Sunday, April 4, 2010

A Deep Breath - Part 2

The trip started out a little rough Friday night when the boys realized they had left their Ziploc baggie containing their life’s collection of DS games on the plane. We did all we could, but they are gone, all except for the games they had in their DSs. Saturday Devin even hopped a ride out to the airport to talk with security, but no luck. We walked around the nice, clean streets, where flowers were for sale and also growing on every corner. It was hot, but probably 20 to 30 degrees cooler than Nigeria! We even went to a mall and bought a new book for Jack.
On Sunday, we worshipped with the Reynens and were treated to an American accented sermon ala Mike Reynen. The worship even included “American” songs we knew and they used an overhead projector with handwritten words to let us sing along. This church is in a bit more affluent area, so it was a wonderful drive through plush, green well-maintained roads to get there. Their children’s building had deteriorated and they demolished it, then dug 18 feet to bedrock to begin the new foundation (by hand, of course). The walls were starting to go back up. Their children’s program must have been great, since the boys begged to go there again the next Sunday (we didn’t).
Then on Sunday afternoon we went to the Massai market, where Jack put his negotiating skills to use and talked the price down from 6000 to 2500 for their weapons collection. Next was another example of God’s timing. Jack read all the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books last year, and saw at Christmas that the first would be made into a movie by spring. He was so bummed to have to miss it – but, thank God, it was still showing at a lovely theatre near the Mayfield! The screen and sound were a big improvement on our Wenatchee theatres, and there were only two other people in the theatre, so it was no problem to have Ben and his running commentary. Wonderful! We followed that up with a pizza dinner. Yeah, baby!
Monday morning we left for 5 nights at Sopa Lodge on Lake Niavasha. It was an experience of a lifetime. There were giraffes, zebras, monkeys, hippos, and water buck right out our floor-to-ceiling windows. There were two beds big enough for four! All meals were included and buffet style, with 14 tables of food (we think) and tea twice a day. There was a beautiful swimming pool and it was a gardener’s dream – so many of the abundant plantings were labeled and it even told where they were from. The grounds and staff were incomparable. We’ll have to send pictures. It was just too amazing.
Tuesday we woke up and left by 6:30 am with our huge boxed lunches in hand. Vickie and Sopa had arranged for a safari! We were driven by a wonderful man, Mr. William, to Lake Nakuru National Park, a game reserve about an hour’s drive away. Nairobi is really quite modern and beautiful, with a real metropolis of a downtown. The buildings become more rustic as you climb up and out of town. Everywhere it is as green as the Northwest, but the dirt is red and the trees are a larger, wilder canopy. Before long, the left side of the road drops off to the great Rift Valley. Many, many greenhouse operations and camps full of workers to support them are along the road out to Nakuru. We were surprised to see huge cactus trees similar to the ones we saw down in the Baja. Nakuru is a city of perhaps 400,000, but definitely not as modern as Nairobi. We drove through busy market streets, with many of the buildings painted as art, and on to the park. We got coffees with real milk at the entrance café (we don’t get milk in Nigeria, just the powdered stuff).
We saw a traditionally dressed Massai holding a Rhinocerous beetle right at the entrance. Our advice is to go on a Tuesday, as we only saw 5 or so other vehicles the whole day. I think Jack will have to post the list, but (other than elephants and leopards), we saw about everything you think of when you think Africa. We were just feet away from these amazingly varied creatures. We even saw a Black Rhino, which is very unusual as they are quite shy. Hard to figure being shy with a three foot horn like that, but we believed our driver. We ate our lunch as we watched a pride of 9 lions. Actually, we ate our lunch all day and had plenty to share with our driver. The only mishap was when Ben generously threw his apple core to a big baboon. I was VERY nervous, since the big critter could have easily jumped right into the popped top of the van to eat MY apple, but we have no conflict to report. The boys went for a dip in a waterfall about half way through the drive. We circled the lake, climbed up on a bluff, and returned a different way. It was incredible. We returned to the hotel by 4:30, being drenched by the rain on the drive home, but dry during the safari!
