November 1, 2003

Dear Friends and Family:

It has been nearly two months since I’ve written to you. I apologize for my delinquency. Actually we’ve been quite busy with a variety of things. And we’re beginning to plan our return to Tenwek at this time.

I praise God for His healing of my hand.

I still have to complete some rehabilitation of my hand, but I’m quite pleased with the progress that has been made. In fact, I’ve been released from the care of the physician and the physical therapist. By now the skin is completely healed, the fingernail is re-growing, and I’m beginning to feel some tingling in the tip that was numb. I can flex the finger almost completely, but I need to work on hand strength. I anticipate being able to operate without major encumbrance in January. Thank you for your prayers on my behalf.

Ukraine ministry

I was very pleased with my trip to Ukraine. I saw about 55 patients during my time there. I had written to you earlier about the first week. During the second week, I saw an abortion-minded woman pregnant with twins at about 18 weeks into her pregnancy. She had become quite alarmed when the doctor said she was too big; it was then discovered that she was having twins. She lives in a small apartment with her husband and 15 year-old daughter. The idea of having twins seemed to overwhelm her. Her husband is employed only part time as a furniture maker. When it became obvious that she was pregnant, she was fired from her job. This may have been a blessing in disguise; many women are required to work a 14-hour day in order to keep their jobs. [Another patient recently lost her twin pregnancy from being on her feet so long.] We were able to encourage her, and she made the decision to keep her pregnancy.

We saw another patient who illustrates the spiritual battle that women face in that country. This patient was a Christian believer about 32 weeks pregnant. Her first child had had a serious heart defect. The doctors were watching her carefully with their primitive ultrasound equipment during the current pregnancy. They decided that one of the baby’s arms was too short and the fingers were deformed. That’s a difficult call to make even with good equipment. Even though her pregnancy was advanced and the alleged defect was not life-threatening, the doctors were hammering on her to abort the pregnancy. Based on her Christian beliefs, she had resisted their efforts; but now they were refusing to care for her any longer. Our ultrasonographer evaluated her carefully and found the baby to be completely normal. The patient will receive prenatal care for the remainder of her pregnancy at our center. She will then deliver at the regional hospital.

The situation is not unique in Zhitomir or in other parts of the former Soviet Union. Our staff at the center has seen several pregnancies where outside doctors have proclaimed the placenta to be abnormal and recommended abortion. Our ultrasound equipment has shown the placenta to be completely normal, and these pregnancies have resulted in normal deliveries. So not only do women face the decision for abortion based on their economic circumstances but also on the paranoia and malpractice of the doctors in the community. We feel that this is a spiritual battle where the Destroyer controls the minds of the medical community and much of the population. God has placed our center in the middle of the situation as a lighthouse for the truth. Please continue to uphold this ministry in prayer.

The ministry is also going to serve as a training facility for ministry throughout the former Soviet Union. In addition through networking efforts with Right to Life International and other organizations and with the contacts that God has given us in the Ukrainian government, we may be in a position to influence laws restricting abortion. Already the Russian government has changed its policy out of pure economic reasons. The population of Russia has significantly declined. They are now banning second and third trimester abortions based on a patient’s economic reasons without some other indication being present.

Those who read our letters may note that we generally avoid mentioning fund-raising. I will briefly break with this tradition and mention that there is a fund-raising dessert for Mission to Ukraine on Sunday November 9th at 7:00 p.m. in Carmel, Indiana. This will be an evening to rejoice in God’s faithfulness to the ministry of Mission to Ukraine this past year. David Bentley, founder of Mission to Ukraine, and Dr. Alexandra Bashek, head physician of our medical clinic in Zhitomir, will be sharing with us. We will be presenting a video presentation of this past summer’s camps for the disabled and sharing our funding needs for future ministry projects. Please call Cindy Bannon at the Mission to Ukraine office: 846-7990 if you can join us. You will probably get an answering machine, but you will receive a call back.

This Fall’s activities

We have done many of the same things that we did last Fall including cooking for the senior high youth group retreat in Kentucky, giving missions presentations, and participating in the Prescription for Renewal conference with World Medical Mission in Asheville NC. This retreat is an opportunity for Marty and me to encourage others to participate in missions. I gave a pro-life speech in October. I also attended several doctors’ visits with my father whose health has improved considerably since our return in July. This past week I’ve been doing substitute teaching in the Zionsville schools. I plan to attend a Medical Missions conference in Louisville next weekend. We plan a trip to the Baltimore area over Thanksgiving for a reunion with the Jarrett side of the family; my two brothers and sister are all on the East coast.

