Courtney Michael Linda 1984 Kenya

8/12/2019 Courtney Michael Linda 1984 Kenya

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To Reach a Hidden PeopleCourtneyChrist ianMission

FOR^VARDIN C AGENTS: Rich Mary Ann Icnks/ P O Box 2053/Satem, OR97308 /1503)585-0394FIELO AlODRESS: Mike Linda Coiirtne>' / P.O. Box 900 / Kilale, Kenya' 'ol. 6, No. 1 June 19r4

The bes t news we have to repo rt i s the bi r th ofthe church a t Kasei In January we had our firsts ix baptisms. The church e lder s , missionar ies ,cho i r , and min i s t e r i a l s t a f f from th e Kiwawa Chri s t i an Church a l l came to take pa r t in th is impor tan t event . The baptisms were performed in theca t t l e water ing t rough a t one o f the boreho les ,which worked v ery w ell

Repent and be bapt ized, every one of you, in thename o f J e su s Chr is t so t h a t your s i n s may beforgiven. And you sha l l r ece ive the g i f t o f theHoly Sp i r i t . The promise i s fo r you and yourc h i l d r e n and f o r all who a re far off f o r allwhom the Lord our God wil l ca l l . Acts 2:3S, 39

We are looking forward to having some spec ia l vis i to rs in September. Rich and Mary AnnJenks, our forwarding agents from Salem, wil l be coming to Kenya, as wil l Tennis hor ley .Tennis i s th e min i s t e r o f the Willamina Chr i s t i an Church, a member o f our Board , and Lindafecous in . The purpose of t he i r v i s i t i s twofold. Ti r s t of a l l , we hope to acquaint themwith the work in a very act ive way. -They wil l be involved in preaching, teaching inLeadersh ip Training sess ions , and even h ik ing to remote v i l lages on the mountains fo r evange l i s t i c work. Thei r second purpose in v i s i t i ng i s fo r the upbui lding o f the missionar i esnot only us , bu t our c o-wor ke rs as wel l . This pas t year we have been required todea l with much t r agedy and severa l d i f f i c u l t s i t ua t i ons . We a re lo ok in g forward to thepr iv i lege o f being m in is te re d t o by these se rv an ts o f th e Lord.

In add i t io n to th e work i n th e Kara Pokot a r ea o f n or thw es te rn Kenya, th e A sso cia te d C h rist i an Churches of Kenya has a l so begun new work with the Samburu t r ibe in no r t h - cen t r a lKenya, and in the Kericho area with the Kips ig i s t r i be . Kericho i s about 250 miles sou thea s t of Kara Pokot , towards the cap i t a lc i ty of Nairobi . We have been priv i legedt o visit t h e work in Ke r i c h o f o u r t im e srecen t ly . The church the re has had agood s t a r t . They have 20 bapt ized bel i e v e r s , and on one Sunday when we v isi t e d , had an attendance o f over 180. TheKips ig i s t r ibe i s more advanced thanth e Pokot , and we an t i c i p a t e t h i s congrega t ion being able to provide t h e i rown bu i ld ing , Chr i s t i an Educat ion mater i a l s and songbooks, and min i s t e r ssa la ry . The church men in t h i s highlyproductive ag r i cu l t u r a l area have evenbeen cons ider ing a plan whereby theycan provide f inancia l ass is tance totheir Poko t hristianb r o t h e r s .

Laur a and T r evo r vr i th some new friends


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COURTNEY CHR ISTIAN MISSIONP . 0 . BOX 2053SALEM OREGON 97308

ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

He was born a t night on the cold f loor of a small mud hutsituated in the s teep val ley between Kaptolomo and Karakolmountains. The t r a d i t i o n a l midwife d e l i v e r e d t h e male i nfant by th e l ight of a smoky f i r e smouldering in the middleof the hut. The hut was about seven fee t in diameter, tooshort to stand in , and topped by a rudely thatched roofwhich showered down g r a s s and d i r t whenever a l i z a r d ranacross it i n p u r s u i t o f an i n s e c t . At the t ime of h is b i r t hth e midwife knew that everything was not r ight . I t had been an easy birth.The mother required only two cuts through a perineum scarred by her c i r

