We had a very full Saturday, beginning with leaving our compound for a wild game photo safari. I really enjoyed watching all of the reactions of our team members to the incredible scenery that God had created just for us and the amazing variety of animals from giraffes to zebras to baboons to water buffalo and the list just goes on and on. After the safari, we took a short ride to the elephant orpanage featured on 60 Minutes recently. You can learn about it on YouTube. Next on our agenda was lunch at the Veranda, where we sat outdoors and had some very good entrees for less than $10 including tip. I had deep fried prawns and fries and it was excellent. While we were in the middle of shopping for some souvenirs, Pastor Dave and I were called back to the LCMS offices for a meeting that had been scheduled for an hour and a half later. We were to meet with Bishop Obare, the head of the Kenyan Church, his staff and other interested parties but he and others in the highest level of the national church were forced to leave Nairobi for an installation of a regional bishop the next day. The scheduling for the installation had changed at the last minute and they were facing at least an 8 hour drive late into the night. We worshipped at the Scripture Mission with the other mission teams around 6pm and were nicely surprised that two choirs from Springs of Life Lutheran Church, where we serve each spring, were there to help in the worship. We had dinner and I then participated in a brief meeting with other team leaders. I got to bed and was so exhausted that I slept through the night. Normally, I don't get a really good night's sleep until Tuesday night or so. What a blessing.
Early Sunday morning was spent having breakfast and sending the other teams off. We helped load footlockers and said goodbye to our friends, even if just for a little while. We made our way to the church in Kawangware for worship. Our driver, Boniface, has driven us on day trips before and is wonderful. There is new road construction in the slum, so we had to take some back streets there none of us believed a bus could navigate, but he is a master. He has been the driver for Ralph and Louise during their Meru clinics and everyone highly respects him, both as a driver and as a person. We were greeted by many old friends and it was a joy to introduce our new team members to Pastor Zedekiah and his congregation, both before and during their wonderful services. Although church here regularly runs over 3 hours, it goes by too quickly. There was wonderful music from several choirs and music ranged from liturgical to African to praise songs. After church, we unloaded our footlockers from the bus and placed them so we could get a jump on things Monday morning. We went out for a quick lunch and then traveled to Kibera, where we again met with old friends and showed those who had not been there the church. Our day ended with buying supplies at Nakumatt, a store similar to a Walmart, before returning to our lodgings for dinner. We will be getting up early in order to be on our bus at 6:30am to begin our first day of the vision and dental clinics.
Please stay tuned and come back often, as I will be editing and adding to these posts both during the trip and afterwards. I try to get something posted as soon as possible, but the constraints of time, my energy and the tug of details that the leading of the team entails means my first reports may be a little terse. Their purpose is to give you, dear reader, a blow by blow account as the mission progresses. Also, pictures will continue to be added during and after the trip. I always reflect on each trip a short time after it is over and will let you know when I consider things to be complete with the blog for this trip.
Early Sunday morning was spent having breakfast and sending the other teams off. We helped load footlockers and said goodbye to our friends, even if just for a little while. We made our way to the church in Kawangware for worship. Our driver, Boniface, has driven us on day trips before and is wonderful. There is new road construction in the slum, so we had to take some back streets there none of us believed a bus could navigate, but he is a master. He has been the driver for Ralph and Louise during their Meru clinics and everyone highly respects him, both as a driver and as a person. We were greeted by many old friends and it was a joy to introduce our new team members to Pastor Zedekiah and his congregation, both before and during their wonderful services. Although church here regularly runs over 3 hours, it goes by too quickly. There was wonderful music from several choirs and music ranged from liturgical to African to praise songs. After church, we unloaded our footlockers from the bus and placed them so we could get a jump on things Monday morning. We went out for a quick lunch and then traveled to Kibera, where we again met with old friends and showed those who had not been there the church. Our day ended with buying supplies at Nakumatt, a store similar to a Walmart, before returning to our lodgings for dinner. We will be getting up early in order to be on our bus at 6:30am to begin our first day of the vision and dental clinics.
Please stay tuned and come back often, as I will be editing and adding to these posts both during the trip and afterwards. I try to get something posted as soon as possible, but the constraints of time, my energy and the tug of details that the leading of the team entails means my first reports may be a little terse. Their purpose is to give you, dear reader, a blow by blow account as the mission progresses. Also, pictures will continue to be added during and after the trip. I always reflect on each trip a short time after it is over and will let you know when I consider things to be complete with the blog for this trip.
Don't forget to send pictures of the well so we can celebrate this achievement at home!
ReplyDelete- Lauren