Return to Tenwek

We tentatively have scheduled our return to Kenya on January 6, 2004. We plan to return with the same crew that we had last year [Paul, Marty, Amy, Laura, Rachel, and Alicia Bechtle]. In addition, we will take Olivia Dickson with us for the first three months. She is a 14 year-old young lady who is interested in missions as a career. Three years ago she came to Tenwek with her parents, Bob and Gretchen Dickson, for a two-week visit. Since that time she has saved her baby-sitting money with the goal of coming to Tenwek with us for a longer period of time. She will participate in the various ministries along with our family. There is also a good possibility that a lady we have known from our church, Betty Feltner, may travel with us. She has expressed a strong desire to work with the orphan ministry. Please pray that a suitable housing situation can be found, as the lack of housing options sometimes limits the number of visitors who can come to Tenwek.

There may be many changes this term. A national ob/gyn, Dr. John Mbogo, should finish his training in February and join us on a full-time basis. He would be a very welcome addition; the workload is so physically demanding that it discourages older doctors from coming to help. I’m glad that I’m still young (>: Concerns for safety and travel in Kenya continue to discourage visiting doctors from coming. This year we have seven interns instead of four and a family practice residency should begin this year as well. We will lose Dr. Eric Miller who will return to the United States to begin his practice in Ohio. We have lost two very vital national physicians, Dr. Caleb Maina and Dr. Beatrice Mutai, for their residency training. We will gain a United States trained pediatrician as a full-time missionary.

Construction is continuing at the hospital on the new operating theater building. When they’re finished, the capacity for surgical operations will be greatly increased; however the construction itself will be disruptive. We will have a new e-mail address when we return as we will have limited Internet access. Our address has not yet been assigned, but it will probably be Jarretts@Tenwek.com.

The reliability of the new system has not yet been established, but we are optimistic.

News from Tenwek has been exciting. Our orphanage is up and running with 11 orphans living with a set of foster parents. Our home church has voted for funds to expand the orphanage. We hope that this will be a model that can be duplicated in other areas nearby. Already I have packed three suitcases with 210 lbs. of clothing for our orphans. We continue to pray that support will be available for the orphans’ school fund project [AGC Tenwek Area Education Fund]. Donations for this project [sending orphans to school] can be sent as follows: Checks payable to and send to: Christian Foundation of Indiana, 8445 Keystone Crossing Blvd, Suite 200, Indianapolis, IN 46240. Indicate for Tenwek on a separate piece of paper.

Other news from Tenwek: The surgeons removed a 19-foot tapeworm from a man’s stomach. It didn’t seem to be bothering him, but they were unable to insert a stomach tube during surgery until they removed the worm. Pictures are available only upon request. Even I thought this picture was pretty gross.

Other Kenyan news: last week near Nairobi a gasoline tanker truck turned over while backing up. Petrol [gasoline] began leaking out. Men passing by ran and got containers to collect the gasoline. Then it exploded killing 10 men instantly and burning another 10 severely. Such is life in Kenya; 20 men did not come home for dinner that night and 20 families have no one to provide for them. Each family probably has five or seven children. On a percentage basis, one would expect six of the women to be HIV-positive; this means there will be 30 or 40 new orphans in Nairobi very soon. That is an expanded view of a news headline.

Papua New Guinea Update

You may recall the situation that I encountered last November with Georgina, the 12-year-old girl who was 5 months pregnant by rape. I wanted to give you a follow-up report on that family. I recently received a photo of a beautiful little girl who was born from that pregnancy. The grandparents, George and Sylvia, are raising the child as their own. Georgina had a cesarean section and has been able to continue her schooling. The only caution in the update is that Georgina now denies that she was ever pregnant and gave birth. This is a normal defensive mechanism, but please continue to pray that she will deal with this at the appropriate time and that God will heal her emotional scars resulting from the rape. The family is very happy with the new baby.

Additional prayer requests

1. Please pray for our preparations for return to Tenwek on January 6th.

2. Please pray for complete restoration of my hand’s function.

3. Please pray for our travel November 26th-30th to Baltimore, and December 4th-12th to Florida to visit our sister-in-law.

4. Please pray that we will have no adverse reactions to two immunizations we all need before returning to Tenwek.

5. Please pray for Betty Feltner as she makes final decisions on coming to Tenwek. Also pray that the field director and other missionaries will be receptive to her coming.

6. Please pray that British Air will again be allowing us to take an extra bag per person. We also need wisdom whether to originate our flight in Indianapolis or in Chicago. The dilemma: flying from Indianapolis involves another airline with occasional lost luggage and the possibility of no extra allotment of luggage. On the other hand, the Indianapolis airport is much more convenient for family and friends providing our transportation, and it’s a lot closer than Chicago is if there are last minute changes in flights.

We are so thankful to have you serving with us in prayer.

Paul, for the Jarretts in Indiana

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