received 8 chapters of my summaries of Nee’s The Normal Christian Life which I bogged down in chapter 9 of a total of 14. This is something I have felt important to give to you; I liked the final chapters the best, all of which have been excellent – yet I have not persevered. I don’t know and can’t say if that’s why I had the stroke because I quit working on giving you the finished work, but it parallels a story in Laurent’s book in Watchman Nee’s biography. It is worthwhile reading the entire biography of this remarkable Christian. He lived from 1903 to 1972. I want to copy this story on pages 61 – 65 of Nee’s illness for you to read:

“His keen mind and passion for holiness made Watchman one of the few Christian intellectuals in his homeland: The faith of the believers was too shallow; they had no roots in the knowledge of God’s Word. ‘My people are being destroyed for their lack of knowledge,’ cries the Lord (Hosea 4:6).

“Watchman knew that somehow he had to make his countrymen aware that Christianity was more than the initial forgiveness of sins or the mere assurance of salvation. Immature believers needed to learn to overcome sin daily as a diligent ‘people of the Book.’ Jesus must be more than the One who get us to heaven; He must be our very life on earth.

“But how would he communicate this concept to his people? He was too busy preaching in the villages to do any serious writing. There was simply no time to put his thoughts into book form. ‘Besides,’ he thought, ’I’m too young for such a project, and I have my whole life ahead of me.’ God was about to change his mind.

“Watchman developed a severe cough and began waking at night either sweating profusely or chilled to the bone. A visit to Dr. Wong revealed the bad news: tuberculosis. In fact, Watchman overheard the good doctor informing his nurse in an inner office: ‘Poor fellow! Do you remember the last case like his? He was dead in six months.’

“At first, Watchman was gripped again by severe depression. ‘Lord, how can this be happening?’ he asked. ‘I have so many things to do for You. How can the end come when I’ve only just begun?’

After another battery of X-rays had been taken, the doctor said, ‘You must not come to me anymore. I would only be stealing your money. There is no hope for you.’ Strangely enough, this news settled his spirit and galvanized him into action. Watchman reasoned, ‘If I am to die soon, Lord, let it be while I am writing down all the wonderful things the Holy Spirit has taught me from Your Word.’ Thus began his struggle to write The Spiritual Man, the magnum opus of his young life.

“Eventually, his beloved friend, Faithful Luke, helped to move Watchman to Margaret Barber’s care at White Teeth Rock. [An elderly missionary woman who was his spiritual mentor.] It was there that the high fever that often accompanies advanced tuberculosis seized him. He continued to push himself to write, often passing out over his notes, sometimes losing several days, of which he had no memory.

Once, he was bedridden, unconscious, for such a long period that word passed from his friends to churches throughout the province that he had died. He woke from that bout only to see the concerned face of Miss Barber looking down at him. Her brow still furrowed, she said with a gentle smile, ‘My dear To-sheng, Christ is the victor.’ When he was conscious, he could hear her quoting the Scriptures to him.

“‘When you have suffered in the body, you are done with sin,’ she quoted Paul. ‘To-sheng, can you hear me?’ she would ask. ‘His strength is made perfect in weakness. He is strengthening you on the inside.’

“‘What you are experiencing is nothing new,’ she would whisper, ‘You are simply “carrying about in your body the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Do not give up, my young friend. Christ is the victor.’

“The raging fever returned, but he refused to give in. Though his skin was hot to touch, his spirit was hotter. Asking for more ink and paper, he wrote with abandon. One veteran nurse, who was visiting Miss Barber and did what she could do for Watchman, burst into tears every time she entered the room and saw his pitiful condition. She confided in her friends, ‘I have seen many patients, but never one as sick as he is. I’m afraid he can live only three or four more days.’

“When his colleagues tried to convince him that he would surely die at this pace, he shut himself up in his room and wrote with even more resolve. The disease got so bad that he could no longer breathe without pain while lying down. So he propped himself up in a high-backed chair, pressed his chest against the desk, and wrote on. He later testified, ‘Satan would come to me in that room and say, “since you will soon be dying, why not die in comfort rather than in pain?” I shouted back at him, “The Lord wants me just like this; now get out of here!”’

