Sunday happenings

It is midnight in Nairobi as I write this.  My body is telling me it is still 3 pm in Austin.  I went to bed around 9 pm and did sleep soundly, but am wide awake for the moment, so I thought I'd catch you up on our Sunday.

I got up about 6:30 and went down to breakfast with Sandra, the Zochs and the other teams and shared our travelogue with them.  Lots of poking fun at me and honest commiserating by those who had their own war stories over the years.  We all have a great determination to do this human care ministry, so we just buckle down when the Devil throws us a curve ball or two.  And we just keep smiling, he hates that!  Pastor Kevin wandered in and shared his perspective on our adventure as well.

We loaded up a truck with our footlockers and larger luggage and our van for the week with our personal items and headed for Rosa Mystica, a familiar place to most of us.  It is also a Catholic convent with lodging for missionaries and other Christian workers.  It is right next to a nice upscale mall called the Junction, where we can eat and get any supplies during the week that we may need at the Nakumat, a store similar to a Super Wal-Mart that anchors one end of the mall.

Our next stop was the church in Kawangware where we will be serving this week.  We saw Pastor James and many old friends including Thomas, Barrack, Elizabeth, Joyce and many others.  The worship service was awesome as usual, with traditional Lutheran liturgy and hymns, and choir and congregational music that ran the gamut of styles.  One young girl did a solo song that was very complex with no notes or music, it was very well received by all.  The children were sent out to their SundaySchool and Sandra went with them and was asked to lead the class which she did.  She had a blast and commented on how well behaved the 75 little ones were.  Out of deference to us, Pastor James had Thomas translate his sermon as he spoke about Matthew 18 and tied it into the forgiveness found in the parable of the Prodigal Son. He was on fire.  Church lasted about the usual 3 hours and then Pastor James had the men of the congregation help us to get the sanctuary organized for the clinic, which was a huge help.

We went to the Junction and had lunch around 2:30 at the Java House, which is like a Starbucks with a good restaurant.  We ate outdoors, at a table under an umbrella.  From there, we exchanged some of dollars for Kenyan shillings.  The rate is about 100 Ksh per dollar right now, so our usually 1000 shilling notes are almost exactly $10.  On previous trips, this was worth as much as maybe $13. We finished by buying snacks and incidentals for the clinic at Nakumat.

Upon our return to Rosa Mystica, we gathered for a devotion I like to do before each clinic from Oswald Chambers and each shared our reasons for coming on this trip and what we expected the upcoming week to bring.  It's fun to compare these thoughts at the end of the week.

Since we had such a late lunch, we all did personal things for the rest of the evening.  Some calling home on our team phone, me catching up on the blog and others getting an early night's sleep.  All is well and we are ready to begin our work tomorrow.  Please keep us in ou prayers for a joyful, safe and effective mission.  Time to try to get back to sleep...