5/1/2010 Saturday in Nairobi

We all feel much better after getting some rest. Being able to lie down horizontally is a big improvement over airplane seats. There were two options for the team today, either get up in and breakfast in time for a 6:30am ride out to the wild game park near Nairobi that some of us had already gone to last November or do some sightseeing around Karen, including the Karen Blitzen museum, seeing bead necklaces being made, a giraffe petting zoo, etc. Some of the group did that while I was in meetings all day with the pastors from each church which is going to host a clinic, the Salem team leaders, the LCMS missionaries and representatives at the national and diocese levels of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya. We met all morning and had lunch around 1:30pm. We continued our meetings after lunch until about 3:30pm. I am very thankful I was able to work with all of these church leaders today. In addition to the church business we covered, our pastor from Kawangware, who is an expert on Islam, gave a presentation on how to effectively witness to Muslims who come to our clinics and how the pastors should work with them afterwards over the long haul. I got a much needed nap and then bought a shirt from the same lady who makes custom made shirts in support of her mission to the children in the slums of Nairobi. She remembered me from our November trip because we wouldn’t pay her asking price but insisted on paying more. She had never seen crazy American people barter her price upwards. We were all glad to help with her much needed ministry. We worshipped as a group tonight at 6pm along with our pastor friends. Our pastor at Kibera, Pastor Dennis Meeker led Vespers and said he hadn’t done it in English in ages. Rhoda played piano and the hymns we sang out of the old blue hymnal were “Lift High the Cross”, “Abide with Me” and "The Church's One Foundation". Pastor had a wonderful sermon on serving others, very appropriate for our group. After services, dinner was served which consisted of chicken, rice and salad with watermelon for dessert. While the rest of the group ate, the team leaders met for about half an hour going over last minute details, so there wasn’t a lot of food left by the time we got into the dining room. I snacked a little after dinner to break even. In the morning, the groups that are going out into the countryside will begin their travel, while our team in Nairobi will worship at 10am at the church in Kibera. Some of the teams are less than three hours away from their host churches and are leaving very early in order to be able to worship with the local congregations where they will be serving.