“After four months of daily battling, all four volumes of The Spiritual Man lay in stacks on the table by his desk. Watchman prayed weakly, ‘Now let your servant depart in peace.’

“He was in the throes of death, and he knew it. So did his friend, Ruth Lee, who was visiting the mission. She gathered several believers from around the compound and led them in a three-day period of fasting and praying for Watchman. At the end of this time, as he lay on his bed laboring for breath, Watchman said that three verses clearly came to his mind: ‘By faith you stand’ (2 Corinthians 1:24); ‘We walk by faith’ (2 Corinthians 5:7); and ‘All things are possible to him who believes’ (Mark 9:23). From that moment, he believed that God had healed him. Meanwhile, the believers remained in prayer in a room below.

“The testing of the truth of those verses came without delay. ‘By faith you stand,’ God’s Word said to him. He slowly rose from his deathbed and dressed himself in clothing he’d not worn for a hundred and seventy-six days. Doing more wobbling than standing and drenched in sweat, Watchman remembered the words “Walk by faith.” He took two steps and started to faint.

“‘Where do you want me to go?’ he asked the Lord. The answer came: ‘Go downstairs to Sister Lee’s room.’ With difficulty he crossed the room and opened the door to the stairwell. It was dangerously steep and looked impossible for him to negotiate. ‘All things are possible,’ whispered the Holy Spirit, and he began the descent. With each step he cried out, ‘Walk by faith; walk by faith!’ With the twenty-fifth and final step, he realized total healing!

“With tears in his eyes, Watchman walked briskly to Ruth Lee’s room. When they opened the door to his knock, Miss Lee and his friends were speechless. For the better part of an hour, they all sat there quietly and smiled at him, unable to verbalize their joy. Finally, Watchman spoke and related the whole story of his healing. A time of sweet celebration and praise followed.

“A few days later, at a Sunday morning worship service, Watchman Nee stood up and walked about for three hours, preaching God’s Word with great power.”

I have no doubt of the validity of this report. God did other miracles in the life of Watchman Nee. The story even reminds me of the story retold by the old WGM missionary, Robert Smith, captured on video and also retold in a recent book by his grandchildren.

In the old days near Tenwek, his wife, Kathryn, was in what I recall as an incurable malaria coma and pronounced dying by the doctor. Robert was told to build her coffin, which he proceeded to do. As he worked outside Kathryn came behind him and asked him if he needed anything. He said, “No”, so she said she wanted to write a letter to her mother and went back inside. It was a shocking miracle for the Smiths.

For His own purposes, God can intervene in the normal processes of incurable diseases whether tuberculosis, malaria coma, cancer, or stroke. Whether it is a blessing to the answers of prayer and fasting or His own glory, God has His own plans and miracles that we can’t understand or predict. Sometimes God chooses not to heal illnesses in this lifetime. Yet God is sovereign over all things and calls us to trust in Him and believe in His word. He calls us to have faith in Him and His word.

The Chinese church needed to hear Nee’s warning immediately. Our church today needs to hear the same message; it’s the responsibility of each one of us to wake up from his complacency and immaturity. We need to move away from our love affair with the world and love not the things of the world as Scripture warns us. We need to serve God in the way that He has commanded and challenged us.

Nee’s church faced the imminent Japanese invasion and later the communist takeover of China within twenty years. Nee encouraged dispersion of his Christian members throughout the countryside of China to build up new churches before it was too late. Nee spent the last twenty years of his life in prison until his death in 1972.

Do we not face imminent societal changes and perhaps economic disruption in Western societies? Are members of evangelical churches strong enough to withstand erosion of core doctrines, prosperity gospel messages, and self-fulfillment encouragements? How will each of us respond to God’s call for serious evaluation of our time in His Word, prayer, and fellowship with other believers? Are we still building God’s church by bringing souls into His kingdom before the last trumpet?

Some of these were key challenges in Nee’s preparation for his church which ultimately emerged as the explosion of the underground church in China today. What will be our legacy?

That’s my challenge to each of you for 2012.

Love to each of you in the Love of Jesus, our Shepherd, Savior, and Sovereign King.

Paul

Merry Christmas to every one and praise to our Heavenly Father Who has given His Son because He loved the world so that whoever has believed in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Thank you for praying for me after I had a stroke 72 hours ago, and God has shown His mercy to me once again through no merit of my own.