cumcision performed three years previously. The boy was ful l- term andplumpa good size for a Pokot baby. But he wouldn t breathe. She placed her mouth overhis and sucked, bringing up fluid and mucus trapped in the infant s throat. Then she began blowing into his mouth applying her own form of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Finallythe baby began to breathe on his own. But s t i l l something was wrong. He never cried. Hewouldn t suck. Shortly after daylight the father and grandmother began the long walk toKasei with the baby boy. He was h is parents f i r s t child. On th e way Grandma t r i e d tofeed him milk la ced w ith b i t t e r medicinal herbs from a small gourd.

I saw the baby a t about three i n the afternoon. He did not e x h i b i t a Moro r e f l e xand had a negative Babinski responseboth possible signs of neurological problems. Hehad the look of a Mongoloid child. The grandmother, who was present a t the b i r t h saidt h a t he had not c r i e d i n the twelve hours since b i r t h nor would he take food. Bowel funct ion was normal, as I discovered while holding him on my lap. Grandmother described a normal pregnancy and b i r t h . There was no evidence of f e t a l d i s t r e s s or b i r t h i n j u r y . As Il i s t e n e d with a s te thoscope, I could t e l l t h a t h i s lungs were f u l l of f l u i d . He was nota l e r t and would o c c as io n a ll y l a ps e i n t o mild s e i z u r e s . We decided to make th e 90-niinuted r i v e t o Kiwawa, which has a wel l -equipped c l i n i c . A f t e r a r r i v i n g a t Kiwawa, Diane , myco-worker , t r i e d many t imes t o s u c t i o n t h e f l u i d from th e i n f a n t s lungsand each t imecame up with the b i t t e r milk t h a t t h e grandmother had been f e e d i n g him. At f i r s t wethought t h a t maybe th e tube was e n t e r i n g t h e b a b y s stomach r a t h e r than h i s t r a c h e a . A f t e rsevera l attempts by both of us, we began to suspect t h a t t h i s child might have a f i s t u l a an openingbetween h i s t r a c h e a and esophagus. He was l i t e r a l l y drowning i n the very milkt h a t he needed to s u s t a i n l i f e . Tracheo-esophageal f i s t u a l i s a b i r t h d e f e c t which can bec o r r e c t e d s u r g i c a l l y i n the S t a t e s but c e r t a i n l y not i n Kara Pokot .

We began the drive back to Kasei , a r r i v i n g j u s t as it became dark. We had t r e a t e d thebaby with Ampic il lin , and I t r i e d again several t imes to suction the milk from h is lungs.Sometime during the night the f a t h e r c a r r i e d h is baby son back to the mother, who was tooweak from th e b i r t h o f h e r f i r s t c h i l d t o w ith st an d th e long walk between th e mountains toK a s e i .

LORD, -M a k e

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L i n d a t r e a t i n g t h e s i c k a t K a s e i

Research/Horizons0. Box 2^27Knoxville Tenn 379 1

NON PROFIT ORG.U . S . POSTAGE PAID

PERMIT 505SALEM OREGON


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A/5 T To Reach a Hidden People

CourtneyC h ri st i a n

M i s s i o nFORWARDING AGENTS: Rich Mary Ann Jenks / P.O. Box 2053 / Salem, OR 97308 / 503) 585-039^-FIELD ADDRESS: Mike Linda Courtney / PO . Box 90 0 / Kitaie, KenyaVol . 6 , N o . 2

