Land Rovers in the Desert...

You know you’re in the hot, dry, desert of Northern Kenya when:

1) you enter your guest room and notice that there are no blankets on the bed because you won’t need them…there is no need for a blanket when the air is stifling hot, even at night.
2) in order to sleep at night, you drape a soaking wet towel over your body to keep cool.
3) you put a soaking wet sock over your water bottle to cool the water inside…apparently in order for the water on the sock to evaporate, it needs heat, so it draws the heat from the water inside the bottle…and…WALA…cool water!! A nice change from having to drink it at bath water temperature!!! :o)
4) you don’t wait until evening to shower…the water is just too warm at that point, and you want to have as cool/cold a shower as you can.
5) when eating ice-cream, you have to eat it IMMEDIATELY as soon as you take it out of the freezer, as it will turn into liquid within 10 minutes or less.
6) the lorries (trucks) only go at night, as the day time sun is too hot for the tires, making them burst.
7) you can hear the hyenas laughing at you during the night-time hours, sometimes really close by.
8) the winds are always going strong…blowing your hair all over the place, blowing skirts all over the place, blowing dust and sand in your eyes and onto your always sweaty skin…and while the wind is a comfort, it is also a hot wind which feels like somebody has turned on a hair dryer, turned it onto the highest heat setting, and is blowing it on your already over-heating body.
9) at night, you have to use a torch to light the way, not just because it’s dark out, but because the scorpions come out at night.

One of the coolest parts about our journey in Kenya these past six months has been all the amazing places we’ve been able to see first hand, and all the amazing people we’ve met in these different places, and sometimes having to take a step back and say “are we REALLY doing this??? Is this REALLY our life right now??” It’s pretty incredible.

Last week was one of those weeks again. We had the privilege of going to a desert village in Northern Kenya, called Kalacha. Trevor was asked to help out with fixing some vehicles while the missionaries serving the nomadic peoples of Northern Kenya got together for a prayer conference.
We flew there with AIM Air on Monday afternoon on a small Cessna 206...most of us on the flight had our sick sacs handy…good times!! But we landed safely on the small dirt airstrip, and were welcomed by the hot desert winds, and by the warm welcome of the missionaries there.

The week was spent with about 20-30 wonderful people who are living in these remote villages…and let me tell you, we have so much to learn from them!! It was so great hearing so many stories about what God is doing, and to also hear about the struggles and trials and be able to pray for them.

Trevor spent most of his time working on three different Land Rovers. Being able to help and serve other people in this way has been awesome. He also had the chance to get to know some of the Gabbra men who worked together with him in fixing these vehicles, which is always so good.

One of our highlights of our time in Kalacha was going on a prayer walk through the village. We all split up into four different groups, and spread out throughout the village, all going in a different direction. With the desert wind blowing constantly and sometimes so forceful that it nearly knocked us down, we meandered through our section of Kalacha…praying for the Gabbra people, praying over certain huts, praying as we walked past the mosque, praying for those who have come to know the Lord…and through all of this, stopping to greet the people we walked past, stopping to ask questions of Scott, the leader of our group who lives in Kalacha. We walked through small groups of round huts, covered in bright cloth, past little kids smiling and waving at the wazungu (white people), stopped to greet traditional mamas, wearing the traditional Gabbra garb, stopped under the shade of an acacia tree to get a bit of relief from the sun constantly beating down on us. This village of Kalacha NEEDS our prayers. There has been much spiritual warfare happening, especially these last few weeks. God is working, but the devil is throwing out much opposition.

There is a Swahili proverb that says this:

“Dalili ya mvua mawingu.” Which, in English, means “Clouds are the sign of rain”.

The clouds of trouble and hardship and opposition are overhead…but the missionaries see it as a sign of the rain that will come shortly after that. The rains of blessing and breakthrough in God’s work!! The rain is coming! God’s work will NOT be stopped!! But please pray for them in this time of “clouds overhead”, as the devil is working overtime to try to discourage them, and bring discourse and strife among the people.

Another highlight for us was Thursday night…we got to go out into the Chalbi desert to eat our picnic supper, watch the sun go down, and the moon come up. Absolutely one of those moments where we felt so incredibly privileged to be here in Africa. To be out in the desert, and see nothing but dry, cracked sand no matter where you look. The sun is directly overhead, and at this time of year, is as close and as direct as it will ever be. You feel so small, standing there…just one small speck in the vastness that is the desert. It. Was. Amazing. God is so creative…even in just this small country of Kenya, He has made so many different landscapes and climates and unbelievable wonders!! It thrills me that we get to see and experience it!
We stayed out there until it was long dark…sheltered from the wind by the caravan of Land Rovers and Land Cruisers, watched the stars, sang songs of praise and worship to our Lord, and just enjoyed one another’s company. Most of the group (especially those with young kids) decided to go back to the village, but a few of us weren’t ready to leave quite yet, so we stayed out there awhile longer…until the village dog that was with us started intently staring out into the dark, it’s hair standing on end, agitated, growling. We shone the torch out into the nothingness…and could not see what was bothering the dog. We waited awhile and the dog wouldn’t calm down, so we decided that we needed to go before something attacked us and we were sorry!! There are many hyenas around in the area, and we knew that we didn’t want to be sitting around outside if it were to come close. So we threw everything into the back of the Land Cruiser (including the dog) and threw ourselves in {word to the wise…this can and will cause bruises!!! :o)} and drove off into the night, back to the village. It was quite the adventure.

We are very thankful for opportunities to go up-country like this. It has opened our eyes to the different things that are happening here in Kenya, and also to the different tribes that call this country their home. Thank you so much to all of you who have made this possible for us. Thank you for your prayers. Again…we depend on them. We love you and miss you all so much.