I am feeling just fine and very thankful to God. I want to thank everyone who prayed for me– I had many letters from Amy’s posting on our blog. Many people here at Tenwek were praying as were people at home and around the world. Amy recounted to you all the things that transpired the first 28 hours beginning Thursday morning. I read her letter and she definitely picked up the ball where I had dropped it.

Amy stayed with me throughout the weekend in Nairobi, asking questions of the doctors and helping me hear what they were explaining. Finally, she borrowed a car and drove me back to Tenwek Saturday night – her inaugural driving on the left side of the road driving through the congested roads in Nairobi, down the blind curves on the escarpment, through the Rift Valley at dusk, and finally through the pitch dark roads with people hurrying along the road to their homes in time for Christmas Eve. I was very pride of Amy knowing she was really just relying on God at each moment.

I had no idea Thursday morning how my life was suddenly going to change very quickly; after all I had things to do and patients to see. I was disappointed to miss Tony and Holly Gordon’s departure. I had already given them a letter for our bank to help resolve the ATM mistake after downloading the form from our banker. So I left the guest house and wondered why I had leaned into the bushes along the sidewalk.

I didn’t feel badly or any headache, so I just kept climbing the hill but felt a little strange. After passing the gate a little slower than usual, I’m not sure why I went over to the canteen. I turned around and went past the surgical theatre brushing into a pillar on the way. When I got to the Maternity door, I just sat down at the nurses’ station next to Rose, one of our long-term nurses, and put my hands around my head. It took me a couple of seconds to ask Rose to find Dr. Carrie Huber – I couldn’t think of her name at first.

I’m told as I came in I had brushed against Karen Tanui, one of the senior nurses, and she thought a little bit and then came back thinking something might be wrong with me. She and Rose got things moving, found a wheel chair, and whisked me over to the preparation room in the surgical theatre as Steve Manchester also arrived at their stat call. I asked him for an aspirin in case I was having a stroke or ischemic attack.

I didn’t always make a lot of sense, particularly after the CT scan and walked home. After an hour nap, I definitely wasn’t making any sense to myself or anyone else. I couldn’t understand any kind of long sentence as I had forgotten the beginning of the sentence by the time we got to the end of it. From that point forward, Steve and Mike Chupp were calling the shots.

I won’t recount the things that happened at the Karen Hospital in Nairobi since Amy told those things. However, I would mention that the Senior Medical Internist was there doing a cardiac and carotid ultrasounds at midnight and was very kind throughout my stay including discharging me Saturday afternoon. He did his training in Minnesota but returned to Kenya and helped start this state of the art hospital five years ago. I was very thankful for all the care I received.

I had experienced trouble reading the Bible the first 24 hours and forgot all the verses that I had memorized for years. I could not remember John 3:16 or even part of it. I couldn’t pray the verses that I use every day in devotion. I could only just call out to God and rest in Him.

I was pretty tired with little sleep the night before. During the MRI on Friday, I fell asleep despite all the racket that is part of the procedure. The tech had to wake me up because I was moving while asleep and had to start over. I fought as much as I could stay awake but I did dream now and then; it seemed like hours although he said it was 45 minutes. After the MRI, we wouldn’t know the result until Saturday morning. I rested while they placed the 24-hour Holter monitor although the electrodes fell off now and then.

I read a devotional earlier on Friday morning but the language was too complex to really appreciate it. But later in the afternoon, I just opened a verse in Psalms at random, and it was just what God wanted to tell me and I could understand it. Read it carefully:
Psalm 41:1-3 ESV

Blessed is the one who considers the poor!
In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him.
The Lord protects him and keeps him alive;
he is called blessed in the land;
You do not give him up to the will of his enemies.
The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;
in his illness you restore him to full health.

I believed His words; I felt that God had given me that word just for me. I had read it before, but now it was alive to me. I was definitely on my sickbed; and God was speaking about restoring me to full health. Already I could talk easier now and had a little less trouble with recollecting words, although this will likely be something to improve on for many weeks.