We h ad a b u s y s u m m e r . D u r i n g th eS p r in g , th e a r m y w a s i n vo l v ed inope r a t i o n s in K ara Poko t t o app r eh e n d a l l o f th e i l l e g a l w e a p o n s .T h e mis s i on a r i e s w e r e r e qu i r e d toev acua te th e a re a du r i ng t h a t p e r iod o f t im e , bu t b y th e midd l e o fJ u n e w e we r e b a c k t o wo r k .T h e s p r i ng and s u m m e r r a i n s haven o t ma t e r i a l i z e d , a n d th e p eop l ea re a l re a dy fac in g hunger . One woma n g a v e he r h u n g r y ch i l d r en pe s t ic i d e - t r e a t e d m a i z e seed to e a t , event hough sh e had been wa rned n o t t odo so . The c hi ld re n n ea rly d i ed ,and t h e mo t h e r b ecame u n c o n s c i o u s .H e r f e e t s l ip p e d in to th e fire a n dwere s e v e r e l y bu r n e d . We wan t t ohe lp our people t h rough t h i s t imeo f f am i n e , b u t w h e n tw o o f ou r c o -w o rk ers a pp ro ac he d a relief o r g an iz a t i o n fo r h e l p , t h ey were a skedho w many o f ou r peop le have d iedn o d e a d ch i l d r e n , n o he lp

On one morn i n g in J u ly th e t e rm i t e sswarmed . S o m e o f th e p eop l e hada l r e ady p r epa r ed t h e i r t e rm i t e hillswi th t r a p s to c o l l e c t th e t e rm i t e sfo r ea t i n g , bu t o t h e r s we r e n t p repared . We spen t pa r t o f th e m o r n i n gs coop i ng up th e w i n g e d i n s e c t s soth e peop le cou ld h a v e them fo rfood . Linda has a g r e a t r e c i p e fo roatmeal termite c o o k i e s

aura a n d n e w b o r n Pokot twins

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P lease i_ord, neip tnese people to see your lovefo r them. Make us very sensitive to Your leading.Strip us of everything in our lives that isn tfor your glory. Make us servantssimple toolsfor Your work in Pokot. When we get bogged down,l i f t us up. Give us times of spiritual refreshing. Help us keep a healthy perspective on thiswork and our reasons for being here. Don t le tus become so involved in the urgent things thatw neglect th e important. Create in us a desirea hunger, to do what we know is right and necessary for building Your Kingdom. Give us wisdomin dealing with the people. Point out to us thosewhom You have selected for leadership ro les. thank You fo r the men, Lord--for the ones for whomw have prayed and who are now coming to You--theones who wil l form t h e backbone o f th e c h u r c h .


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We have t r u l y been pa s s ing t h roughdeep wa t e r s this month . On t h e 11 th ,Laura became ill We t h o u gh t a t firstt h a t it was th e 2d-hou r bug t h a t our co -worke r s had been s h a r i ng a round . Whensh e d i d n ' t g e t b e t t e r , we t ook he r to s ee an American doc t o r whoworks in a ho s p i t a l sou th o f Ki t a l e . Her mala r i a smear was nega t i v e ,bu t he recommended t h a t we g ive he r th e cou r s e o f t r e a tmen t anywaybecause he r l i v e r and sp l e en were g r e a t l y en l a r ged and sh e wassp ik ing tem pe ra tu re s to 105^. She d i dn ' t improve, but became veryl e t h a rg i c and a t t imes d i so r i en t ed . Her t empera tu re r e tu rned tonormal wi th in about f ive days , bu t she still seemed s e r i ou s l y ill tou s . On th e 20 th she was adm it ted to a Ch i l d r e n ' s Hosp i t a l he r e inNairob i . She was dehydra ted and severe ly anemic . She was giveni n t r avenous f l u i d s fo r tw o days , and her anemia con t inued to ge tworse. During her e igh t days in the hosp i t a l her hemaglobin droppedfrom 7 .4 to 5 .9 . The normal l e v e l fo r a g i r l her age shou ld be about14. On th e 27th she was t r an s fu sed with my blood , which f o r t una t e l yma t c h e s hersLaura was discharged from the hospi ta l on the 28th, andnow staying with Lew and Vida Cass in Nairobi so tha t we canto the doc tor fo r her f requent checkups. We plan to be heretwo weeks, depending on what the doctors f ind. We feel veryfortunate in having an exce l l en t pedia t r ic ian . One of the otherdocto rs who has been consul t ing on Laura ' s case i s an American, aspecial is t in tropical diseases who works in Pokot and Turkana, soshe i s in very good hands .I have been impressed with the qual i ty of medical care Laurab^een neceLv-ing She is much improved since the transfusion. Laurahas hemolytic anemia, which means that her red blood cel ls are beingdestroyedbut we don't know why. She has had numerous blood tes ts ,her bone marrow has been checked, and her spleen was tapped for acell sample. rom all of these tests we have been able to det-rminetha t she does not have mononucleosi s, l eukemia , t ick bite fever ,kala za r, mala ria, brucellosis, rheumatic fever, schistosomiasis ,typhoid fever, yellow fever, tuberculosis, kidney disease, parasiticdisease, and a number of other r are d is ea se s,wait ing. I f her hemaglobinth e t r an s fu s i on ) , we wi l lwas causing th e anemia ,to r e tu rn to th e S t a t e sin

