Category: News

God called us to long term missions almost 25 years ago. You have trusted us then. We pray you will continue to trust us. This update is to provide you with the reasons why.

They are not quite human so we can kill them. This is a paraphrase of author Eric Metaxas, who spoke at Reach Pennsylvania on behalf of protecting the unborn. He was referring to the insights of William Wilberforce and Dietrich Bonheoffer. Eric Metaxas has authored books on these two men. He spoke passionately about them, describing how, during their lifetimes, they fought against the powers that saw some people as less than human and hence expendable; the African slaves and the Jews.

The sin of slavery and the horrors of genocide were considered normal and acceptable in those societies. Abortion is normal and acceptable today. Our society considers the unborn less than human as they have no voice, and are not perfectly formed as those who make the decisions about their lives. In the United States, nearly 40-50 percent of babies of African descent are murdered in the womb. Genocide continues.

“…according to the archives of the Tuskegee Institute, from 1882 to 1968 – 86 years – the Ku Klux Klan lynched 3,446 Negroes…,abortion on demand in America accomplishes that is less than 4 days.” (Source: CNS News)

Are they less than human because they are still in the womb and defenseless? Are they humans for whom Jesus died? We trust that you will continue support us as we carry this message to ears that won’t hear. Help us continue support the Hope Pregnancy Center in Philadelphia.

Miriam Medical Clinics is off to a slow start, but not a “no” start. While we search for a permanent dwelling in Philadelphia for the clinic, 12,000 homeless people yearn for the same. See the facts here

We have decided to start ministering to the homeless immediately, rather than continue to wait for all of the specific things on our wish list. It is obvious we are overwhelmed. Despite the outreach of Christian, government, and humanitarian efforts many of these unsheltered men, women and children will face even greater difficulties during the approaching winter. We still have desire and design for a permanent structure, but Christ bids us to start where we are with what we have. We invite you to trust us and even volunteer to work with us as we provide health care in shelters and ‘drop-in’ centers for people who need care in Christ’s name. You can work with us in a number of capacities including social work, and counseling. The hurdles we face for permanency of where we think we should be should never deter us from serving from where people are.

Out of Nazareth remains focused on mobilizing the church in service to those who are incarcerated. Although the record has been a bit ‘checkered’ there is good news. One year after what we deemed a successful conference on the perils of the imprisoned, and after numerous visits and letters to those behind bars, there is no massive tide of volunteers. The good news is that several men from our home church have completed courses and are actively involved with counseling. They trust that being screened, patted down, even having background checks is worth ministering in Christ name. We ask that you trust and invest with us as we continue to mobilize them. Though we may have a passion for getting guns off of the Philadelphia streets through our buy-back program, few has felt that same passion. We are still hopeful for this program to take off, but in the meantime, pray that the passions for peace will overcome passion for to spill blood. In the meantime, we trust that love makes a difference as demonstrated in the ministry “Reaching Out From Within.” (Source: CBS News)

The Least of These is a ministry in transition that still needs your trust and support. Though we are establishing ministries in Philadelphia, we have an obligation to support the 12 children who are still in high school and college in Kenya. One way we will do that is by selling the car we have that remains in Kenya and use the proceeds to support the educational costs for these children. We continue to need your help to see these students through their educational challenges as they will by God’s grace become the Christ filled leaders of Kenya. You can do so by giving to this ministry you have come to trust over these many years.

100 Years and Counting in Trust God has given us a legacy of trust. Grannie, Nannie, Modeah, Mrs. Edna Odessa Tartt Simmons Harris, celebrated 100 years of life with us this September. We can only pray we can be good stewards of the lives He has entrusted with us.

Grandma Kay and Grandpa Mike are on a surrey ride in Philadelphia with our son Emmanuel and his 3 daughters, Tyra, Kaylee and Alicia.

He Trusted Us which is an amazing thing. Over 2,000 years ago, God trusted that we would kill His only begotten Son…, and He sent Him anyway. As we enter the ‘Christmas season’, it is an awesome, and awful reality that our Father knew exactly He was sending the Christ, what He would do, How He would be received and how He would die. Yet Jesus came as a babe, defenseless, (not aborted) homeless, was incarcerated, and was eventually murdered by His kinsmen. Sure sounds a lot like the reasons you have entrusted yourself with the ministries God has given us over the years. As you celebrate this Christmas, celebrate by giving generously in Christ’s name.

