Our three days of cross-cultural training in late September were most welcome and allowed all of the Vision Kenya Project partner churches to develop closer relationships with our LCMS International Missions leadership team and their staff. It was a real blessing to be able to learn from each other to further our common goal of spreading the Gospel through human care ministry. We really appreciate the commitment that the LCMS showed by putting together such a large volume of quality materials and traveling to Tomball for this time together. We are also thankful that all of the PowerPoint presentations and other documents that were compiled by Dr. Mike Rodewald and his people were shared with us for future use in our cross-cultural training. We have been given a lot of valuable materials that we can now build upon as we train future teams for these missions.
Since the late September training, we have been very busy at Redeemer. For one thing, we completed the inventorying and restocking of our footlockers. Our frames, lenses and reading glasses orders arrived and we were blessed to have Pastor Kevin's "twenty-something" Bible study class around to help Martha, Louise and myself in the packing and weighing of the footlockers one recent Tuesday evening. The energy and enthusiasm of these young people was infectious and I hope to have some of them join us soon on upcoming trips. All of this was done early so that Pastor Kevin can transport the kit of 9 footlockers for one of our teams to Tomball before our November 8th departure. They already have a kit ready for our Kitengela team at Salem.
Paul Althoff and Kevin Pieper of Salem have recently been to Kenya on the advance trip for the overall mission, which will have 60 participants working in many locations. As has been the case for the last several missions, the LCMS and their private intelligence service have some security concerns about the usual locations we serve in the slums of Nairobi. Redeemer will be taking two teams to Kenya for the first time, and each will be serving on the outskirts of Nairobi. It has been our great joy to see the Vision Kenya Project grow as it has to this point and we are happy to serve wherever God places us. What a blessing!
Our whole team of 60 people from various churches will be staying the first Friday and Saturday night at a lodge called Rosa Mystica. You can see what it is like at www.rosamysticakenya.org.
Pastor Kevin will be leading our efforts, as previously planned, in Kitengela, a rapidly growing suburban church near the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is about 10 miles south of Nairobi. Other teams have been there on past trips to get things started. Redeemer has committed to continue work at this site from now on, since our heart is to do urban ministry, while other groups are called to work in the rural areas of Kenya. His team will be staying at a very nice lodge nearby called the Kaputiei Safariland Hotel. Their website is www.kaputieisafarilandhotel.co.ke This place looks so nice that I want to sign up to lead the team to Kitengela next time! All joking aside, we are usually so tired at the end of each day, after seeing from 500-1000 people, that it doesn't really matter where we stay, since most any place looks the same when you're fast asleep right after dinner and evening devotions. It's a good kind of tired that you get when working for the Lord and the sleep is always refreshing indeed.
My team will be going to Kiambu, rather than to our original planned clinic in the slum of Kawangware. Kawangware is where there is a wonderful church that we have strong ties to through multiple missions over the past 5 years, through our working on the water well project to strengthen their ministry to the neighborhood and through our support of their ministry to the street boys and girls. Kiambu is a daughter church, that was planted by the church in Kawangware and the ELCK, so we hope that some of our experienced volunteers from Kawangware will be able to join us. The ELCK is the national Lutheran church body that we work in partnership with, and they have wanted us to work in Kiambu for some time now, so I'm viewing these changes as a God thing. It is just north of Nairobi, in an area that is at about 4,000 feet elevation, surrounded by tea and coffee plantations. Many affluent people, including the President of Kenya, live in this area. Our dear friend and liaison for the LCMS in Nairobi, Catherine, said she would arrange for me to have tea with the President. I'm not sure if she was joking, if anybody has the connections to make this happen, she does! Our patients may include some affluent people, those who work for the wealthy and also we expect that some of our patients will come from a nearby slum, so we should be witnessing to the most diverse set of people we have encountered to date. People have asked me if I'm concerned about going to such a different location this time. I tell them that I had my doubts about helping to open up a clinic for the first time in the slum of Kibera in the spring of 2010, knowing that we would be serving a community with about a 40% Muslim population. That site has turned into such a blessing that it feels like home to me now in Kibera, after 3 missions there. I really don't have much of a comfort zone anymore, it's gotten pretty huge by being stretched out more and more with each mission trip. So no, I don't have the concerns that a "normal" person might have, and of course we always pay attention to every detail that will make for a safe and effective mission, but in place of worries the Lord has given each of us an incredible sense of peace, knowing we are smack dab in the middle of his plan for each of us. What an adventure each trip is, I always feel like a kid on Christmas morning, wondering what the Lord has in store for us this time. How will we be a blessing this time and how will we also be abundantly blessed, as we have been every time we have served? I can't wait to find out. Thank you, Jesus!
We will be staying in a compound run by Africa Heart, an American non-profit that works with AIDS orphans. Their lodgings can handle up to 25 missionaries at a time and just by our staying there, we will be helping to support their ministry. You can see a little more about them and pictures of our lodgings at www.africaheart.com. Our lodge is in walking distance of a Nakumatt, a Walmart type of store where we can restock on essentials for the clinic as we need to. There is a coffee shop with Internet access, so I may be posting some of my stories from there, especially if our Internet at Africa Heart has any problems.
That's about it for now. More to follow as we continue to handle the myriad of details that goes into putting on a successful clinic (times 2 now!). Stay tuned to this blog and please remember to keep us in your prayers for safe travels and an effective mission from November 8-18, 2012.
To God be the Glory!
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Cross-Cultural Training in Tomball is underway!
Monday September 24
I arrived in Tomball at Salem Lutheran Church yesterday in time for a noon lunch and then an afternoon filled with cross cultural training by missionaries and staff from LCMS International Missions. What a blessing it is to have lifelong, called church workers sharing their insights with short-term mission teams such as ourselves. Over the last 25 years or so, the short-term mission movement has gained steam and done much good around the world. Of course, there have been problems, especially ones caused by groups that go on a mission to a particualr locale and never return again, leaving the host congregation wondering if they are not worthy of a second visit and the career missionaries in a position to mop up after any cultural faux pauxs. Our Vision for Kenya Project is very different from this. It began in 2007 as a five year commitment to spread the Gospel via vision and dental clinics. It has grown geometrically from being a program of Salem Lutheran Church in partnership with the LCMS through the Congregation Connect initiative to a major effort with three churches making up a mentoring group and many other congregations having a stake in locations throughout Kenya. About 60 team members will depart in November for our biggest effort yet, serving two locations in Nairobi and many more sites in other parts of the country. One of our guiding principles is that we do short-term missions with a long-term commitment, returning to the same areas, building relationships with the pastors and congregations we serve. The churches grow and the blessings are abundant, both for the areas that get human care ministry and for those of us that go into this mission field. While this was to be a five year project, all involved have signed on for another five years, since we can see that we are still gaining momentum and there is much work left to be done in our obedience to the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20.