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Fr i day , Ai igust 31,^1984l a i rob i , KenyaDo n o t f e a r , fo r I have r edeemed you; I have ca l l e dyou by name: you a re MineWhen you p ass th ro ug h th e

wa t e r s , I wi l l be wi th you;and t h rough th e r i v e r s , t heywi l l no t over f low you . . .you a re p rec iou s in My s i g h t ,

you a r e honored and I l o v ey ou .. .D o n ot f e a r f o r I amwi th you . From I s a i ah dS

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We a r e now i n v o l v e d inleve l cont inues to r i s e ( i t was 10 a f t e rknow tha t she i s recovering from whateverI f it drops, i t wil l probably be necessary

f o r f u r t h e r testingMike and Trevor went back to Kitale yesterday,a Leadership Training Conference this week Thisfor the church at Kasei. In the past few weeksincreased acceptance by the people and a desireMike is i n vo l v edis a criticalwe h a v e

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Jo Reach a HiddenPeopleCourtney

Chris t ianMission

FORWARDING AGENTS: Rich Mary AnnJenks / P.O. Box 2053/ Salem, OR97308 / 503 394-3958FIELD ADDRESS: Mike LindaCourlney / P.O. Box900 / Kitale, KenyaVol . 6 , No. 3

M < = i R Y ANN J NKSF or-ujaircJi. ns A ^ e n t.

Today i s th e day we l eaveKenya , and it has become amuch ha r de r t h i ng t han Ieve r imag ined it would be .We are anxious to see o u rch i l d r en after n e a r l y amonth away, bu t on th eo t h e r hand , we have becomevery a t t a c hed to th e peop leh e r e , bo th mi s s i o n a r i e sa n d the Pokot. God hasb l e s s e d us wi t h th e p r i v il e g e o f g oin g th ro ug h someve ry em o t io n a l t im es tog e t h e r -- th e t imes t h a tbuild the kinds of relat i o n s h i p s you h a t e tosever. We Christians in Ame r i c a may have a ve rys t r o n g comm i t tmen t t o m issions a n d a desire for allpeop le to hea r th e Gospe l , bu t t h o s e peop le a re a lways way o f f t h e r esomewhere a nd t o t a l l y i n t a ng i b l e to ou r s e n s e s . We se e p i c t u r e s andmay become f am i li a r wi t h their d r e s s o r cu s tom s , b u t we c a nno t t o u cht h e i r l i v e s and comprehend t h e i r p e r s o n a l i t i e s , f e e l i ng s , and l i v i ngcond i t i o n s 10 ,000 mi l e s away l i k e we were ab le to expe r i e n c e on t h i strip.One s t r ong impre s s ion I had of th e Poko t r i g h t away i s t h e i r s im i l a ri t y o f life to th e Old Tes t amen t Jews , which r evo lv e s a round a s imp lemee t ing o f ba s i c n e c e s s i t i e s -- c a r i n g fo r t h e i r few s t o ck , g rowing alittle maize when growing cond i t i on s a llo w ), g rin din g it wi th s t one s ,wear ing s k i n s , and be ing im p or tan t to each o t h e r a s a s o c i e t y . As wesp en t t ime with them, it was easy to p i c t u r e J e sus moving among them,t o o , with compass ion fo r t h e i r ha rd sh i p s and love fo r t h e i r i nd iv i dua ls o u l s . The little ch i l d r e n may be d i r t y and cove r ed wi th flies bu t

