Malawi Countdown is 15 days and we are so excited! Over the last month we have been keeping ourselves busy with helping Child Legacy Hospital from here in the United States as well as growing our baby girl bigger. Child Legacy Hospital is soon to start delivery of maternity services to the 30,000 patient catchment area that we serve and we have been helping create forms and protocols for the newborns and the care they will receive at the hospital.
Everyone working hard at CLI Hospital to prepare the new ward for patients.
Jared also represented Child Legacy at the 2015 CMDA Medical Missions Summit on Sept 3rd & 4th at the Serving in Missions Headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was hosted by the Christian Medical & Dental Association (CMDA) and Medsend (the non-profit that currently pays our student loan payments while we practice medicine in Malawi). It was a great opportunity to meet people from other faith based medical service organizations and discuss topics like how to recruit millenials into the mission field. I was encouraged by the stories of so many who have served overseas for years.
In addition to work we have been making sure our baby girl is growing strong. The major reason we have been in the U.S. for so long is that she needs to be at least 5kg (about 11 lbs) before she can take her malaria prophylaxis in Malawi. Since she was a small at birth and then lost weight in the 1st week of life it has been a long and slow process, but she is doing well and eats like a champ. She is about 10 lbs now and should be big enough by the time we leave in 2 weeks.
We are so grateful for all the time we have gotten to spend with family and friends while we were in Saint Louis and Houston. We feel especially blessed by the new friends we have made at McKnight Crossing Church of Christ in Saint Louis, Mo and all the support and blessings they showered on us before we left for Houston.
We can never say enough how much we appreciate our church home here in Houston, Clear Lake Church of Christ. Last Sunday we got to teach the Children’s Moment during the service and the main sermon was actually a question and answer time with the Senior Minister, Byron Fike. We were able to update our church family in lots of detail on our life and work in Malawi.
If you want to watch the update go to: https://vimeo.com/140600850
The 6 months that we spent living in Malawi gave of a better idea of what it cost to live there and what our needs really are. Also, our new baby comes with lots of extra costs that we couldn’t calculate until after she was born. Our new budget is a better reflection of what long term living as Christian doctors in Malawi will cost. It means that our recurring monthly need is $4688 and an additional $16,950 in one-time gifts. Currently we have $3,700 in recurring monthly donations and we hope to have the additional recurring donations and one-time gifts we need by December 1, 2015.
Donation
-Jared, Jenny, & Sophia
with new information. I have found it extremely useful.
Equinox Oxygen Concentrator