After lunch, our sessions began with everyone introducing themselves. We range in experience from some team members who will be going on their first mission with us to old-times saddling up for the eleventh time. I love the mix of experience and wide-eyed enthusiasm that has been a hallmark of each and every mission I've been on. And yes, I'm somewhere in between, going on my eighth trip to Kenya this time since November of 2009.
Mike led a devotion based on Psalm 56 and then he went into the
Gospel of Matthew geneology, stressing that relationships are highly prized in Africa and the Middle
East (it's who you are, not what you do that counts). As an excercise, he then asked us to write down what our reasons were for going on this next mission trip. He proceeded to give an historical overview of the LCMS'
role in world missions, followed by a look at the size and history
of the Lutheran church across the African continent. It was an eye opener, seeing that most of our denominations work has been from near the equator and to the south, with the northern part of the continent largely untouched, since it's a Muslim stronghold. He did stress that while all of us have studied the formal teachings of Islam in order to be better evangelists, Islam in Africa is largely cultural rather
than orthodox in many places. More is to follow on this over the next two days.
In response to the exercise previously noted, Mike reviewed the many reasons people have gone
into the mission field over the years and explained Missio Dei or God's mission to us, which is why we are sent and why we go as Lutherans. We are privileged to be called by God to his mission field, He doesn't need us to accomplish His purpose but in His grace and mercy He has chosen to work through us. What a blessing!
After a short break, Mike explained the spiritual heritage of Africa, starting with ancient beliefs that we call animism. He illustrated some of the key features of this world view by using the Bible story of Namaan's being cured of leprosy by God throught the prophet Elisha. It was very enlightening.
Next, Shara instructed us in some conversational Swahili basics such as greetings, thank yous, etc. We will buld on what she taught us over the next couple of days.
Finally, Jennifer Prophete led
a lively discussion of African Friends and Money Matters topics by asking those of us who have been to Kenya before to tell about five experiences involving money that we had witnessed. We then discussed them based on insights from the book and with some great input from our missionaries. It comforted me that there are many ways that awkward situations can be deflected graciously so that strong relationships can be formed rather than unintentional rudeness ruining the possibility of friendships blossoming. These insights will probe most valuable to us and I thank our LCMS mentors for this.
At 5:30 or so, we broke for dinner at the Harris County
Smokehouse, where many of us got to know each other better before heading home or to our respective lodgings for the night.
More to follow as the training continues. Stay tuned.......
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Preparation for November Mission going well
It's been a very busy summer since returning from Nairobi in May. We had the pleasure of hosting Catherine and her family while they celebrated Mark's high school graduation, then it was time to produce the DVD slideshow to commemorate the mission trip and finally we hosted a meeting of our Vision for Kenya partners and the leadership of LCMS International Missions at Redeemer. All the while, we were working out all the details that go into fielding a mission team in November times two, since we will be holding vision clinics at two separate sites in Nairobi this next time around. One will be at the church in Kawangware, where we have served multiple times and are looking forward to renewing the friendships that have already blossomed there. I will be leading that team while Pastor Kevin will be heading the team that will be working in Kitengela, a suburban Nairobi location near the airport. The distance between the two sites is such that our teams will need to stay in separate locations this time. It has always been a joy and a blessing to gather everyone together at dinner to have a devotion and compare notes, this time we'll have to wait until the end of the mission to see how our other half fared.
Pastor Kevin and I have also been busy preparing for the orientation we will hold at Redeemer on September 16th for our two teams and for those from other churches that might not be able to attend the sessions scheduled for them at our other partner churches. I always love the mix of the quiet confidence of our team members that have served multiple times before and the excitement, enthusiasm and more than a little bit of anxiety that first time team members bring to the training. This mixture is one of the things that helps keep me pumped up and coming back again and again to the wonderful mission field we serve in east Africa. I will be making my eighth trip in 3 years. It never gets old and I pray that I never get jaded. I am always looking for that next blessing that I can be a part of giving, all the while knowing that the Lord has blessed me abundantly every time I have stepped a little further out of my comfort zone to answer His call on my life. I can't wait for what the surprises will be this time, and am anxiously anticipating the upcoming trip with all the zeal of a child that sleeplessly can't wait for Christmas morning to arrive!
Once the orientation has been accomplished, our next pre-trip task is to undergo cross-cultural training in Tomball from September 24-26th. Our LCMS mission team, including Dr. Mike Rodewald, head of African missions, Pastor Shauen Trump, who is over the east African national missions and Shara Cunningham of the Nairobi staff will immerse us in lessons about the culture, language and best practices for sharing the Gospel during our next trip. We are very thankful that they are so committed to making our missions better and better, both for our teams and for those that we come to work with and to serve. Pastor Kevin and I will represent Redeemer at this training.
Stay tuned to this space, much more to follow as final preparations get into full swing during October, culminating in the actual mission taking place from November 8-18th. Please continue to pray for us and, if the Lord moves you, to contribute to this next mission. Contact me at dave@mrpcaustin.com or Pastor Kevin Westergren at pastor@redeemer.net for more details.
To God be the Glory!!!
Pastor Kevin and I have also been busy preparing for the orientation we will hold at Redeemer on September 16th for our two teams and for those from other churches that might not be able to attend the sessions scheduled for them at our other partner churches. I always love the mix of the quiet confidence of our team members that have served multiple times before and the excitement, enthusiasm and more than a little bit of anxiety that first time team members bring to the training. This mixture is one of the things that helps keep me pumped up and coming back again and again to the wonderful mission field we serve in east Africa. I will be making my eighth trip in 3 years. It never gets old and I pray that I never get jaded. I am always looking for that next blessing that I can be a part of giving, all the while knowing that the Lord has blessed me abundantly every time I have stepped a little further out of my comfort zone to answer His call on my life. I can't wait for what the surprises will be this time, and am anxiously anticipating the upcoming trip with all the zeal of a child that sleeplessly can't wait for Christmas morning to arrive!
Once the orientation has been accomplished, our next pre-trip task is to undergo cross-cultural training in Tomball from September 24-26th. Our LCMS mission team, including Dr. Mike Rodewald, head of African missions, Pastor Shauen Trump, who is over the east African national missions and Shara Cunningham of the Nairobi staff will immerse us in lessons about the culture, language and best practices for sharing the Gospel during our next trip. We are very thankful that they are so committed to making our missions better and better, both for our teams and for those that we come to work with and to serve. Pastor Kevin and I will represent Redeemer at this training.
Stay tuned to this space, much more to follow as final preparations get into full swing during October, culminating in the actual mission taking place from November 8-18th. Please continue to pray for us and, if the Lord moves you, to contribute to this next mission. Contact me at dave@mrpcaustin.com or Pastor Kevin Westergren at pastor@redeemer.net for more details.