We are glad to introduce a new book entitled ‘Broken Pottery’. It is a collection of poems and prose reflecting the challenges God has given us over the years of ministry and marriage. We pray that this book will allow all who read it to take joy in being used for God’s glory and thus for His purpose. We were made from clay so that we could be broken and made whole again. Jeremiah 18:6 ‘…,God’s Decree! “Watch this potter. In the same way that this potter works his clay, I work on you, people of Israel.’ (The Message).

Introduction

Miriam Medical Clinics (MMC) is incorporated in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by the Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations. MMC, Inc. is a faith based healthcare organization with a mission to provide compassionate, holistic and affordable medical care to those who have lacked adequate health care in underserved communities of Philadelphia. All persons in Philadelphia, regardless of ability to pay but in need of quality health care and compassion, are welcomed at Miriam Medical Clinics.

Miriam Medical Clinics Concept

Miriam Medical Clinics (MMC) will offer patient care using an integrated health care team approach. The clinic will begin operation in November, 2013. Operations will be implemented in three phases. Initially, MMC, Inc. is establishing a partnership with “The Bethesda Project” (TBP), a program for homeless individuals, with facilities located in several communities within Philadelphia. This collaboration will comprise phases 1 and 2 of implementation as follows:

Phase 1:

During phase 1 health screening and instruction on general health literacy will be offered. This phase will be an informal introduction of medical services within TBP community. In addition, depending upon health/social issues identified, MMC may serve in a referral capacity, directing residents to providers of primary and hospital health care, as well as social service providers. Such services will initially be offered at the St. Mary’s homeless shelter facility of TBP community, 18th and Bainbridge streets in south Philadelphia, which currently has no medical services provided. MMC, Inc. will be serving as volunteers. Services will be offered twice monthly, however with increased numbers of volunteers, it is hoped that a more frequent presence at St. Mary’s may be established.

Phase 2:

Phase 2 will constitute a more formal medical practice as volunteer licenses and practitioner malpractice insurances are secured. Particularly for residents of St. Mary’s who have a more permanent status, it may be possible to manage chronic illnesses, especially involving regular follow-up, transition of care and medication management. These issues are especially relevant to the Affordable Care Act. It is hoped that for those who have lacked access to health care, for a myriad of reasons, such access may be facilitated through MMC. In this model, MMC will also serve in a voluntary capacity.

Phase 3:

Miriam Medical Clinics, Inc. is currently seeking a permanent office location that meets Commonwealth requirements in terms of Disability access and office space. In this facility, MMC will offer medical services based on the Patient Centered Medical Home model (PCMH).

This model is based on a health care approach employing core competencies of several healthcare disciplines. This team effort must be directed at achieving positive patient outcomes by enlisting the patient and professional health team as collaborators in disease prevention, management and health maintenance. Thus MMC will offer a paradigm for healthcare that is patient centered and aimed at effective and continued disease management. Through holistic care, patient education, follow-up and transition of care objectives can be achieved. Thus, the patient’s likelihood of maintaining long term health will be increased.

The core interdisciplinary healthcare team will consist of the following members:

• Physician
• Registered Nurse/Nurse Practitioner
• Clinical Pharmacist
• Diabetic Educator
• Social Worker

Clinical roles of core staff

Physician

The Physician will serve as team leader, with oversight for all patient staff interactions and responsibility for all medical decisions.

Registered Nurse/Nurse Practitioner

The Registered Nurse Practitioner, will serve as an alternative primary care provider leading patient care under the supervision of the physician.

Clinical Pharmacist

The Clinical Pharmacist will be lead delivery of pharmaceutical care services by providing Medication Management services. Medication will not be dispensed.

Diabetic education

The Certified Diabetic Educator will manage patient education with regard to a diagnosis of Diabetes Mellitus.

Social Worker

The Social Worker will lead efforts directed at evaluating the patient’s socioeconomic issues that may be related to access to health care and overall health maintenance.

