October 20th

Monday, October 20, 2008

Today is a national holiday in Kenya, known as Hero Day. It was originally like our Presidents Day, in honor of the first Kenyan president, Jomo Kenyatta, but now it has been expanded to include other national heros as well. Since this is a national holiday, all the government businesses are closed, and many individual businesses were also closed, or opened later than usual. Charles needed to get some work done on his car, so I made arrangements for Paul to pick us up and take us to Kangari - one of the largest churches in the Nairobi area. We were supposed to leave the hotel this morning at 8:00, but it didn’t work out that way. Paul had some problems with his car battery, and that delay our departure until almost 10:00. This actually worked out for the best since Bruce and Russ has some errands to run early in the morning and they were not able to get them done because the shops opened so late. The delay gave them time to get that finished by the time Paul arrived.

Charles our faithful driver and his trusty steed!

From the Hotel Southern Blue we drove north east out of Nairobi to Thika which is another large city outside Nairobi. We passed the Delmonte pineapple plantation, and the university where Paul teaches Nuclear Chemical engineering. But then our route northwesterly. Up, up, up into the hills we drove on our way to Kangari. We left the dry plains behind and entered a different world. This land, which is much higher in elevation is very fertile and is used to grow coffee, bananas, and tea. This area is very hilly, but it is full of beautiful green plants of many colors. Jackaranda trees were in full bloom with their purple flowers standing out in contrast with the greens. We also saw a few yellow Oleander trees which were very beautiful as well. On the hills the farmers have dug out steppes in order to facilitate working on the steep slopes as they harvest the tea leaves. It is a very prosperous area, but with few modern features that are enjoyed in the big city. They are a generally hard working people who are content with the lesser things in life.

When we arrived at the church the members were signing a hymn in English – “I am a soldier of the Lord.” It fit in very well with Russ’s presentation of the Armor of God, so after Bruce spoke the opening hymn, Russ spoke first. After another hymn (with parts in English) I was asked to speak. I spoke about the pictures used by God in Scripture to describe our relationship with him. The picture I used was the deep rooted tree in the book of Jeremiah. We don’t want to be the kind of tree that has no roots and blows over in time of drought and storm. The one who trusts in the Lord is described as one who has deep roots and will be able to stand in times of difficulty. I reminded them that our strength comes from the Lord through the power of His Word, so we should treasure it, use it and proclaim it faithfully.

Then Bruce, Russ and I sang “God’s Word is our Great Heritage”. We all start with the melody and then we break into parts. I continue with the melody, Bruce takes the tenor and Russ the Bass. I think it sounded pretty good, but I’m not exactly sure what they think about it!

When that was over we thought the service was closing, but Paul asked Bruce to speak as well. So Bruce told the story of David and Goliath and explained that our power is not in spears, slings, or swords, but in the Name of our Lord Jesus. The congregation then sang “Kum ba ya” (with the English verses) and we closed with a prayer by Pastor Jeremiah.

After the service, we took a congregational picture, and then went back inside to meet with the pastors and leaders of the churches. There were about 10 stations that were represented by the people who gathered here at Kangari today, since we didn’t have time to visit all the stations. The congregation has all the men sit in the front of the church with the women and children behind. The pastors all sit together to the side. We had a good discussion with them and pray that the spirit would continue to instruct them in the Word that they may proclaim His Word faithfully.

After our meeting we were invited to join the church pastor and leaders for lunch. We were served rice with mixed vegetables like cabbage, carrots, onions and a kind of green pepper. Chicken and African “tortillas” were also served. After that we were offered a dessert of mixed fruit with bananas, papaia, and other Kenyan fruits. After more visiting we said our goodbyes. I was really hoping to be able to see Mt. Kenya, but once again it was covered by the clouds! This will probably be the last chance we have to see Mt. Kenya on this trip.

As we were getting ready to leave, we found that Paul’s car wouldn’t start! His battery was dead again. So one of the locals brought a battery and a couple of wrenches. We assumed that they were going to switch out the batteries, but to our amazement (and fright) they were going to jump it. Not with jumper cables, but by connecting the terminals of the two batteries with the metal wrenches! Believe it or not, it worked! (Disclaimer: Please do not try this at home without a professional African mechanic! Thank you!)

So finally at around 3:30 we began our return trip back to Nairobi. We had a little bit of trouble on the way back. Just as we were coming out of Nyeri, we ran into a traffic jam. At first we thought it was because of all the people heading back into Nairobi after the holiday weekend. But as we continued along we found out it was an accident. A matatoo (mini bus for public transportation) had crashed into the dividing wall. The matatoo was pretty beat up, but it didn’t look like anyone was hurt. After that it was smooth sailing back to our hotel.

Tomorrow we leave for the 400 km (250 mile) trip to Kisii so we have to do some re-packing. We have too much luggage to take all of it to Kisii, so we are going to leave some bags here and pick them up when we return. We have a number of bags that have to go to Kisii, and will stay there, so we hope that we will have enough room to take everything to Arusha next week.
We are all doing well, and are staying healthy. We thank the Lord for that as well as for all the progress we have made with the work here. Thank you all for your prayers.

In His service,

Nathanael