To God be the Glory!!!
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Catherine's Big Adventure
To see captioned pictures of Catherine's U.S. visit from May 17th to May 22nd, click on the link below:
https://picasaweb.google.com/103425019225851329391/MarkGraduation2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOi4nPjZyeDkhgE&feat=directlink
Well, now that I have had the experience of being Catherine FOR Catherine during her trip to America for her son Mark's high school graduation, I have come to have an even higher respect for all that she does during our mission trips to keep us safe, comfortable and happy in most every way. I began helping her to plan the trip for her and her family even before our recent April-May mission to Kibera and there were still numerous details, including visa snafus, luggage that didn't arrive in Kansas City, etc. that made being flexible along the way a most valued skill. Following is the story from start to finish as best as I can remember it, without too much embellishment!
Planning the trip in Nairobi with Catherine
When I found out earlier this year that Catherine was definitely coming to Concordia, MO for the graduation at St. Paul Lutheran High School, I asked if I could have the honor of being her matatu driver. For those of you that have not been on one of our missions to Kenya, the matatu is a 9-14 passenger all purpose van that is used for everything from taking people to work from the slums, to taking tourists on safaris (since many have a popup roof and are good for photography) to general transport for hire. The drivers are phenomenal, not only skilled in every aspect of driving and repairing their vehicles on the spot, but also expert in many small ways at keeping their passengers from harm by avoiding unsafe areas and situations. They are usually very nice guys as well. So to have Catherine accept my offer to be her matatu driver meant that she was willing to trust herself and her family into my care, a high honor indeed and one that I was most glad to volunteer for and will always cherish.
My initial plan was to fly up to Kansas City and rent an SUV or minivan, depending on the number of passengers, go to the graduation and then bring Catherine and her clan back to Austin to show her some Texas hospitality in response to the loving care she has always given us. Once I factored in the flight, the rental of the van, the one-way dropoff charges, fuel and the like, it became very apparent that this would be unaffordable. I considered using my Ford Supercab, but then the number of travelers eventually swelled to 6, including myself. It would have been possible (and even comfortable by Kenyan standards!), but when my friend Lupe of Casa Chapala and previous African mission trip fame heard my plight, he very generously offered to swap me my truck for his Ford Excursion for the week. Not only that, he had it tuned up, cleaned inside and out and put new tires on it to ensure our safety and comfort. What a great friend he and his wife Lucina are to me. They are a huge blessing to everyone they call their friends at Redeemer.
I started out early on Thursday morning, May 17th and spent the day driving to Joplin, MO, where I had reservations to spend the night at a Microtel. This left me with about 250 miles to go to get to Concordia, MO on Friday in time for the 1:30pm Commencement at St. Paul Lutheran High School. It was an easy day and I arrived around 4pm at my motel, went out to dinner and took it easy in the evening, knowing I would need my rest to make it through the next several days.
Friday morning, I hit the road around 7:30am after having the continental breakfast supplied by the motel and gassing up the Excursion. I took state roads through many small towns, rather than the Interstate, since I had plenty of time and enjoy taking the back roads now and then. Small town America still is alive and well. I arrived in Concordia around 10:30am and drove to the campus to look around. It reminded me of a miniature original Concordia University in Austin, with old brick buildings including dorms, a cafeteria, a chapel, a classroom building, the administration building and a gym. What a beautiful campus it is! With a couple of hours to kill, I drove down Main Street to the business district and was delighted to find a small town similar to the one I grew up in. The church overshadowed the entire downtown, there was a town square with a clock tower and some old time businesses such as a Rexall Drug Store (hadn't seen one in years!) and an antique Ford dealership.
After some fast food near the Interstate, I headed back to campus around noon and found a parking spot under a large shade tree, as it was beginning to get warm. As I stepped from the Excursion, I saw some gentlemen standing there and inquired as to the time and exact building the Commencement would be in, allowing that I had just arrived from Austin, TX. One of them said "Austin! What's your name? I told him and he remembered me, it was Pastor Norb Firnhaber, formerly the pastor at the University Lutheran Church at UT. I knew him from his days on campus. He was in town because it was his 50th reunion. When he was in school, it was all male and was a six year institution, high school plus the first two years of college. Many pastors and church workers have come from this place. I went with Pastor Norb to the cafeteria, where lunch was being served to parents that had already arrived. I was in search of Catherine and her entourage, but didn't see any of them. I retreated back to the SUV and rested my eyes as I waited for the festivities to begin. Around 1pm I finally found Rhoda Houge, Catherine's former boss in Nairobi and Uncle Henry, a family friend and mentor to Mark who had also come from Nairobi for the graduation. We had a nice talk and waited for Catherine, her mother and Eugene to return from Mark's dorm room. We finally all gathered together out in front of the gym and went in together just in time for the ceremonies.
The graduation was as full of pomp and circumstance as any I had ever been to. Wonderful hymns were sung by the choir, the speaker was short and to the point and the afternoon focused on the graduates and on the 50th reunion class. One of the most touching aspects for me was that each graduate was given a bouquet of red roses and there was time for them to go around and give them to their classmates and loved ones. Mark was so wrapped up with his friends, particularly the girls, that I went over and reminded him that he needed to make sure that he got around to his mother and grandmother before he ran out of roses!
After the graduation, I went back to my motel room and put together all of the pictures that I had taken so far and arranged them on my laptop. When I went to the Mike Rodewald's house, where the family was staying, they were amazed that the afternoon's events from only a couple of hours before were ready for viewing. We went to a potluck at the home of Gail, Mark's surrogate mother during his school days in Concordia. It was wonderful, many of Mark's classmates and their parents were there and we all shared many stories and laughs. Catherine's luggage had gotten diverted between London and Chicago and much of it hadn't arrived yet. She had brought Kenyan spices and other fixin's for her contribution to the potluck. With some help from Rhoda, she managed to make some chapatis or flat bread, which everyone used like a tortilla to wrap their food rather than folding it up and eating it like bread, as they do in Kenya. I told Catherine she would see tortillas soon enough and then she would understand why people did this. She also brought some wonderful chicken, pulled pork, beans and rice. Everyone loved it.
After the party, we visited along with Claude and Rhoda Houge, our retired career missionaries who had been working in all of east Africa and with whom I served a couple of years. We shared some great stories before I left early to get some rest for the big day's drive that I knew was ahead on Saturday.
