So, we just spent the last 13 days with Trevor’s sisters!! It was a busy, busy time with them, but definitely well worth it!! Here are some of the highlights…
1) First of all…we had so much fun going to go get them at the airport…waiting, waiting, watching for them to come down the stairs, waiting some more, making bets to see what time we would see them…(I guessed 10:15 pm, and Trevor guessed 10:20 pm…and they came down the stairs at about 10:17 pm!!!)…then when we FINALLY saw them I held up my sign that said “Karibuni Kenya, Leona and Wanda” (which means Welcome to Kenya, Leona and Wanda)…but in my excitement I held it up upside down…! There were happy tears, of course, and excited talking, and lots of hugging…it was so much fun to see family again!! They brought us soooooo much stuff..we were quite overwhelmed with it all!!! The first thing they brought out of their suitcases was….Tim Horton’s Timbits!!! Can you believe it?!?! And pickles, and cheese, and chocolate chips (wow, were there ever chocolate chips!!!), and other chocolate, and cards and pictures from friends and family at home, and many, many other gifts and necessity items…we felt so incredibly blessed!! Thank you so much to all of you who sent stuff along with them for us! You made us feel so loved! :o) And another thing that was so exciting was that they brought a bunch of tools for the guys at the shop, which was such an amazing blessing for Steven, Mark, and Benedicto to receive. And after all our plans to get to bed early so that they could get over jet lag and adjust to Kenyan time…it obviously didn’t happen!! We all had too much to talk about :o)
2) We went on a few day safaris…safaris are so much fun!! The first one was driving down through the Great Rift Valley to a place called Crescent Island, on the shores of Lake Naivasha, near the town of Naivasha. It was a lot of fun…no vehicles are allowed on the Island (well it’s a peninsula now, but still called Crescent Island!) so we walked around, through groups of deer, close to giraffes, wildebeests, and zebras…the only warning we were given was “just make sure you stay far from the buffalo”…!!! It was HOT that day…and we all burnt! But a good time was had by all!
The next day we decided to go to Nairobi Game Park, which is just a short drive from where we live. It was even better than we expected, with the drive starting out with seeing a whole herd of Cape buffalo…then, right before lunch time…seeing a group of about eight lions, feasting on a zebra, right beside the road!!! Incredible!! We were in awe, and stayed there to watch for at least 45 minutes. We were so close that we could smell the blood, and hear the crunching and eating noises, and the growls coming from a lion's mouth. There was a huge male in the group as well…it was seriously amazing!!
We then stopped to have lunch outside at a picnic site…where we were joined by a group of feisty and aggressive baboons determined to steal our food!!! No joke! First just one of them came out of nowhere, jumped up on our picnic table, and grabbed our backpack! We were all feeling stunned, and couldn’t really move for a few seconds…what do you do with a huge baboon that looks and smells nasty, and has your stuff??!? We scared him enough that he dropped the backpack (thankfully, because it had important things like KEYS in it!!), and just stole our bag of fruit instead. That we could deal with. In this entire time of panic and confusion, all I could think about was wanting a picture, so I’m holding my purse, camera case, lunch kit, and at the same time, trying to take a picture of the baboon stealing our stuff…but couldn’t figure out why my camera wasn’t working…(it was turned off :o)…I apparently can’t think under pressure!!) . Not long after we had calmed down somewhat and put our stuff back down…we were surrounded by a whole huge group of baboons, all trying to get our stuff!! Good thing the park warden was there and had already given Trevor a stick, so we kept Trevor busy with “Trevor, there’s one here!!!” “Trevor, behind you!!” “Trevor, there’s one on the table!!” “Trevor, over here!! Trevor, over there!” Oh…and all of this through almost uncontrollable laughter…really, you should have been there!! It was hilarious!! Trevor got a few good whacks in though, and scared them away enough for us to get to our vehicle. We are just glad that none of them attacked us though…it has been known to happen...these are vicious creatures. But it was a really fun day, and made for some really good memories. :o)
3) For the past few months, our gardener, Elly, has wanted us to come visit him and his family in their home, but his wife has been so sick since November (with TB, typhoid, malaria, pneumonia..!!) so we have had to just wait till she felt well enough for company. Well, it turned out that we could go and visit now, when Leona and Wanda were here in Kenya! It was such a great time. They live in a slum area…in a tiny, one room mabati (tin) house, with their two young sons, Wesley, who is almost six, and Timothy, who is three years old. They welcomed us in so warmly, and served us chai. This was our first time meeting Violet, his wife, and even though she is getting well, “pole pole” (Swahili, pronounced “po-lay, po-lay, meaning “slowly by slowly“, in English), she didn’t even resemble the pictures that we saw of her, taken before she got sick. She was so thin and frail, and yet so incredibly happy to have visitors! The Kenyan hospitality is amazing. Elly and Violet have so few material possessions, and so many struggles in their life, and yet the joy in their eyes, and the true warmth of the welcome we received was real. We have so much to learn from them.
4) We were also able to bring Leona and Wanda to Mitumba slum quite a few times...to meet Pastor Shadrach and Violet, and to spend time with the kids there. I had also mentioned to Pastor that if the new clinic that they’re setting up would be ready by then, then to please put us to work in organizing it!! So Leona, Wanda, and I spent time doing that as well, which was great to do with them, instead of just by myself! (as organizing is not really my skill!!) Wanda also came with a donation from the school where she works, to spend in Mitumba and New Life Home, so that was really great, to be a part of blessing them in that way. The money was used for a lot of textbooks…all the ones they needed for the Standard 6 and Standard 7 classes, as well as some other school supplies!!
5) We also did other fun things…like visited the Hangar where Trevor works and they got to meet everyone there, and present the tools to the guys in the shop, go out for Indian Food a couple times, go to Java House, went to New Life Home a few times, took them shopping at the markets, went for walks around our neighbourhood…etc, etc.
Oh, and I can’t forget to mention that friends from home, Craig and Ruthie, came to visit us here as well from Rwanda!! They only stayed for one night, but it was great to catch up with them, and hang out, play Dutch Blitz, and just spend time together as friends!!
Anyway…all that was to say that we had a wonderful time these last few weeks!! Having family over was also just what we needed to keep going here, and to realize that we are not ready to leave yet, and knowing that God has us here for a purpose. We said goodbye to them, realizing that we are more than happy to be here right now, relieved that it wasn’t us who were flying away from this beautiful country, and so excited about what God is doing here in Kenya.
Please continue to pray for us here…specifically about direction for the future. We don’t know what is going to happen, but we do know that all God is asking of us is to trust Him, so trust Him we will!! We are seeing so much need here, and are falling in love with the people we are meeting, but are still unsure if we are being asked to come back to Africa after our year here is done. All we know at this point is that God called us here for this year, and that we are willing to go wherever He asks us to go in the future, whether that is coming back to Africa, or staying at home, or somewhere completely different. He blesses obedience, and we want to obey Him. Thank you so much for your prayers…we have truly been so blessed.
I want to leave you with a verse, found in Jeremiah 6:16. (Thank you Esther Ford, for reminding us of this verse..)
Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.
1 comment:
What a wonderful verse! And so fitting for you too! I'm glad you had so much fun and got to show the girls so much of what you are doing there.
It truly is a blessing to be able to read what you are doing over there, it's a reminder for me that God is moving over there and that my prayers are needed, even for people I don't know. Thank you for your updates!
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