t h ey f r e e l y come fo r hugsand sm i l e s ; ev e r y on eg i v e s welcome wi t h sm i l e sand h and sh ak e s , some ve ryexube r an t The peop l es i n g Jo y f u l l y in chu rchme e t i n g s , happy t o s h a r ein song truths abou tJ e s u s ; and t h ey a r e ve rya f f e c t i o n a t e and a c c e p ti n g . We were a b le toe xp e r i e n c e t h e s e Joy sw i t h th em , and it made mewan t to be a p a r t o f themi n some way more t h an a sa Christian 1 0 , 0 0 0 m i l e saway . Tha t is why it ishard to leave. I thankGod fo r th e p r i v i l e g e o fMary Ann helped with immunizations being able to feel th is

October 9 8 d

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way, and pray t h a t somehow t he se memories we have wi l l no t eve r fadeto the po in t of fo rge t t i ng th e i n d i v i dua l i t y of each of t he se peop le ,and r ev e r t i ng to the vague concep t of masses .

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RI H JEirsIKS , inister onoo r d hristi n hurch

- -R i c h p r e a c h i n g

As I lifted th e f ly sw a t t e r fo rth e 30 0 th t im e in twen t y minu t e s ,I aga in r e a l i z e d t h a t l i v in g inKara Pokot is muc h different f r oml i v i ng in Sa lem , Oregon - - I n f a c to u r w ho l e m on t h with Mik e an dL i n d a h a s b een different.I have begun to l e a r n a new ou tl ook on life from my t ime inKenya. I have found t h a t t h e r e i son ly one t h i ng more dange r ou sthan a cha rg i ng Cape Buf f a lo ;dr i v i ng in Na i r ob i Here in Kenyaa real man d o e s n ' t d r i n k o r ang esoda ( Fan t a ) , and a g a l l o n o f i c ec r e am costs mor e t h a n six steakd i nne r s . Vi r t u a l l y ev e r y t h i n gf rom attitudes t o a c c omod a t i o n sis different an d unfamiliar.

No mat te r how much a missionary family prepares to l ive and work in aculture l ike Kenya, they face dramatic changes and pressures whichbring about feelings of insecurity and helplessness. Perhaps workingthrough-these feelings while minister ing to the people - is on.e of_-th_grea tes t chal lenges a missionary faces .Let me b r i e f l y sha re two o t h e rs h o r t t ime we wer e in P ok o t :

chal lenges which I experienced in the

1 Preaching and teaching through an in te rpre te r is a uniqueexperience and a challenge. one occasion everything Isa id was ent rus ted to two i n t e rp re t o r s , Pokot and Swahi l i .Another tim e I was invi ted to speak to an informal gather ingof Pokot men, but because. I had no in te rpre te r , I could notsh a re the Gospel in an unders t andab le way.

2 Living with constant changes and an uncertain future affectsdaily plans, disrupts schedules, and demands short ratherth an lo ng -ra ng e goa l s .

These and other challenges face our missionaries every day. The frust ra t ion and discouragement can be overcome by a strengthened re la t ionship to Jesus, the prayers aiid encouragement of personal correspondence from home, and a v i s i t whenever poss ib le . Praise the Lord, whoi s helping Mike and Linda be overcomers

Mike d o e s s ome finalt e a c h i n g p r i o r tobap t i sms . 46 peoplewere b ap t i z e d on thisday .