Saturday morning I went down to the lobby of the motel for the continental breakfast and was sitting with a trucker that was obviously a Christian, since he blessed his food before eating. He was a great guy and he too had a long haul ahead of him, which is a day of over 1,000 miles by definition, at least according to him. I was wearing one of my Christian t-shirts from the Voice of the Martyrs that says "This shirt is illegal" on the front and has the Gospel message on the back to highlight the fact that many people have to go underground in various countries to practice their faith. A woman about my age overheard our conversation and asked if she could join us. The trucker needed to leave, so I spent some time one-on-one with her. She was a Canadian lady named Elaine. She had just come from Cambodia, where she was working on rescuing young women and men from the sex slavery trade that is practiced at the high dollar casinos there. It made my missions to Kenya look tame by comparison. We really hit it off and we prayed for each other's ministries before we parted company. You never know where Jesus will show up when you least expect Him to!
I arrived about 7:40am to begin loading up, since we had agreed upon an 8am start for what promised to be a 12 hour drive under the best of circumstances. I had no delusions that even a long day like that was likely, traveling with 6 of us. Everyone had their luggage except for Mark and Eugene, who were nowhere to be found. Henry went looking for him, and as it turned out, Mark was having a hard time saying his last minute goodbyes in a timely fashion at the dorm a few blocks away. We took some pictures on the lawn of the Rodewald home with the family, Mark and his friends, etc. I finally got everyone herded into the Excursion and we were all waving goodbye to about 20 people on the lawn when the unthinkable occurred. I turned the key and nothing happened! They don't make movies better than this. One of the Dad's came and jumped our battery a few minuted later and we headed for a NAPA parts store a few blocks away. They made it clear that they would sell me a battery, but that they don't install them. At least they tested the charging system for me and it was fine. Henry and I spent the next ten minutes sweating and swapping out the battery. We had a big laugh when the old one was lifted out and there was a neon green sticker on it that said "used battery". It doesn't get any better than that! The laugh we shared made it all worth it.
We finally hit the road at 9am and were making good time until there was a massive backup less than 2 miles from our turnoff in Kansas City, which had been caused by an accident. We spent at least 45 minutes inching along before things started to move and we finally began to head south on I-35 for Texas. When lunchtime arrived, I treated everybody to Subway, since each of us could have some control over what went into our sandwiches and Catherine and her family seemed to like it pretty well. During our whole time together that week, we had to keep making sure we asked for drinks with no ice, since they prefer room temperature drinks. Also, we tried to stick to the bland side on food, since for the most part, Kenyans don't spice up their food much. Mark had been in the States for his high school, so he was the exception and we each had Jalepeno chips and cold drinks with ice and laughed about it.
My friends were still suffering from a good bit of jet lag, so there was a lot of sleeping going on between stops, which allowed me to drive for 3 or 4 hours at a time. The Interstate and the tollways in Kansas and Oklahoma had speed limits as high as 80MPH. When I told them we were doing 80 it didn't really register until I said that we had been driving over 120 kilometers per hour. While there are some good Interstate quality roads in Kenya, and the Chinese are building many more for them right now, there are speed bumps anytime you drive in front of a school. So even on good roads, you can't really get going or have the luxury of setting it on cruise control and relaxing. And there are many bad roads. I'm sure one of their big impressions of their visit here was the quality of the roads and the speed at which you can travel.
There usually was at least one of the group that was awake, particularly Henry, who acted as my co-pilot and kept an eye out that I didn't look drowsy. Lots of coffee and other caffeinated drinks did the trick. None of the them could or would dare to drive, since we drive on the other side of the street and they are unfamiliar with things such as street lights. In Nairobi, there are roundabouts most everywhere for traffic control. There are a few traffic lights, but policemen are posted at each one directing traffic and they override whatever the light is telling one to do. I let them know that there was no danger of me wanting to drive in their country either!
We reached the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex around 6pm and had our final fillup on the Excursion at a gas station next to a McDonald's. Except for Mark, none of them had been to one before. Catherine treated us and everyone like it. Mark and I had to show them how to eat fries with ketchup, and of course, it was very hard to make sure we got drinks without ice! We enjoyed a view of downtown Dallas as we were passing through right before sunset that was really nice. We finally arrived at Howard and Martha Faskes in Georgetown at 10:30pm, got everything unloaded and I got home at 11:30 on the dot, fourteen and a half hours after we set out for Austin. A new record for me for solo driving and something I would not recommend even attempting to my fellow 60 year olds! But it was well worth it and none of us will ever forget Dave being the consummate matatu driver nor how strong jet lag can be.
I was up bright and early to do my usual Sunday morning 7:15am prayers with the Pastors and a steadfast group of others that do the same and then managed to teach my Sunday school class at 8:15, though I don't know how I did it or what I taught. Catherine and her family made it to Redeemer in time for 9:30 church. Dan, Mary and the Zieschang kids took the boys to Sunday school and they had a great time meeting others and enjoyed the lessons they were taught. I introduced Catherine at the 9:30 service and she greeted the congregation and gave a very nice talk about the partnership between Redeemer, the LCMS and the Evangelical Church of Kenya. Pastor Dave had a great idea and asked if she would greet the congregation as they left church, so I walked Catherine down the aisle right after Pastor gave the blessing and she did just that. I'm so glad that our members now have a face that they can attach to our Kenya project, instead of just Pastor Kevin, myself and others seemingly saying Kenya, Kenya, Kenya over and over again!
I also introduced Catherine at the 10:45 service and she started her talk by saying "This is my favorite song..." and then she began to sing They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love. Before you knew it, everyone in the sanctuary had joined in. Not a dry eye in the house. Wow! She again said a few words and then we left, I to go home to collapse for awhile and then put together some pictures for the evening festivities and they to go and relax at the Zieschang's.
Sunday evening was the big event we had been planning for since we got back from Kenya. On the Evite, it said it was a Dinner in Appreciation of Catherine and it sure was. I didn't know whether to expect 25 people or 100. There were many other events that night, some at Redeemer, but we had around 45 people for dinner and my guess is that at least another 35 people came by at one time or another to make sure they saw Catherine while she was in Austin. I had a slide show running on the wall of everything that had happened up to that point, including the graduation, our travels and even Catherine and her family at Redeemer that morning. Her mother couldn't quit looking at it and always pointed to pictures that she was in! That made everything that had gone into the planning for this trip worthwhile right there. We had a birthday for Eugene, even though his birthday wasn't until June. We had done the same in Nairobi a couple of weeks earlier. He got serenaded by the whole restaurant while he and his brother Mark were wearing sombreros. It was precious. I was asked to say a few words about the Kenyan project, but instead just introduced Catherine and let her thank everybody. After all, it was her night and everyone there had either been on a mission to Kenya or had been instrumental in making the project what it is today.
Monday morning was spent relaxing, and then Martha, Kay Allensworth, Dan and I took the family to Threadgill's for lunch, where they were introduced to chicken-fried steak. We had a good time at lunch and then Dan and Kay took our friends to Mt. Bonnell for the view, followed by a visit to the Oasis for some libations, desserts and a look at Lake Travis. Finally, they went shopping at the Outlet Mall in Round Rock, so Catherine could bring some souvenirs and gifts back to Nairobi with her.