In the middle of the muddle of just another busy day, I got this urgent text on my phone:

“Folks, I don’t usually send out group texts but this is urgent- we need immediate prayer for a client. She was raped and is, for all intents and purposes, absolutely determined to get an abortion. She needs to find funding and went to planned parenthood- apparently, the state will fund abortions but she needs a doctor to sign off on the application form. Planned parenthood referred her to us thinking we have a doctor on site.

I explained to her we are not able to sign the form for her, however, after much persuasion, was able to convince her to come for an ultrasound. She’s coming at noon today. Pls, pls pray that she will show and that the Spirit will give her counselor the words to comfort her and change her mind. To say this girl is desperate is an understatement. She is almost at the end of her first trimester. Thank u for praying, feel free to pass this request along…”

That message was from Elaine Russo the Administrator of Hope Pregnancy Center on North Broad Street in Philadelphia. She along with our paid and volunteer staff provide help and hope for women in desperate and despondent states dozens of times weekly. When a group call comes out like this, and it is not infrequent, I can only think about the literally millions of women who have no one thinking about, let alone praying for them in their time of need.

With the millions of unborn babies who are being slaughtered every year in the name of health rights, personal choice and reproductive freedom, I am puzzled as to how such nice words came to describe such an awful practice.

If a person intentionally or unintentionally kills a pregnant woman and the baby dies, that person can be held for double homicide. However, if the woman decides to abort the baby, it is her choice. If a woman dies in labor, the doctor can be charged with negligent practice, or even criminal liability in some cases. However if that woman dies as a result of an abortion, it is just a complication. If a woman decides she wants only blue eyed, bubbly, bouncing boy babies, the almond eyed girl with the cleft lip will end up on the medical waste heap.

This is all about choice, or is it? When those who advocate choice for women who are intellectually, emotionally or financially challenged, is it because they so deeply empathize with them? Where does being liberal stop and being libelous begin?

Hope Pregnancy Center is a place where those who never dreamed of being pregnant are offered the freedom to choose for life. They are not coerced, nor cornered. They are caressed and cared for in a manner in which whatever decision they make, we will stand with them because they need to know ultimately that God loves them. We hope that they will feel that love so much that they will choose life over death. To do so acknowledges that the life they carry is just as important as the life they live. To affirm the life in the womb is to affirm oneself as important to God. That is Hope.

The following is the latter part of that story:

Dear All,

I just wanted to send a quick update on the prayer request I texted this morning. The client ultimately did not show for her appointment. We tried everything we could (myself and our staff counselor talked with her extensively on the phone throughout the morning). As far as I know, she has an appointment scheduled for 3/20 and is just besides herself because she only has a few days to gather the funds she needs. I will try calling her again on Monday, please keep praying in the meantime. I can only imagine the stress she is under, having been traumatized by rape and now dealing with taking the life of her child. (even though a rape victim thinks an abortion would erase the product of the trauma, an abortion often re-traumatize her in a deeper way than she can anticipate and makes the wounds only that much harder to heal…)

It has been a bittersweet day. My heart has been heavy all morning, especially when it was clear that the client was not going to show. However, I just came back from visiting another HOPE client who just had a baby a few days ago at her house and brought her diapers etc and a hot casserole. She was originally going to have an abortion but God turned her around at HOPE. Holding her little 6 day old son in my arms, it was just wondrous to behold him and I was just filled with gratitude for his life. God is sovereign and above all, good– so very good. I’m completely humbled to be able to get a glimpse of His goodness through His work at HOPE.

I invite you to join us at our annual banquet April 25th

We have been in prison from the middle of last year and even as the New Year has begun. To tell you the truth, we have been in and out of prison and we plan to buy guns. Yes indeed, these are peculiarly new things.

What a blessing to go to prison and then, to leave again. Our visits to the prisons have allowed us and the men of our home church Tasker Street Missionary Baptist Church in Philadelphia, to visit several men in Graterford Prison. It is a high security prison and the most of the men we visited have had not a single visitor for over 20-25 years. We plan to keep at it and we plan to buy guns! Lots of guns, if you can believe that!

This zeal for guns has come from our very joyous and informative symposium with 100 plus attendees on Prison Re-entry at our home church, on October 27, 2012. The symposium included a panel of Church, Christian charities, government and other civic minded organizations. The day was filled with people who wanted to know how they could better know and serve those who were incarcerated and their families. Our prison visits are becoming a habit, and we will soon involve the church youth group and women of the church. Again our plan is to buy guns! We want to buy guns and get them off the streets of Philadelphia. We have established a specific account for this purpose. Please give to the Out Of Nazareth Ministry so we can help those behind the walls and their families. We will raise at least $50,000 with your help to buy guns and trade them in for food and other purchase vouchers.

