The rest of our team will fly out of Kenya in 30 minutes. They did not board the plane the way you do after a two week rest in Hawaii. They were exhausted! The pace we have set for the past two weeks has been intense. Give Selma Robb a big hug when she comes off the plane in Seattle, she deserves it. I so appreciate and admire everyone who makes this trip with us. It is indeed, life changing. Most of us in the U.S. never, see this kind of stuff in our lifetime. To get up close and personal with the poor, the forsaken, the hopeless and the desperate is truly touching and disturbing. But it is truly a blessing to be able to be a blessing to these people. Britta and Kendall Carson are off to rest in Amsterdam for 4 days before coming home. Please greet them on the other side for us. We made a great team.
Today we visited the Kimbo well on the way to the airport. Several years ago Worldcomp dug a well in the city of Kimbo, just outside of Nairobi. The drill struck and inexhaustible supply of clean, fresh water (an aquifer). For three years now this well has not stopped serving the people of Kimbo. The church used to have one tank with 4 spigots to serve the people, but because of the thousands of people coming for water daily they now have 5 tanks with 4 spigots on each one. We stood and watched today as hundreds of people lined up with their 5 gallon buckets to draw water. Pastor James Wesonga said that since the well has started to provide water to the community the church has been blessed beyond measure. Their 1885 seats are filled twice every Sunday morning. The city planned to build a new road in front of the church and told the church they would have to tear down some of their buildings and move their main water tank back 25 feet, but before they could get to it they had a visit from the Vice President of Kenya who had heard from the district governor about the work the church was doing in the district. The vice president took one look at what they were doing and told them they would not have to do any remodeling at all, instead they would remodel the new road. The Lord blesses those who bless the poor.
Tomorrow morning we head out for the funeral of Bishop John Kamau in the city of Narok. He will be buried on the family farm, 10 kilometers outside of Narok and believe it or not the family is preparing for 1000 people in the middle of a field. Something extraordinary happened while the family was meeting at the church to plan the funeral. In through the doors came all the Bishops in the region from every denomination. John had spent many years trying to get them to come together in unity for the work of the Lord. He had personally visited each one to encourage them. Now as he went to be with the Lord they decided to come together to honor him. They literally took over the planning of the funeral and set a budget of 600,000 Kenya Schillings ($7,500). It will be the most elaborate funeral that has ever happened in Narok. While the Bishops were meeting the governor of the region sent his aid to the meeting with a gift of 100,000 Kenya Schillings. Believe me, this is unheard of. I’ll report on the funeral tomorrow.
Wow, what a time.
More tomorrow.
Richard