4/29/2012
It is now 5:15am and Lupe has been going strong since 4am. I got our traditional photo with Lupe and the chefs with the wall clock behind them. Tortillas were being rolled out and browned, eggs were being broken, salsa was being stirred and it was already starting to smell real good. The breakfast tacos, bacon, sausage or potato were on the table by 6am for the first set of diners. What a blessing this meal was, especially for those heading out to the rural areas this morning as it strengthened them for their journey. After breakfast, Pastor Preece had a powerful prayer for all of the teams and we began sending groups out into the mission field. Our plan today is to worship in Kibera, set up the clinic if possible, have lunch and complete shopping for supplies for the week.
4/29/2012 Sunday, and end of the day
Our worship this morning was absolutely outstanding, with incredible African praise music by various choirs composed of youth, women and mixed adults. Before services, Pastor Kevin and I met with Bishop-elect Bakari and prayed with him and his ministerial staff for the worship and for a safe and effective clinic during the week. The liturgy was entirely in Swahili, but our hosts provided English references for Bible readings so we could follow along. Pastor Kevin gave a beautiful message based on the reading from Luke 4 in which Jesus reads the scroll from Isaiah about himself and then is rejected by his own hometown. Pastor Bakari kept right up, translating into Swahili as Kevin spoke. Justin took the drum he brought and played along with the African music, while Kevin Pieper added a bass line to most songs. During the announcements at the end of the service, the drum was donated to the choir, which is in the midst of a fund raiser for instruments. We lunched outdoors at the Junction restaurant and then bought our supplies for the week at Nakumatt. I finally heard where the name came from. It was originally the Nakura Mattress company. I learn some trivia on every trip. Once we got back to our lodging, we had a team meeting which I had the pleasure of leading off with my favorite missionary devotion by Oswald Chambers. After some discussion of the devotion, we went over details of the clinic opening tomorrow morning in order to insure a smooth start to the week. Ralph got Justin up to speed on the autorefractor in short order. We then had dinner and everyone retired early.
4/30/2012 The Clinic's First Day
We had a hearty breakfast, made a few sandwiches with the bread, jelly and peanut butter that were set out for us and got on the matatu that came for us at 7:15. Driving through rush hour traffic, it was fun to watch the faces of our new team members as they saw the hustle and bustle of the city and then the slum as it awakened. The sensory overload of seeing a hundred things all at once just boggles the mind. Every kind of little shop was beginning to open and they were putting their wares out in front of their businesses for all the world to see. The variety is endless, ranging from furniture to potted plants to ceramic creations up to and including a full sized giraffe. People were boarding their matatus as they made their way to work. Others were walking, all neatly dressed and resolute as they trod through the wet morning air. We arrived at the church a little before 8am, setup the clinic and then had a brief devotion led by Bishop Bakari and the singing of Lord I Lift Your Name on High, since everyone in the room knew it. People were already through with the evangelism process and we're being registered when we popped the door of the church open to begin letting our first patients in. We had the usual minor glitches during the morning, being the first day, but things were running very smoothly before noon. With heavier rains threatening at the end of the day, we closed the clinic a little before 5pm after having seen 345 people. We ended the first day of the clinic with a short devotion and a Masai praise song. We had dinner and a team discussion to go over the highlights of our day, looked for ways to improve our process and then had a free evening for everyone to reflect on the day and get some rest in preparation for what could be a very big day Tuesday. This is because people will go home and tell their friends and families about the clinic, Tuesday is a school holiday (Kenyan Labor Day) here and we will have someone on a bullhorn going throughout the church's neighborhood advertising the free vision clinic.
It is now 5:15am and Lupe has been going strong since 4am. I got our traditional photo with Lupe and the chefs with the wall clock behind them. Tortillas were being rolled out and browned, eggs were being broken, salsa was being stirred and it was already starting to smell real good. The breakfast tacos, bacon, sausage or potato were on the table by 6am for the first set of diners. What a blessing this meal was, especially for those heading out to the rural areas this morning as it strengthened them for their journey. After breakfast, Pastor Preece had a powerful prayer for all of the teams and we began sending groups out into the mission field. Our plan today is to worship in Kibera, set up the clinic if possible, have lunch and complete shopping for supplies for the week.
4/29/2012 Sunday, and end of the day
Our worship this morning was absolutely outstanding, with incredible African praise music by various choirs composed of youth, women and mixed adults. Before services, Pastor Kevin and I met with Bishop-elect Bakari and prayed with him and his ministerial staff for the worship and for a safe and effective clinic during the week. The liturgy was entirely in Swahili, but our hosts provided English references for Bible readings so we could follow along. Pastor Kevin gave a beautiful message based on the reading from Luke 4 in which Jesus reads the scroll from Isaiah about himself and then is rejected by his own hometown. Pastor Bakari kept right up, translating into Swahili as Kevin spoke. Justin took the drum he brought and played along with the African music, while Kevin Pieper added a bass line to most songs. During the announcements at the end of the service, the drum was donated to the choir, which is in the midst of a fund raiser for instruments. We lunched outdoors at the Junction restaurant and then bought our supplies for the week at Nakumatt. I finally heard where the name came from. It was originally the Nakura Mattress company. I learn some trivia on every trip. Once we got back to our lodging, we had a team meeting which I had the pleasure of leading off with my favorite missionary devotion by Oswald Chambers. After some discussion of the devotion, we went over details of the clinic opening tomorrow morning in order to insure a smooth start to the week. Ralph got Justin up to speed on the autorefractor in short order. We then had dinner and everyone retired early.
4/30/2012 The Clinic's First Day
We had a hearty breakfast, made a few sandwiches with the bread, jelly and peanut butter that were set out for us and got on the matatu that came for us at 7:15. Driving through rush hour traffic, it was fun to watch the faces of our new team members as they saw the hustle and bustle of the city and then the slum as it awakened. The sensory overload of seeing a hundred things all at once just boggles the mind. Every kind of little shop was beginning to open and they were putting their wares out in front of their businesses for all the world to see. The variety is endless, ranging from furniture to potted plants to ceramic creations up to and including a full sized giraffe. People were boarding their matatus as they made their way to work. Others were walking, all neatly dressed and resolute as they trod through the wet morning air. We arrived at the church a little before 8am, setup the clinic and then had a brief devotion led by Bishop Bakari and the singing of Lord I Lift Your Name on High, since everyone in the room knew it. People were already through with the evangelism process and we're being registered when we popped the door of the church open to begin letting our first patients in. We had the usual minor glitches during the morning, being the first day, but things were running very smoothly before noon. With heavier rains threatening at the end of the day, we closed the clinic a little before 5pm after having seen 345 people. We ended the first day of the clinic with a short devotion and a Masai praise song. We had dinner and a team discussion to go over the highlights of our day, looked for ways to improve our process and then had a free evening for everyone to reflect on the day and get some rest in preparation for what could be a very big day Tuesday. This is because people will go home and tell their friends and families about the clinic, Tuesday is a school holiday (Kenyan Labor Day) here and we will have someone on a bullhorn going throughout the church's neighborhood advertising the free vision clinic.
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