I picked everybody up at Howard and Martha's Tuesday morning for the ride to Tomball. Catherine had tried to extend the Texas portion of the trip by a few days, but it just didn't work out and they were forced to fly out Tuesday evening from Houston to London. Henry had visa problems, so he had to go back to Kenya from London, while Catherine, her Mom and Eugene were going to spend about 10 days in the UK seeing friends there. We got all of the luggage into the bed of my truck and truly rode to Tomball matatu style, with Eugene in the middle seat next to me. We all laughed when I asked if we could've gotten a couple more people in the truck if we were in Nairobi and Catherine said maybe 10 would fit! Of course, we couldn't pass Brenham without some Blue Bell, which all agreed is the best ice cream in the whole world.
We all got a nice tour of Salem Lutheran Church upon our arrival in Tomball and then we went out for barbecue, which was a nice treat provided by Salem. I couldn't believe our guests had almost gotten away from Texas without experiencing BBQ. That completed the cycle, as they say in baseball. They had Tex-Mex, chicken-fried steak, Blue Bell and BBQ while in the Lone Star State. We said our goodbyes and then I loaded up footlockers in my truck with my friend Gus Jacob to bring back to Austin. They spent the afternoon seeing Mark's new junior college campus and then our Salem friends got them to the airport. What an incredible experience the past week had been. Catherine couldn't quit talking about how everyone that had taken them in or shown them arround was so nice. I had to break it to her that they were the ones who beat out everybody else that wanted to be their hosts and guides. It was a long list. Her mother couldn't believe she knew that many people and will now understand better when she has to work late taking care of us while we are on our next mission. For my part, I was happy to just be the driver and stay in the background as others also shared in the joy of returning Catherine's hospitality. When we are in Kenya, Catherine doesn't always seem to be there, but at the first sign of trouble, she magically appears! She's always just around the corner. I tried to duplicate that, but there is only one Catherine! The whole week was a very good example of a group effort that really worked well. To God be the Glory! Thank you, Jesus!
https://picasaweb.google.com/103425019225851329391/MarkGraduation2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOi4nPjZyeDkhgE&feat=directlink
Well, now that I have had the experience of being Catherine FOR Catherine during her trip to America for her son Mark's high school graduation, I have come to have an even higher respect for all that she does during our mission trips to keep us safe, comfortable and happy in most every way. I began helping her to plan the trip for her and her family even before our recent April-May mission to Kibera and there were still numerous details, including visa snafus, luggage that didn't arrive in Kansas City, etc. that made being flexible along the way a most valued skill. Following is the story from start to finish as best as I can remember it, without too much embellishment!
When I found out earlier this year that Catherine was definitely coming to Concordia, MO for the graduation at St. Paul Lutheran High School, I asked if I could have the honor of being her matatu driver. For those of you that have not been on one of our missions to Kenya, the matatu is a 9-14 passenger all purpose van that is used for everything from taking people to work from the slums, to taking tourists on safaris (since many have a popup roof and are good for photography) to general transport for hire. The drivers are phenomenal, not only skilled in every aspect of driving and repairing their vehicles on the spot, but also expert in many small ways at keeping their passengers from harm by avoiding unsafe areas and situations. They are usually very nice guys as well. So to have Catherine accept my offer to be her matatu driver meant that she was willing to trust herself and her family into my care, a high honor indeed and one that I was most glad to volunteer for and will always cherish.
My initial plan was to fly up to Kansas City and rent an SUV or minivan, depending on the number of passengers, go to the graduation and then bring Catherine and her clan back to Austin to show her some Texas hospitality in response to the loving care she has always given us. Once I factored in the flight, the rental of the van, the one-way dropoff charges, fuel and the like, it became very apparent that this would be unaffordable. I considered using my Ford Supercab, but then the number of travelers eventually swelled to 6, including myself. It would have been possible (and even comfortable by Kenyan standards!), but when my friend Lupe of Casa Chapala and previous African mission trip fame heard my plight, he very generously offered to swap me my truck for his Ford Excursion for the week. Not only that, he had it tuned up, cleaned inside and out and put new tires on it to ensure our safety and comfort. What a great friend he and his wife Lucina are to me. They are a huge blessing to everyone they call their friends at Redeemer.
I started out early on Thursday morning, May 17th and spent the day driving to Joplin, MO, where I had reservations to spend the night at a Microtel. This left me with about 250 miles to go to get to Concordia, MO on Friday in time for the 1:30pm Commencement at St. Paul Lutheran High School. It was an easy day and I arrived around 4pm at my motel, went out to dinner and took it easy in the evening, knowing I would need my rest to make it through the next several days.
The Campus at St. Paul Lutheran High School
Friday morning, I hit the road around 7:30am after having the continental breakfast supplied by the motel and gassing up the Excursion. I took state roads through many small towns, rather than the Interstate, since I had plenty of time and enjoy taking the back roads now and then. Small town America still is alive and well. I arrived in Concordia around 10:30am and drove to the campus to look around. It reminded me of a miniature original Concordia University in Austin, with old brick buildings including dorms, a cafeteria, a chapel, a classroom building, the administration building and a gym. What a beautiful campus it is! With a couple of hours to kill, I drove down Main Street to the business district and was delighted to find a small town similar to the one I grew up in. The church overshadowed the entire downtown, there was a town square with a clock tower and some old time businesses such as a Rexall Drug Store (hadn't seen one in years!) and an antique Ford dealership.
Downtown Concordia, MO
After some fast food near the Interstate, I headed back to campus around noon and found a parking spot under a large shade tree, as it was beginning to get warm. As I stepped from the Excursion, I saw some gentlemen standing there and inquired as to the time and exact building the Commencement would be in, allowing that I had just arrived from Austin, TX. One of them said "Austin! What's your name? I told him and he remembered me, it was Pastor Norb Firnhaber, formerly the pastor at the University Lutheran Church at UT. I knew him from his days on campus. He was in town because it was his 50th reunion. When he was in school, it was all male and was a six year institution, high school plus the first two years of college. Many pastors and church workers have come from this place. I went with Pastor Norb to the cafeteria, where lunch was being served to parents that had already arrived. I was in search of Catherine and her entourage, but didn't see any of them. I retreated back to the SUV and rested my eyes as I waited for the festivities to begin. Around 1pm I finally found Rhoda Houge, Catherine's former boss in Nairobi and Uncle Henry, a family friend and mentor to Mark who had also come from Nairobi for the graduation. We had a nice talk and waited for Catherine, her mother and Eugene to return from Mark's dorm room. We finally all gathered together out in front of the gym and went in together just in time for the ceremonies.