As of December 2012, we have incorporated and are presently applying for Tax Exempt Status for Miriam Medical Clinics. The hope and aim is to offer health care to the underserved and many who may feel ‘undeserving’ within the Philadelphia Metropolitan area. We are negotiating with builders, contractors, and potential employees and our hope is to open by summer of 2013. We plan a sliding scale payment plan, so we will require everyone to pay for care, according to the ability we are able to verify. Please pray with us that we will find favor with churches, donors, government and individuals to make this happen. Also please join us as we now start to reach within our city to make Christ known in the ministry of healthcare. We need at least $80,000 to get started here, which includes Electronic Medical Records and retrofitting and outfitting the building.

The Least of These Ministry continues in Kenya. It is our pleasure to continue to be providing education for orphans and vulnerable children in Kenya. Already in 2013, you have given towards the $20,000 required for the first of three school terms to help us educate of young men and women in high school and beyond. They all have continued to work hard making every effort to make you proud and thank you for your support. The best way to break the cycle of poverty is through education. Pictured below is Robyn Moore of World Gospel Mission, Julius Mwalimu and his sister Mary who assist along with Anthony (not pictured here), and the most recent graduates from Limuru Agricultural center. We have 11 more students enrolled. WGM with your help still helps provide medical and educational assistance to the orphans and orphanages in and around Nairobi.

We will need your help to pay second and third term school fees $30,000.

Time flies when you are having fun! My family and friends gave me an incredibly rich experience with a surprise 60th Birthday Party this past December. Alicia our youngest granddaughter, looks on to see if I can blow out these candles myself.

Kay remains on the “No Fly List’ as per her pulmonologist because of the persistence of her symptomatic Sarcoidosis. However, the medications keep it in check and she is able to sing on the church choir and of course oversee the many ministries we have in Philadelphia and assist with those in Kenya from afar.

Elijah continues as a partner in Desert West Surgery and in his spare time helps his son Levi 6 years old, learn to snowboard and become a Karate star! He was recently inducted as a Fellow of the American College Surgeons. Elijah continues to grow in his depth as a man of Christ.

Christina (a.k.a. Aunt Tina by her several nieces and one nephew) remains busy at Connolly and Associates as an auditor of medical insurance billing. She has been blessed to see her career remain steady in an era of downsizing and layoffs.

Emmanuel and Talisi are both busy raising their three daughters Tyra 10 years old, Kaylee 3 years old and Alicia 1 year old, and working full time jobs. Talisi works as a family counselor in Philadelphia and Emmanuel works in sales with Verizon and is a full time student at Temple University studying Political Science and English. They have proven themselves to be faithful and godly parents.

Keturah is a full time student at Drexel University, studying Hospitality Management. She often attends church with Kay and me and helps us in some of the projects and outreaches for Christ.

We were blessed to be surrounded by all four grandkids this Christmas. Levi seems a bit undone surrounded by all of these girls!

Pray for me as I continue to work to maintain my credentials in medicine and surgery in order to be ready as we open our new clinic in Philadelphia. Thank you for all you do to help us do what we are called to do.

Michael for all of those Peculiar Johnsons.

(Source: The Philadelphia Tribune)

Thursday, 18 October 2012 15:19

Although the problems of previously incarcerated individuals are issues that cross all ethnicities and ages and affect every neighborhood in the country to some degree, in Philadelphia these problems deeply affect the African-American community to a greater degree.

Law enforcement officials across the city will readily confirm that most of the violent crime in Philadelphia is caused by young Black males with a prison record. Likewise, so are the majority of the victims, and finding ways to successfully deter this criminally active minority is a major time consuming enterprise.

In Philadelphia, the city supports an organization called Reintegration Services for Ex-offenders, or R.I.S.E., which has been in place for several years. But in an era of a weak job market and where the recidivism rate approaches 50 percent, increasing services and options for ex-offenders is always a good thing.