On Saturday morning, the doctors showed me the pictures; I had a fairly large stroke in my left temporal lobe. This damaged area controls verbal language and communication. But God had said that I would be restored to full health; at this time, I don’t find any significant deficits more than a little lag in finding some words that eventually get out. It’s just quicker to ask Amy for a word I’m looking for. I have no weakness of any kind of muscle strength or coordination; they’re controlled in a different part of the brain. The doctors think it is just something from age rather than some other problem.

In church at Christmas morning some 72 hours from when the problem began, I gave this testimony and thanked everyone for their prayers which made a huge difference. I thanked God for his love and mercy. I have no doubt that He has touched me.

I will rest a little this week but intend to get back to work as much as I am able. I am supposed to start on three medicines. One is Plavix to interfere with platelets; it’s pretty potent. I don’t know if they will switch to aspirin at some point. Another is to reduce lipids — a statin called Crestor — even though I never had too high with cholesterol, nevertheless a plaque probably had caused the stroke. Finally I’m to take an antihypertensive called an ARB, candesartan, at a lower dose than normal for high blood pressure [which I don't have]. All is supposed to be a long-term regimen to prevent another stroke in the future, although the ARB may help the current issue.

I’m also to take a B-12 shot, probably every three months since my B-12 level was lower than normal. That shot was given as I left the hospital. Otherwise, I passed every blood test. I didn’t even ask what they were checking when Stella, the phlebotomist, came time and time again — about five times. I had normal sonograms of my heart and my carotid vessels. The Holter monitor showed no arrhythmias. I’m to go back in February for a couple of tests as an outpatient including the B-12, but they’re just completing everything.

So, I give God the praise and glory for His mercy in taking care of me and reassuring of His love and plans to give me hope and a future. Apparently He’s not done with me yet, but some day He will call and bring me home. Are you ready? Read again what God said in John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. You only need to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, repent of your sins, and call on Him. He’s waiting to hear from you.

In Christ,
Paul

Disclaimer: I am writing this on little sleep and want to get it out quickly, so I apologize in advance if there are tons of mistakes in it!

Hello to you all! I can’t begin to thank the Lord enough for His protection and peace over the last 36 hours. And I can’t begin to tell you how much our family appreciates all the prayers, texts, calls, emails, etc. that you sent. It was so encouraging to know and feel, once again, the love and support of the Body of Christ.

Thursday morning started off very normal. We had a great visit with Tony and Holly Gordon, and Karen and Nathan Long the last week. We had to wish goodbye to Tony and Holly that morning. Dad went up to the hospital like normal and did rounds. He then came down to the house to say goodbye but didn’t seem them there so I talked to him briefly then he headed back up to the hospital by way of the guest house to try and catch them. From here on I am relaying what he told me.

He didn’t find them at the guesthouse so started back to the hospital when all the sudden he got very dizzy and double-vision. He said he stumbled along up to the hospital, brushing against hedges and pillars on the way up. He remembers going to the canteen but didn’t know why before going to Maternity. He finally arrived and tried to communicate to the nurses that something wasn’t right.. get (his co-worker Carrie Huber), and get him an aspirin. He couldn’t come up with the words to communicate. The nurses took him to a recovery unit in the surgical building where Carrie and Dr. Manchester looked him over.

They said he had some slurred speech, was pale, clammy, and his mouth was slightly asymmetrical. At this point Carrie was able to call me per Dad’s instruction. You can imagine my shock when she said something was wrong with Dad when I just saw him fine 30 minutes earlier! They thought he probably had the TIA as his symptoms started going away within the hour. I was so thankful to get through to my sister Becki at home in Indiana as it was 2am there! She was finally able to get ahold of my brother Pat and Tom. So after knowing the family at home knew and could start the prayer chain I felt so much better. By the time I got up to the hospital about 11am, he was talking normal and just looked tired. They took him to get a CAT scan with the contrast. So since he was doing fine we were able to head down the road to our house.

I convinced Dad to at least let me hold his arm, he said so he could make sure I didn’t fall! (Thankfully his humor never seemed to be affected ? ) he rested on the couch, had lunch, and drank about 2 glasses of water, then took an hour nap. When he woke up he started talking to me and didn’t make any sense what-so-ever. He just kept saying things that didn’t have any togetherness. (don’t know how else to explain that) So I told him to rest again and called Steve Manchester (though Dad said I didn’t need to). Mike Chupp and Steve came over to assess dad again.

