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December 2001
Looking back, looking forward, looking up
Dear Friends,
There is a Swahali chorus sung over and over again by the Christians
of Kenya. The words and accompanying motions carry the message,
"God’s love is above, beneath, in front of, behind and
all around us." That pretty well expresses the feeling we
have in looking back over a never-to-be-repeated past year and
yet untapped 2002.
Mia and I spent the first three months of the year as volunteer
missionaries with the Presbyterian Church of East Africa working
not only at the Kikuyu General Hospital and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation
Center but also in Haydom and Selian Lutheran Hospitals in Tanzania,
as well as the Tenwek Hospital in western Kenya. It is exciting
to see God’s hand in situations other than our own and gratifying
to work among other laborers in the harvest.
In April we took the "Norwegian shortcut" back to the
U.S., enjoying days with Mia’s family in the Oslo area and
cross-country skiing with daughter Sissel and her Bill in the
mountains. We arrived in Atlanta in time to check Dad out of the
hospital to attend his 93rd birthday party. He had, however, begun
a battle with death and succumbed to cancer of the bile ducts
two months later. We miss that dear man. Daughter Anne gave birth
to our seventh grandchild, Claire, in Dallas, Texas, in August.
Now having seven years of marriage behind them, Alan and Anne
are delighted with all the demands of that third member of the
household.
September brought us back to Africa. Return to Kenya always seems
to find us in harness within hours, identifying with the beauty,
challenge and trials of that people. Thieves twice visited our
home there. On one of these occasions they gained entrance and
kept our friends the Rosses under bed cover as the house was pillaged.
This is nothing however to the many patients who come to the hospital
with slashed bodies, broken limbs, and fractured skulls from the
growing banditry that pervades the country. The world-shaking
destruction of the World Trade Center shook Kenyans as well. The
staff of the Orthopaedic Rehab Center was in special prayer for
the United States on the morning of September 12th.
The fall was a busy time for Stan, with full clinics and surgery
schedules while our surgeon-in-charge Dr. Murila was away on study
and personal leave. Fortunately, we had orthopaedists Stinson,
Fellers, and Dehassvandorsser visiting from Minnesota, Alabama
and Holland. Paul Fellers broke a personal record and hospital
record in performing 22 total hip and knee replacements during
his 3 week visit. Mia has been pleased to see development in the
dermatology section of the hospital. The clinical officer working
under her for the last three years has entered formal training
at Nairobi University and a second man has now come under Mia’s
teaching. We returned to Montreat just in time for Mia to set
up for 23 family and friends at our Thanksgiving table. Guests
included the Caley family from Eau Clair, Wisconsin. Dr. Bill
Cayley and Sissel are excitedly laying plans for their wedding
here in Montreat July 6, 2002.
Now the new year is upon us. We expect to he back in Africa by
January 20th. Stan is putting together plans for our biannual
orthopaedic mission surgeons’ conference and a first-time
ever orthopaedic nursing conference, which will both be held,
at the Rehab Training Hostel. Pray with us that it will be a time
of Christian fellowship, encouragement, and witness as well as
academic instruction. These surgeons and nurses will be coming
not only from Kenya but other parts of the continent.
God above, in front, behind, and all around us. Claim it and
rejoice with our African brothers and sisters.
Mia and Stan Topple
The 2001 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 38
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