On Oct. 27, 2012, the Tasker Street Missionary Baptist Church will be hosting a symposium for individuals returning to the community from prison. Seeking to initiate solutions from different angles, Pastor Mike Lovett, Dr. Kay Johnson and Philadelphia City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson said the problems of ex-offenders are pervasive and affect the quality of life in every community in Philadelphia.

“Especially in Point Breeze,” Lovett said. “The Point Breeze community has a very high percentage of people coming out of prison – and in terms of services for these individuals, not a lot is happening. We think the Black churches could be, and should be, doing a lot more to help. This is a multi-cultural, non-denominational symposium. Race and religious or non-religious background are not relevant.”

Dr. Kay Johnson, who along with her husband Dr. Michael Johnson will be spearheading some of the workshops and discussions during the symposium, said helping ex-offenders become productive members of the community should be one of the priorities of the Black churches. Listed among the various workshops will be information on how to conduct gun buy-backs, women’s and youth ministries and other workshops and discussions.

“We really want to acquaint the churches about the literally tens of thousands of people coming out of prison and the problems they have related to returning to the communities,” Johnson said. “They need addiction services, their families need assistance, and the majority of them need housing and jobs. R.I.S.E. is doing its job, but we’re in a climate of shrinking state and city budgets. The churches can help in this.”

City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson said his office wants to help make the symposium a success and has thrown his support behind the effort.

“I’m a longtime member of Tasker Street Missionary and I want this event to be a success,” Johnson said. “Helping recently incarcerated people is a ministry that starts while these individuals are still in prison. We have to help them get into the right state of mind, and this church was one of those that stepped up. This is an issue that affects all of us – a bullet doesn’t discriminate.”

According to the latest statistics provided by the federal government, 95 percent of the people currently in prison will be released at some point. When they are, unless there are consistent, intense and thorough programs and services in place ready to assist them, they are going to recidivate, said Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole. Cole spoke at length during the Southeastern Regional Reentry Conference on Tuesday of this week.

“Today, some 2.3 million people – or more than 1 in 100 American adults – are behind bars in the United States. At some point, 95 percent of these prisoners will be released,” Cole said. “This translates into some 700,000 people coming out of our state and federal prisons every year.  Two-thirds of all released state prisoners will be re-arrested within three years, and half will return to prison.  Among released federal prisoners, 40 percent are re-arrested or have their supervision revoked within 3 years. Aside from the very serious implications for public safety, recidivism also impacts budgets at the federal, state, and local levels.  Our Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that more than $74 billion is spent on federal, state, and local corrections annually.  In fact, it is one of the most expensive items in any state budget.  And with more than $6.5 billion spent on the Bureau of Prisons each year — it takes up a substantial portion of the Department of Justice budget as well. The nation faces significant challenges in ensuring the safe and successful reintegration of formerly incarcerated individuals into the communities. The issues are complex and the stakes are high.  But in order to effectively respond to these challenges, we must work together and engage stakeholders at every level in these joint efforts to find lasting solutions.”

According to statistics provided by the National Reentry Resource Center, nine million people are released from federal, state and local prisons every year and all will need some kind of assistance; especially in the form of jobs and housing.

• Federal and state corrections facilities held over 1.6 million prisoners at the end of 2010 — approximately one of every 201 U.S. residents.
• At least 95 percent of state prisoners will be released back to their communities at some point.
• During 2010, 708,677 sentenced prisoners were released from state and federal prisons, an increase of nearly 20 percent from 2000.
• Approximately 9 million individuals are released from jail each year.
• Nearly 4.9 million individuals were on probation or parole at the end of 2010.
• In a study that looked at recidivism in over 40 states, more than four in 10 offenders returned to state prison within three years of their release.
• In 2009, parole violators accounted for 33.1 percent of all prison admissions, 35.2 percent of state admissions, and 8.2 percent of federal admissions.
• Twenty-three percent of adults exiting parole in 2010 – 127,918 individuals – returned to prison as a result of violating their terms of supervision, and 9 percent of adults exiting parole in 2010 – 49,334 individuals – returned to prison as a result of a new conviction.

