More stories about the holidays…

NAKURU…
I didn’t mention anything in the last update about the awesome family trip that we took to Kenya. A week before Christmas 10 of us traveled across the Malaba border into new territory for me, Kenya. After stopping at the border to get a one time visa we were off. I was surprised that Mbale is only about an hour and fifteen minute drive from the border. The first main difference I noticed in Kenya was that they required everyone to wear a seatbelt. The second main difference I noticed is that they have police checks what seemed like every 50 miles. Sometimes they would flag you down, glance inside, and send you off, but other times they would ask all sorts of seemingly ridiculous questions (for example: even though we have Ugandan license plates we were often asked, “Where are you from?”) Maybe it was for protection but maybe the questioning was a slight power trip. All in all we had no trouble and were freed to pass the road blocks.

In Kenya we were headed to Nakuru, but in order to get there we had to pass through the East African Rift Valley. At the beginning of the drive it was really beautiful. The land was lush and green and we were driving though the mountains so there were beautiful areas of overlooking into the valley. But then we got into the actual rift of the valley. I don’t know exactly what the definition of “rift” is, but maybe it means dry, dead, and deserted. Actually there were people living in this area but I have never seen a place so dry. The only source of food I saw were goats and honey, in which it seemed at every road hump along the way there was a woman waiting at a stand hoping you would by from her. Realizing that people cannot survive on honey and goats alone, curiosity got the best of me and I had to ask what these people eat. Mama said that they sell the honey and sometimes their goats and travel to the nearest town to buy other types of food. I will tell you that the life of survival that he people in the Rift Valley do is rough and seemed to be simply survival.

As we got closer to Nakuru the sight of green trees became more frequent again. We arrived in the evening and to my surprise it was cold. Very cold. Maybe very cold is a slight exaggeration because it was realistically about 50 degrees, but remember that it has only been getting hotter here, so I have not tasted winter weather this Dec. We stayed at Pastor’s brother’s house. This couple is very very nice. We all really enjoyed there place. We also got to visit the hospital in which both of the work at. He is a doctor and she is the head nurse there.

The next morning we headed to Nakuru National Park. As you drive into the park you are moving towards as sea of pink. FLAMINGOS! Wow. There were thousands of them and I learned that not all flamingos are pink. We also were able to see monkeys, baboons, zebra, rhinos, huge storks, wildebeest, and gemsbok. Midway through our day we stopped at a scenic overlook in which you are allowed to get out and move around or have a picnic. Well, the baboons have learned that people come with food to this spot, so as we were taking pictures in a gazebo that overlooks the park, a huge baboon sneaks up from the side of the cliff and jumps over the wall into the gazebo. As you can imagine there were screams and we were all running. Well, little did we know that this guy would come for food. As we were running he kept following us until Mama shouted, “Give him the peanuts’. So we threw them and he stopped his chase. It was quite thrilling to be chased by this guy and I have never jumped into a van a shut the door so quickly.

The next day we took a drive back into the Rift Valley to Lake Bogoria National Park. Here we also saw flamingos and zebra, but the main attraction was the hot springs. Some areas had water shooting out of the rocks like geysers and some areas were just bubbling water. There were even spots that the ground was beginning to deteriorate and so water was seeping up and creating boiling mud holes. I was curious, along with everyone else, so I did attempt to touch the water, despite the warning signs, and it was boiling. No one fell in and so we headed back out to do some shopping in town for crafts and supermarket things because they have much bigger supermarkets than in Mbale.

We left Nakuru very early and spent half the day traveling back. Minor mishap of a leaking tire, but Praise the Lord for the driver’s awareness and for God’s traveling mercies to get us to and from Kenya. Maybe I will get to go to the beach in Kenya next time?

BUKASACHA…
The youth group at church went to a sister church to visit last week. It was such a blessing to my heart and to the people at that church. The church is up the mountain, about 20 min outside Mbale town. Well, there was no church sign on the windy mountain road, so we passed it and proceeded up the mountain, only to realize we had gone way too far. But I had never been up the mountain so I was absorbing everything I could see. Having grown up in Austin, I can’t imagine life in which everything you need to sustain yourself you grow, care for, or fetch. For example, the people on the mountain eat from their gardens and have assembled as sort of tube system to collect the small water streams from the mountain and use the tube to run the water into a small pool. Or they can place their jerrycan under the tube and the water drains right in. Maybe this is too much detail, but I was really fascinated at how clever this was. It saves time, assures water is there, and gives clean water (more so than the boreholes).

Back to the church visit. Once we found our way by stopping 4 times to ask the locals, we reached the church and were very warmly welcomed by the pastor and some of the youth. The church was decorated so beautifully for our visit, with strings hung in every direction and balloons and flowers hanging from the stings. During the service they had each of us stand and introduce ourselves and ALL of the elders and deacons of the church gave us a public greeting and welcome. The value of the church body, as a whole of believers, was very evident here. The Lord does not desire for us to work alone, but to fellowship and be encouraged, taught, corrected, and loved by one another. And in return, as with most spiritual things, you too are also blessed. Every member of the body of Christ needs each other. We cannot do it alone and were not meant to; that is why God gave different gifts to different people. So just as our visit encouraged this church, I too was (and am) reminded of how encouraged I am by you. Yes, you, if you are reading this, especially my brothers and sisters who are standing beside me in prayer and financial support. Thank you because I cannot be here without you. There are many daily details of life that happen that I see the Lord’s hand in teaching or protecting and I know that it is by His grace and that there are people back home who are lifting me and particular situations up in prayer. How sweet it is to partner together and all walk obediently in whatever God has called us to. I pray that we would all walk in excellence, and not just routine.

So, thank you again for reading and keeping me updated on your life. I want to wish you a very Happy New Year. I will have begun 2008 nine hours before most of you, so I don’t think I will be watching and counting down with those in Time Square, but I do have plans to see fireworks at a nearby hotel and I hear there is going to be dancing (and I really like to dance!), so it should be fun.