Mark gives his Mom a rose and a big hug
The graduation was as full of pomp and circumstance as any I had ever been to. Wonderful hymns were sung by the choir, the speaker was short and to the point and the afternoon focused on the graduates and on the 50th reunion class. One of the most touching aspects for me was that each graduate was given a bouquet of red roses and there was time for them to go around and give them to their classmates and loved ones. Mark was so wrapped up with his friends, particularly the girls, that I went over and reminded him that he needed to make sure that he got around to his mother and grandmother before he ran out of roses!
After the graduation, I went back to my motel room and put together all of the pictures that I had taken so far and arranged them on my laptop. When I went to the Mike Rodewald's house, where the family was staying, they were amazed that the afternoon's events from only a couple of hours before were ready for viewing. We went to a potluck at the home of Gail, Mark's surrogate mother during his school days in Concordia. It was wonderful, many of Mark's classmates and their parents were there and we all shared many stories and laughs. Catherine's luggage had gotten diverted between London and Chicago and much of it hadn't arrived yet. She had brought Kenyan spices and other fixin's for her contribution to the potluck. With some help from Rhoda, she managed to make some chapatis or flat bread, which everyone used like a tortilla to wrap their food rather than folding it up and eating it like bread, as they do in Kenya. I told Catherine she would see tortillas soon enough and then she would understand why people did this. She also brought some wonderful chicken, pulled pork, beans and rice. Everyone loved it.
After the party, we visited along with Claude and Rhoda Houge, our retired career missionaries who had been working in all of east Africa and with whom I served a couple of years. We shared some great stories before I left early to get some rest for the big day's drive that I knew was ahead on Saturday.
Saturday morning I went down to the lobby of the motel for the continental breakfast and was sitting with a trucker that was obviously a Christian, since he blessed his food before eating. He was a great guy and he too had a long haul ahead of him, which is a day of over 1,000 miles by definition, at least according to him. I was wearing one of my Christian t-shirts from the Voice of the Martyrs that says "This shirt is illegal" on the front and has the Gospel message on the back to highlight the fact that many people have to go underground in various countries to practice their faith. A woman about my age overheard our conversation and asked if she could join us. The trucker needed to leave, so I spent some time one-on-one with her. She was a Canadian lady named Elaine. She had just come from Cambodia, where she was working on rescuing young women and men from the sex slavery trade that is practiced at the high dollar casinos there. It made my missions to Kenya look tame by comparison. We really hit it off and we prayed for each other's ministries before we parted company. You never know where Jesus will show up when you least expect Him to!
I arrived about 7:40am to begin loading up, since we had agreed upon an 8am start for what promised to be a 12 hour drive under the best of circumstances. I had no delusions that even a long day like that was likely, traveling with 6 of us. Everyone had their luggage except for Mark and Eugene, who were nowhere to be found. Henry went looking for him, and as it turned out, Mark was having a hard time saying his last minute goodbyes in a timely fashion at the dorm a few blocks away. We took some pictures on the lawn of the Rodewald home with the family, Mark and his friends, etc. I finally got everyone herded into the Excursion and we were all waving goodbye to about 20 people on the lawn when the unthinkable occurred. I turned the key and nothing happened! They don't make movies better than this. One of the Dad's came and jumped our battery a few minuted later and we headed for a NAPA parts store a few blocks away. They made it clear that they would sell me a battery, but that they don't install them. At least they tested the charging system for me and it was fine. Henry and I spent the next ten minutes sweating and swapping out the battery. We had a big laugh when the old one was lifted out and there was a neon green sticker on it that said "used battery". It doesn't get any better than that! The laugh we shared made it all worth it.
We finally hit the road at 9am and were making good time until there was a massive backup less than 2 miles from our turnoff in Kansas City, which had been caused by an accident. We spent at least 45 minutes inching along before things started to move and we finally began to head south on I-35 for Texas. When lunchtime arrived, I treated everybody to Subway, since each of us could have some control over what went into our sandwiches and Catherine and her family seemed to like it pretty well. During our whole time together that week, we had to keep making sure we asked for drinks with no ice, since they prefer room temperature drinks. Also, we tried to stick to the bland side on food, since for the most part, Kenyans don't spice up their food much. Mark had been in the States for his high school, so he was the exception and we each had Jalepeno chips and cold drinks with ice and laughed about it.
My friends were still suffering from a good bit of jet lag, so there was a lot of sleeping going on between stops, which allowed me to drive for 3 or 4 hours at a time. The Interstate and the tollways in Kansas and Oklahoma had speed limits as high as 80MPH. When I told them we were doing 80 it didn't really register until I said that we had been driving over 120 kilometers per hour. While there are some good Interstate quality roads in Kenya, and the Chinese are building many more for them right now, there are speed bumps anytime you drive in front of a school. So even on good roads, you can't really get going or have the luxury of setting it on cruise control and relaxing. And there are many bad roads. I'm sure one of their big impressions of their visit here was the quality of the roads and the speed at which you can travel.
There usually was at least one of the group that was awake, particularly Henry, who acted as my co-pilot and kept an eye out that I didn't look drowsy. Lots of coffee and other caffeinated drinks did the trick. None of the them could or would dare to drive, since we drive on the other side of the street and they are unfamiliar with things such as street lights. In Nairobi, there are roundabouts most everywhere for traffic control. There are a few traffic lights, but policemen are posted at each one directing traffic and they override whatever the light is telling one to do. I let them know that there was no danger of me wanting to drive in their country either!
We reached the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex around 6pm and had our final fillup on the Excursion at a gas station next to a McDonald's. Except for Mark, none of them had been to one before. Catherine treated us and everyone like it. Mark and I had to show them how to eat fries with ketchup, and of course, it was very hard to make sure we got drinks without ice! We enjoyed a view of downtown Dallas as we were passing through right before sunset that was really nice. We finally arrived at Howard and Martha Faskes in Georgetown at 10:30pm, got everything unloaded and I got home at 11:30 on the dot, fourteen and a half hours after we set out for Austin. A new record for me for solo driving and something I would not recommend even attempting to my fellow 60 year olds! But it was well worth it and none of us will ever forget Dave being the consummate matatu driver nor how strong jet lag can be.
Catherine says hello to Redeemer
I was up bright and early to do my usual Sunday morning 7:15am prayers with the Pastors and a steadfast group of others that do the same and then managed to teach my Sunday school class at 8:15, though I don't know how I did it or what I taught. Catherine and her family made it to Redeemer in time for 9:30 church. Dan, Mary and the Zieschang kids took the boys to Sunday school and they had a great time meeting others and enjoyed the lessons they were taught. I introduced Catherine at the 9:30 service and she greeted the congregation and gave a very nice talk about the partnership between Redeemer, the LCMS and the Evangelical Church of Kenya. Pastor Dave had a great idea and asked if she would greet the congregation as they left church, so I walked Catherine down the aisle right after Pastor gave the blessing and she did just that. I'm so glad that our members now have a face that they can attach to our Kenya project, instead of just Pastor Kevin, myself and others seemingly saying Kenya, Kenya, Kenya over and over again!