At the hotel, we picked up tea and a biscuit, not because we were hungry but because we could. We sat on the patio and watched monkeys leaping around the building and tree tops. One monkey came and sat under our table, hoping for a treat. The boys were thrilled to see another monkey enter the lodge, and return quickly, looking very guilty but pleased, with a donut in his mouth and one in his hand!
Wonderful, solid sleep with nobody needing anything from us first thing in the morning, a sauna for Mom, and then the other missionaries arrived by noon on Wednesday. We got big hugs from Stephanie Harris and from Alice (Black) Matthewson, from Wenatchee. We had stars in our eyes, I am sure, meeting a bunch of our heroes who have served in Africa for up to 40 years! The boys really got attached to Timmy Trier, who has been in Ethiopia since fall and is a year older than Jack. Unfortunately, Phyllis chose to cancel in order to help the boy Uduak, who will be receiving radical treatment for cancer at the Mayo clinic. Devin really hit it off with Ryan Willson and had just a wonderful time discussing geeky technology things. He needed a fix, certainly. The boys had wonderful childcare in the morning sessions, playing tennis and swimming and generally goofing around.
The conference had a lot of spiritual nourishment, some financial management stuff, contingency planning, and some work toward developing member care. It was fun to have the monkeys running across the roof while we were in session. Every night and every meal, we had a chance to hear about what things FMC is doing in Africa, and to get to know the other missionaries. For us, just sitting down with Stephanie and sort of venting on our experience here was of very high value. It was great to have a bunch of folks who could relate to what we are dealing with on a daily basis. So much has happened that we just can’t write down!
Each afternoon included some free time, and we could stroll the grounds with the zebras and giraffes all around. We took a lot of reading materials, but didn’t read as much as just sit or walk and enjoy the sounds and sights for long periods of time. Each evening after the last session we had entertainment. I’ll need to have the boys tell you about the Auction, as it was definitely a highlight of our time in Africa so far.
After the days at the Sopa, we were spoiled again at the Mayfield. It was such a great feeling being welcomed back by name, especially Ben, who made a lot of friends with the staff there the weekend before. That Sunday we worshipped at the Baptist church right next to the Mayfield. It is a huge church with flat screen TVs and the works. Awesome worship! They also gave sections of palm to all the kids and then had them march up and down the aisles as we sang Hosanna songs (it was Palm Sunday). We went to the Nairobi Museum and it was excellent. Great up and coming artists, an excellent natural history museum with about every bird and their wonderfully diverse nests on display, along with the African animals you imagine. There was a level on one wing dedicated to the tribes of the past and present and their coming of age traditions, garments, ceremonies, etc. It was VERY interesting. There was a snake museum right across the street, but we saved our money to go to the supermarket. We were small town folks, skipping events in Seattle and opting for a Trader Joes fun, now I guess we’re bush folks. We walked through downtown and around the government buildings, but because it was Sunday, many of the shops were closed.
Monday morning we woke up at 2:30 a.m. Nigeria time for our ride to the airport, and arrived home by 7:30 p.m., so happy. As we pulled up, the 25 boarders from the camp were all running toward us. Those Fulani kids really express their love! It was so great. Ben had fallen asleep about 20 minutes earlier, so he missed sharing in those joyful moments, but the kids were loving on him just the same. It’s been a fun week for the boys as they realized they do have friends here that they had missed.
Thanks to our sponsors for supporting this time of refreshment, learning, and fellowship. We feel so blessed to add on the vacation days and have time to really relax, because it was a lot of travel. It was a good time to just step away and get a little perspective. We are certainly getting to know God better. We were faced with a few things that really had us shaking our heads before 8 a.m. on Tuesday, but we could shake it off with a smile :)!

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