Walstons in Egypt 2024-2026

  We had a wonderful sabbath Friday. On the left you can see the primary children acting out the birth of the Savior. Their donkeys and sheep made interesting sounds. This is a look at our congregations. We had combined both branches for the day. There are many from South Sudan. Our Sacrament meeting was blessed with the visit of Elder Gong. He and his wife are in Egypt on a personal vacation but took the time to attend our Friday sacrament meeting. He had others speak and give their testimonies and he spoke for only 10 minutes. However, at the end he respectively ask if we could not hold the last hour meetings and allow him to personally greet each member.  His personal communion with each member was wonderful and was greatly appreciated.

  This week we continued helping with the new gathering center and did a number of visits. Here are some different sites and things we experienced and saw. Here is a man trimming a palm tree. This is a long way up with little support. He is using an axe to cut the dead tree fronds. We were invited to the family of a South Sudanese refugee family for dinner. The Livingstones and Fox family joined us. Daud, the father, was a successful business person in South Sudan but had to flee with his family as a result of the war. He has started a refrigeration business here. The Fox family invited us to dinner and then to watch the Church's Christmas devotional. He works at the US Embassy. These two pictures are of the gathering center being created primarily for the refugee community members. I was tasked burning leaves and sticks. The artificial grass below is looking good. Here is a wall next to the gathering center. The construction is often poorly done, as can be seen with the brick work...

  We were able to visit a NGO, Hand in Hand today. They focus on providing prosthetic limbs to the poor. They do not charge anything for their services. Before they design the artificial limb, they visit with the patient, do a psychological screening and counseling, measure the limb, and then develop the prosthetic limb from 3D printing. They will provide 1,600 artificial limbs in 2024 for the poor in Egypt. We are going to try to fund about 200 or so additional limbs for next year. Here are their 3D printers. They have a terrible time bringing in 3D printers, as the authorities are concerned about making weapons. The last time they imported a printer it took 1 year to get the device through customs. Here is the CEO of the NGO. He is an intelligent, well spoken young man, Mohamed Hatab. He is an engineer and has lived in the UK for 5 years. This is their assembly room. Note the human type cover for the artificial hand they have made.  All limbs are custom built and modeled on ...