I also introduced Catherine at the 10:45 service and she started her talk by saying "This is my favorite song..." and then she began to sing They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love. Before you knew it, everyone in the sanctuary had joined in. Not a dry eye in the house. Wow! She again said a few words and then we left, I to go home to collapse for awhile and then put together some pictures for the evening festivities and they to go and relax at the Zieschang's.
Eugene has yet another birthday
Sunday evening was the big event we had been planning for since we got back from Kenya. On the Evite, it said it was a Dinner in Appreciation of Catherine and it sure was. I didn't know whether to expect 25 people or 100. There were many other events that night, some at Redeemer, but we had around 45 people for dinner and my guess is that at least another 35 people came by at one time or another to make sure they saw Catherine while she was in Austin. I had a slide show running on the wall of everything that had happened up to that point, including the graduation, our travels and even Catherine and her family at Redeemer that morning. Her mother couldn't quit looking at it and always pointed to pictures that she was in! That made everything that had gone into the planning for this trip worthwhile right there. We had a birthday for Eugene, even though his birthday wasn't until June. We had done the same in Nairobi a couple of weeks earlier. He got serenaded by the whole restaurant while he and his brother Mark were wearing sombreros. It was precious. I was asked to say a few words about the Kenyan project, but instead just introduced Catherine and let her thank everybody. After all, it was her night and everyone there had either been on a mission to Kenya or had been instrumental in making the project what it is today.
Monday morning was spent relaxing, and then Martha, Kay Allensworth, Dan and I took the family to Threadgill's for lunch, where they were introduced to chicken-fried steak. We had a good time at lunch and then Dan and Kay took our friends to Mt. Bonnell for the view, followed by a visit to the Oasis for some libations, desserts and a look at Lake Travis. Finally, they went shopping at the Outlet Mall in Round Rock, so Catherine could bring some souvenirs and gifts back to Nairobi with her.
I picked everybody up at Howard and Martha's Tuesday morning for the ride to Tomball. Catherine had tried to extend the Texas portion of the trip by a few days, but it just didn't work out and they were forced to fly out Tuesday evening from Houston to London. Henry had visa problems, so he had to go back to Kenya from London, while Catherine, her Mom and Eugene were going to spend about 10 days in the UK seeing friends there. We got all of the luggage into the bed of my truck and truly rode to Tomball matatu style, with Eugene in the middle seat next to me. We all laughed when I asked if we could've gotten a couple more people in the truck if we were in Nairobi and Catherine said maybe 10 would fit! Of course, we couldn't pass Brenham without some Blue Bell, which all agreed is the best ice cream in the whole world.
We all got a nice tour of Salem Lutheran Church upon our arrival in Tomball and then we went out for barbecue, which was a nice treat provided by Salem. I couldn't believe our guests had almost gotten away from Texas without experiencing BBQ. That completed the cycle, as they say in baseball. They had Tex-Mex, chicken-fried steak, Blue Bell and BBQ while in the Lone Star State. We said our goodbyes and then I loaded up footlockers in my truck with my friend Gus Jacob to bring back to Austin. They spent the afternoon seeing Mark's new junior college campus and then our Salem friends got them to the airport. What an incredible experience the past week had been. Catherine couldn't quit talking about how everyone that had taken them in or shown them arround was so nice. I had to break it to her that they were the ones who beat out everybody else that wanted to be their hosts and guides. It was a long list. Her mother couldn't believe she knew that many people and will now understand better when she has to work late taking care of us while we are on our next mission. For my part, I was happy to just be the driver and stay in the background as others also shared in the joy of returning Catherine's hospitality. When we are in Kenya, Catherine doesn't always seem to be there, but at the first sign of trouble, she magically appears! She's always just around the corner. I tried to duplicate that, but there is only one Catherine! The whole week was a very good example of a group effort that really worked well. To God be the Glory! Thank you, Jesus!
Monday, May 7, 2012
More pictures added Saturday, May 12th
There are now over 400 pictures with captions in chronological order. As I continue to gather up more pictures from the rest of the team, I will replace any of mine as better pictures from the others appear. Click on the link below to go to the pictures. The set now consists of pictures from myself, Lupe, Kay and new addtions as of today from Justin including some great macro flower and lizard shots as well as an outstanding panorama of the Great Rift Valley. Enjoy!
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=103425019225851329391&target=ALBUM&id=5734943569384173153&authkey=Gv1sRgCNHVsfXsu8DchAE&feat=email
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=103425019225851329391&target=ALBUM&id=5734943569384173153&authkey=Gv1sRgCNHVsfXsu8DchAE&feat=email
Travel home
I am having a hot cup of black coffee in Heathrow Airport as this is being written. Our Saturday excursion to the Lake Nakuru wild game park was probably the most eventful daytrip I have been involved with, even though this is now my seventh mission trip in a row since getting involved with the Vision Kenya Project. We had an early breakfast and were on the road before 6:30am. When we got to the Great Rift Valley overlooks, the valley was still fogged in and while it was beautiful, it was not worth the stop at the time. We did stop for a few minutes and took some good photos further on up the road across the valley. I put my camera into panorama mode and am hoping to end up with a spectacular result once I can work some magic on my computer. As we got to within about 20km of the town of Nakuru, the matatu began making a loud racket and shook like we had blown a tire. We pulled off to the side of the road and the tires were fine. Our driver, Caius, crawled under the van and saw that there were some loose connections in the drivetrain. We let the van cool down and then limped into town and went to a small repair facility that his transport company had used previously. In less than half an hour, they had done a temporary fix that included some wrenching and pumping fluid into the transmission. We were able to continue with our safari while the repair shop procured needed replacement parts. We saw white and black rhinos, gazelles, chevrons, impalas (does this sound like a Chevy commercial or what?), many species of birds, baboons, monkeys and we concluded the trip with an up close and personal look at an obviously injured large female lion resting on the side of the road. We had to quickly close the windows on that side of the van for safety sake. We shortened the safari a little bit to allow time for finishing the vehicle repair, which occurred while we were in a nearby souvenir stand. It actually worked out well, because Pastor Preece was able to get his long sought after Masai warrior club and several others in the group got some neat trinkets. I have a strong suspicion that club will make an appearance in at least one sermon and will be a welcome new addition to Pastor's office decor. Our trip back to Nairobi was uneventful and we did manage to stop for a few minutes at the scenic overlook we had skipped in the morning. Fairly aggressive souvenir vendors came out of the woodwork hawking their wares and more than one of us succumbed to temptation. We arrived at our Nairobi lodgings about an hour and a half later than planned, but we still had time for showers and some pizza before we had to load up our buses prior to heading to the airport. We left for the airport around 6pm rather than our usual 7pm due to concerns about heavy traffic that had dogged us all week with the abundant rains. It's a good thing that we did, since our trip took over two hours, lots of rain and involved several shortcuts I had not seen before. Our drivers are amazing, turning full sized buses around in areas where I couldn't do a three point turnabout with my pickup truck.