“This Administration and this Department of Justice have made effective reentry a priority.  We are working on all fronts – and across many agencies – to promote viable reentry programs, explore innovative practices, support research, and expand partnerships,” Cole said. The Attorney General chairs a Federal Interagency Reentry Council composed of 20 federal agencies – bringing together cabinet officials and other leaders to tackle some of the most pressing reentry challenges.  The purpose of the Council is to leverage federal reentry resources and to improve community safety, help returning inmates to become productive citizens, and lower the direct and collateral costs of incarceration. In the year-and-a-half of its existence, the Council has had tremendous success in lowering barriers to successful reentry.”

Cole said the Justice Department has helped publicize resources that can aid individual jurisdictions in their reentry efforts. He said that the Obama Administration is committed to creating new strategies and forging critical partnerships that can help make the transition from corrections facilities to communities easier and safer. These efforts are aimed at giving jurisdictions the tools they need to help returning prisoners become productive, law-abiding, tax-paying citizens while discouraging behavior that may land them back in jail or prison.

Lovett said that although a great many churches in Philadelphia already have prison ministries he thinks they need to unite more and concentrate their efforts in order to be more effective. “We tend to narrow our outreach to the individual pews and we need to broaden our efforts. That’s one of the reasons why I said this is non-denominational and multi-cultural. This isn’t about a person’s individual faith but about where they live.”

The Tasker Street Missionary Baptist Church is located at 2010 Tasker Street Philadelphia, PA For more information about the symposium call (215) 389-8282.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is home to six major health science research centers, several teaching universities, including five medical schools three schools of pharmacy, and several other healthcare disciplines, including nursing, physicians assistants and podiatry. Among the 10 most populous U.S. cities, Philadelphia has the highest unemployment and poverty rates. This factors serves as barrier to equitable health care in Philadelphia.

Those without healthcare access or limited financial resources use area emergency rooms as primary care facilities. This serves to further increase the cost and diminish the quality of healthcare.

Miriam Medical Clinics (MMC) was started in Philadelphia to address these needs by providing holistic, comprehensive and compassionate healthcare. Because of our central location in Philadelphia near the major health facilities Miriam will also serve as a teaching site for the various medical training institutions.

As of December 2012, Miriam Medical Clinics (MMC) was incorporated with the objective to provide health care to the underserved and many who may feel ‘undeserving’ within the Philadelphia Metropolitan area. Historically, MMC began as a vision of Dr. Cornelius Pitts, Patricia Imms, Dr.’s. Michael Johnson and Sandra Johnson. These principal parties have sought to serve the poor of Philadelphia metropolitan area based upon the passion of their faith and the desire to have a practical impact as an outgrowth of that passion.

Medical care is one practical, objectively measurable impact. To date, they have accomplished the recruitment of several volunteers from a variety of medical and paramedical professions. These volunteers have provided services principally in homeless shelters, gaining the exposure necessary to understand a very under-served population. MMC is currently underwritten by personal donations from the principals, and monetary gifts from World Gospel Mission Inc. of Marion Indiana.

MMC will provide services to its clients and patients without regard to any religious, social stratification or man-made classification, in accordance with Christ’s expectations that we are sent to be a light to the world (Matthew 5:16).

MMC will make no compromise of its Christian doctrine in order to obtain funding or other resources as this will ultimately erode not only the ‘who’ we are but ultimately the ‘what’ we do and ‘why’ we do it.

• We are ambassadors for Christ
• We minister in His name with His love
• We do it to glorify the Father through the Son

Learn more about Miriam Medical Clinics

First we started with a medical and evangelistic outreach trip to Haiti. We were a contingency of over 17, including doctors, dentists, preachers and support staff. This trip was sponsored by Saint Paul’s Baptist Church of West Chester Pennsylvania.

We were blessed to be able to minister to over 460 people, including 60 orphans in Port Au Prince and 400 people in Port Au Paix both times under less than ideal clinical settings. We treated everything to severe Tinea Capitis, Obstructed Duodenal Ulcer, obstructed bladder with suprapubic catheter insertion disease with malnutrition and Dental Abscesses with Facial Cellulitis. All of these would require intense medical and even surgical therapy. We had 7 days only. We traveled, slept and relieved ourselves in less than ideal conditions, but a lot of people smiled!

As of 2012, we have decided to do something in our spare time. We graduated with honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree, Honoris Causa from Eastern University. We also gave the commencement speech which served as an opportunity to share what God has been doing in our lives in family and ministry.