They didn’t like that the symptoms were coming back off and on. (neither did I!) they thought it would be best to have dad transported to Nairobi by ambulance to consult with a neurosurgeon recommended by one of the Drs. Here at Tenwek. A new ER nurse that just got back from the states with a specialty in Stroke care (named Carey) went with us. He was so helpful to have along to help communicate and get things done at the hospital. I was very thankful the Lord knew I needed someone to help deal with everything there.

We decided I would go with dad and Rachel would stay back with the ladies at Tenwek so I quickly threw in things for me and dad in some bags and tried to think what we would need. Dad kept offering suggestions and trying to plan things, but they didn’t all make sense. His thought process slowly seemed to clear though. By the time the ambulance came to our house at about 5:30pm he seemed to be a lot more incontrol of his processing. He still had trouble understanding certain complex sentences or doing more than 1 thing at a time. He couldn’t recall memory verses either. He was frustrated by these things!

Well we pulled out of the Bomet fueling station at 6:15 as the sun was setting and started on the scariest ride of my life. It is never fun to drive here at night. It is pitch dark, making it almost impossible to see if there are “invisible” potholes, animals, people, or even cars that don’t have lights! (I saw several of those) Our driver went pretty fast most of the time. We had the lights on the ambulance going, but would only turn the siren on when we needed to get around someone. Besides about 20 minutes of the drive when I talked to Nathan Jarrett to get my mind off what was going on, I spent the whole drive in prayer, singing songs, reciting scripture, and gripping my seat while sometimes closing my eyes. Some of the songs I sang were my mom’s favorites like “Great is Thy Faithfulness, It is Well with my Soul, His eye is on the Sparrow” I also thought of “Hiding Place”.

God brought to mind many verses and also this verse in Psalms 139: If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,”even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.”(Psalm 139:11-12 ESV) I Know that even though we couldn’t see what lay around us, God did. I think that God had many angels going before us on the, what should have been about 4.5 hrs in the dark, 3 hour trip into Nairobi. On any normal trip up or down the escarpment of the valley into Nairobi, it is a pretty nerve racking drive because of the lines of slow-moving lorries you have to pass while going around curves and bends on a very narrow road. I think if you multiply that by a very large amount you can imagine how frightening it was driving it at night with the ambulance going fairly fast at times. The cars here do not see flashing lights and sirens as a signal to get over.. in fact, some see it as an opportunity to cut in or behind and take advantage of the clear space. Makes for a hair-raising ride.

We arrived to the Casualty of Karen Hospital where we filled out paper work and waited for about an hour to see the attending Dr. He is one of the owners of the hospital and is a cardiologist. They did a lot of history on Dad who at this point was getting a lot better and sounding more like Dad but very tired. They did several cardio tests and bloodwork. All of which were normal and showed no signs of trauma. They decided to put dad in a HCU (which was basically the ICU) so they could monitor him over night until we could see the neurosurgeon. The nurses and staff at the hospital were all very nice and helpful.

We got dad in his room about 1 am and as he was doing well and there was no extra place for me to sleep there we headed to the WGM guest house. I was able to skype briefly with the family who were gathering in Indiana for Christmas celebrations. Then I got about 3 hours of sleep before heading back to the hospital at 6:30 am. Dad was even more improved this morning. His conversation completely normal, just a word here and there that he couldn’t quite grasp without having to really think on it. (I think I have those moments too. ? ) He can read better than yesterday, though the thought processing is still slower than before. We went about 11 to get an MRI at a place about 30 minutes away. (that was another fun ride through typical, insane Nairobi traffic) our ambulance driver was able to take us with one of the Karen nurses accompanying us.

I ended up taking a nap in the ambulance while they waited and then got the MRI.. all just under 2 hours I’d say. When we got back to the hospital we were taken to a private room. Dad got a halter monitor for his heart that has to stay on for 24 hours straight. That is the only machine he is hooked on to now. We were able to nap as we had only to wait for the neurosurgeon who we were now told would not come till tomorrow probably when we have the MRI results. However, he came about 5:30pm and did a thorough neurological exam on dad.