Our time at Heathrow went very smoothly this morning, with the exception of a few of us being required to check our carry ons to make more room due to a nearly full flight back to the U.S. I escaped this fate and I'm glad I did, since I like to have my tablet computer, camera and other small electronics in my possession at all times. We are now traveling over the Atlantic Ocean west of Ireland at 35,000 feet speeding along at 547mph. At this point, it looks as if we'll arrive in Houston right on time at 2:45pm. I'll try to get a bit of rest between now and touchdown, since my body is adjusted to an 8 hour time difference. By the time we clear Customs and Immigration checks, it'll be 4pm, but my body will be telling me that it's midnight in Nairobi with a drive home to Austin still ahead of Lupe and myself. As usual, we'll be wrestling more than 50 footlockers and assorted personal items through several checkpoints as a large group, so anything is possible. More to follow after we get home. Thanks be to God for travel mercies and the way He has used each of us in His service!
Our time at Heathrow went very smoothly this morning, with the exception of a few of us being required to check our carry ons to make more room due to a nearly full flight back to the U.S. I escaped this fate and I'm glad I did, since I like to have my tablet computer, camera and other small electronics in my possession at all times. We are now traveling over the Atlantic Ocean west of Ireland at 35,000 feet speeding along at 547mph. At this point, it looks as if we'll arrive in Houston right on time at 2:45pm. I'll try to get a bit of rest between now and touchdown, since my body is adjusted to an 8 hour time difference. By the time we clear Customs and Immigration checks, it'll be 4pm, but my body will be telling me that it's midnight in Nairobi with a drive home to Austin still ahead of Lupe and myself. As usual, we'll be wrestling more than 50 footlockers and assorted personal items through several checkpoints as a large group, so anything is possible. More to follow after we get home. Thanks be to God for travel mercies and the way He has used each of us in His service!
Friday, our final day of the clinic
Last night we got in a little late for dinner and all retired to our rooms for a free night to catch up on some rest. I went to bed about 10pm, with all of my electronics plugged in and recharging. I woke up briefly around 11pm and realized that there had been a power failure. We have had lots of rain, lightning and thunder this trip, and so I thought the outage might last from a few minutes to an hour. Wrong! It was still out when I got up around 5:30am, so I got dressed and headed over to the cafeteria, only to find a surprise. There in a candle lit kitchen stood Lupe preparing breakfast for the gang! He outdid himself this time. Eggs he had ordered the night before had not arrived, but he was able to patch together some freshly made tortillas, and some potatoes and salsa to form breakfast tacos. We all appreciate him so much. I told Pastor Kevin that I couldn't stop him from being Lupe if I wanted to and I don't want to. What a great friend he is!
We are now nearing the end of our mission trip. We had a good final day and saw 403 people in the clinic. Our total for the week was 1944 people that actually registered for and entered the clinic. We always have a larger number at the gate, since not all people come to the clinic after our evangelism efforts. They could be waiting for a friend or relative, etc. While we are in a neighborhood where the population includes a significant number of Muslims, there were really no confrontations, but a few decided not to come into the evangelism tents as a prerequisite for treatment. Pastor Kevin left a little before 4pm and then I became the short term team leader just in time to box everything up and shut down the clinic. That all went very smoothly. We had a nice devotion led by Bishop Bakari which included letting team members from each side give testimonies as to what they had observed during the week. All church and Redeemer team members were very much in agreement that these clinics are a blessing to the church and to the surrounding area and that the week had been one of joy as we worked together. We then had chosen people from the church and our team make a final testimony. Sally, who was in charge of our registration process gave a beautiful witness as to how much the clinic helped the church and the community. Pastor Preece had a powerful talk on what he had observed of the African mind, African music and on the might of the African people. He has been a real blessing to everyone involved this week, including Bishop Bakari who absolutely loves his preaching. The congregation sang a blessing song over each of the Redeemer team members by name that was very special, with hardly a dry eye in the sanctuary. Pastor Bakari insisted that we once again sing the Doxology for him and it was so well received that the congregation insisted on a second time around. I will never think of the Doxology the same way again when I sing it. It was powerful, beautiful and the acoustics of the church made it all the better.
We packed up our foot lockers in a pickup truck that Catherine had sent for us and then rode back to Scripture Mission for dinner with Catherine. There we planned our safari at Lake Nakuru and for our final Saturday afternoon festivities before we head back to the States tomorrow night. More to follow tomorrow afternoon if time permits.
We are now nearing the end of our mission trip. We had a good final day and saw 403 people in the clinic. Our total for the week was 1944 people that actually registered for and entered the clinic. We always have a larger number at the gate, since not all people come to the clinic after our evangelism efforts. They could be waiting for a friend or relative, etc. While we are in a neighborhood where the population includes a significant number of Muslims, there were really no confrontations, but a few decided not to come into the evangelism tents as a prerequisite for treatment. Pastor Kevin left a little before 4pm and then I became the short term team leader just in time to box everything up and shut down the clinic. That all went very smoothly. We had a nice devotion led by Bishop Bakari which included letting team members from each side give testimonies as to what they had observed during the week. All church and Redeemer team members were very much in agreement that these clinics are a blessing to the church and to the surrounding area and that the week had been one of joy as we worked together. We then had chosen people from the church and our team make a final testimony. Sally, who was in charge of our registration process gave a beautiful witness as to how much the clinic helped the church and the community. Pastor Preece had a powerful talk on what he had observed of the African mind, African music and on the might of the African people. He has been a real blessing to everyone involved this week, including Bishop Bakari who absolutely loves his preaching. The congregation sang a blessing song over each of the Redeemer team members by name that was very special, with hardly a dry eye in the sanctuary. Pastor Bakari insisted that we once again sing the Doxology for him and it was so well received that the congregation insisted on a second time around. I will never think of the Doxology the same way again when I sing it. It was powerful, beautiful and the acoustics of the church made it all the better.
We packed up our foot lockers in a pickup truck that Catherine had sent for us and then rode back to Scripture Mission for dinner with Catherine. There we planned our safari at Lake Nakuru and for our final Saturday afternoon festivities before we head back to the States tomorrow night. More to follow tomorrow afternoon if time permits.
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