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D E N N I S M O R L E V MinisterM iila in ins i ristian CHuroh i

1 don t know if w ord s c a n d escribe the excitem ent I feelafter s p e nd i n g a month i nKenya wi t h Mike and Linda .Se e i n g , f i r s t h a n d , th e workt hey do h as c on v in c ed me,more t h a n e v e r , that t h e y a r ep eop l e God is u s i n g in as p e c i a l way. Se e i n g them w orkin tw o ma i n areas le d me tothe a b o v e conclusion.T h e first area concerns themission t e am all the m iss i o n a r i e s wo rk i n g unde r th eA . C . C . K . banner. T he Courtney s , Sy l v e s t r e s , Sch r age s ,and T ie rn ey s a re p r ima r i l ycommi t t ed to e v a n g e l i z i n g th ePoko t peop l e . The c l i n i c s ,bo r eho l e work , f eed ing p r o - ^srams. and schools are only Handing out new school uniformsused to facilitate evange l i sm . Whi le Ri ch , Mary Ann, and I were t h e r eth e team r e - e va l u a t e d and dropped s eve r a l p r o j e c t s becau s e t hey weret ak ing too much t ime away from evangel i sm and l e a de r s h i p t r a i n i n g .Thi s team i s a s o l i d , c omm itte d g ro up th a t i s accomp l i s h i ng g r e a tt h i ngs to th e Lo rd s g lo ry . They work wel l t oge the r and help eachother fulfill their various ministries.

The second a r e a conce rn s Mike and L i n d a s pr imary min i s t r y a t Kase i .What a Joy i t wa^ for us to spend nine days there becoming acquaintedwith the beau t i f u l Pokot people and meet ing our b ro the r s and s i s t e r sin Chr i s t . Espec ia l l y exc i t ing was the oppor tun i ty to worship on twoconsecu t ive Sundays with them. Th^ worship s e rv i ces a re an express iono f t h e i r un r e s e r v ed l ove f o r J e s u s Ch r i s t . The i r pur e Joy i s ev i d en tin t h e i r s ing ing , pray ing , and fe l lowship t oge the r .Growth of th e new Chr i s t i a n s i s a g r e a t concern o f th e Cou r tn ey s . Themen's l eadersh ip classes and l ad ies meetings are a par t of th i sgrowth process . ow well th i s works was shown a t the communion serv icefol lowing the bapt isms. One of the women stood up and sa id , Lindatold us to go and t e l l othe rs about Jesus . We have and now we aremanyThat , to me i s what missions is a l l about . Not only are people beingled to Chris t ; they are being encouraged and t rained to lead others toHim. Ninety-five baptisms in the la s t month show that the Gospel isspreading among the Pokot a t Kasei. Praise the LordMike and Linda deserve our c on ti nu ed s up p ort and our praye r sLord uses them to accomplish His wil l among the Pokot.

Rich , Mary Ann and Denn i spo r t r a yed fo r us th e meaning of th e word s e r van tdu r i ng their t ime in KenyaThey t a u gh t c l a s s e s , bothfor the missionaries an dth e Poko t peop l e . Theyp r e a ched . No Job was tool ow ly fo r t h e s e s e r v an t so f t h e Lo r d . Rich andDenn i s built shelves an db e n c h e s for the c h u r c h .They even t ook t h e i r t u r n sa t wash ing and dry ingd i s h e s , and wash ing c l o t h -e s - - b y hand I i

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We have had 9 6 b ap t i sm s atKas e i s i n c e Augu s t m a k ethat 97 . Lau r a w a s bap t i ze d O c t o b e r 2 1 I

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Us as w e teach these newChristians

Food f o r t h e Poko t du r i n gthis t ime o f hunge r .T h e s a f e t y o f th e Poko tpeop l e . I n Oc tobe r th e Tu r -kana c a m e and r a i d e d . Theystole several h u n d r e d h e a dof cattle a nd killed 11 men

Yeah I go t him, but I can t find the other end

COURTNEY C H RI ST IA N M IS SIO NP . 0 Box 2 0 5 3Sa l em, OR 97308

R esear ch /Ho r izo n sP . 0 . Box 24 2?Knoxv i l l e , T e n n 37901

A DD RE SS C OR RE CT IO N R EQ UE ST ED

NO N PROFIT O R G .U.S . P O S T A G E P A I D

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Courtney Michael Linda 1984 Kenya

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