Basically he found that dad has some lasting double vision when pushed to the limit of his lateral and oblique vision fields. He still has the word grasping and reading that is slower than normal, otherwise back to normal. The Dr. will wait to do an official diagnosis till after he reads the MRI. He said now, it would be classified as a TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack) until we see if there are any lesions or fluid in the MRI. He thought from Dad’s symptoms it would likely be found in the Ponds or Mid-brain if there was something to be found. If that is the case, then they would label it a stroke. The Dr. will want dad to begin taking preventative medicine as he is now at higher risk of having a 2nd TIA and/or strokes. He believes that once he has recovered he should be able to go back to work to his ability. So maybe his body is telling him to slow down a little, but we will see.

Thank you again for your prayers and love. Thanks for listening to my long email too, I think it’s a little therapeutic to write it all out. God has been so good to give me a peace throughout all this time. I have been scared a few times not knowing what God’s plan would be for dad at this time, but through it all I had peace knowing that our Heavenly Father was watching over us and going before us. Would you please continue to pray for complete healing for Dad. Also, we are praying that the MRI would arrive at the hospital over night or early in the morning so we can consult with the Dr. We will have to wait till at least 2:00 pm to take off that halter monitor, so are hoping to leave as soon as possible after that to get back to Tenwek in time for Christmas Eve. Rachel is doing well at Tenwek, enjoying the Christmas caroling and events there.

I know she is anxious for us to be there and have the Christmas plans go smoothly like she has been talking about for weeks.? Please pray for the insurance situation to be worked out. And for safe traveling tomorrow (Lord Willing) back to Tenwek. There is a driver in Nairobi ,that WGM uses, that will take Dad and I back as our ambulance driver and Carey had to go back this afternoon. I am staying with Joy Phillips who is a WGM missionary that lives a mile away from the hospital.

I am looking forward to a good night’s sleep. Thankful for the Lord’s provision, protection, and peace among other things He has blessed me with. So thankful that Dad seems to be doing well. Thankful for technology where I can skype in with my family gathered in Indiana and call for a reasonable price during all that has happened. Most of all I am thankful for His Son that He sent to be our Savior. Wishing you a Merry Christmas!

Love, Amy for the Jarretts in, Nairobi, Tenwek, Indiana, Illinois, and Japan.

Dear Praying Friends,

Just a short update to let you all know that Paul has arrived safely to the hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, and has been admitted for observation and further testing. It is currently about 1am there. I just spoke with him on the phone. All tests conducted thus far have shown normal brain and heart activity…nothing out of the ordinary has been detected. It is certain that some kind of TIA has occurred however…he is still struggling to remember words that he is trying to use, though is generally able to converse and is quite coherent. He will be seen by a neurologist in the morning and is being monitored closely in the hospital tonight.

Amy Jarrett traveled to Nairobi with him… she is staying overnight at a guest house along with the Tenwek staff who accompanied them on the journey to Nairobi. Rachel is staying with other missionary friends at Tenwek.

Thanks for your prayer for their travel, God answered with a safe trip despite the dangers of driving after dark there. Please pray for Paul to be able to rest tonight with the encumbrances of monitoring devices and hospital noise and pray for wisdom for the doctors tomorrow as they seek to determine the cause. Pray also for protection from further issues and for a full recovery from this episode.

With gratefulness,

Pat (for the Jarretts in Kenya, Japan, and gathered in Indiana)

Dear Praying Friends:

This is a quick prayer request. Yesterday, I went to withdraw money for the orphanage salaries from the Tenwek ATM bank machine run by the Kenya Commercial Bank. One of my two transactions was successful. Bottom line: The bank machine not only temporarily ate my card, but they didn’t give me $241.62 in Kenya Shillings. [20,000 KSh]. The machine just kept whirring like it was trying to spit out the money but couldn’t.

The guard closed the door for the night while the machine whirred away with my card inside. During the night, the power shut off and the card was ejected. I was given the card back by the guard after talking to the bank manager in Bomet by phone and signing for the card; even though the manager assured me this morning that no transaction would have occurred, the money was subtracted from my bank account when I checked on the internet.

The bank manager did not answer my phone calls when I called twice, and I sent him two text messages which were not answered. I will probably have to make a trip to Bomet tomorrow to the branch there.

Please pray that the bank will “do the right thing” and give me my money or void the transaction.

Serving Jesus with you,
Paul