Thursday October 16th 2008

We drove 2 hours out of Nairobi to visit a friend who built a house from mud, similar to the old cob method in England or Adobe in America.  It was quite a trek as they were fixing the road and the dust was unbelievable, we could hardly see where we were going.  But it was worth the hair-raising drive, as we entered their property we saw wild giraffe eating the tree tops and gazelles bouncing along the road.  The kids were immediately excited and forgot about the horrendous journey to get there.

The house was absolutely gorgeous and gave us a lot of ideas for Sudan.  Like us, they don’t have running water, electricity or a phone.  And the design of their house was breathtaking.  We are having 3 guys coming out of Sudan to train and learn how to build using this method. 

We left there and went straight to the airport to pick up Jim (one of our board members) and 2 others coming to Kenya to teach at the Calvary Chapel East Africa pastors conference.  Jim will go into Sudan with Sabet on Monday.

This blog was written on Sunday 12th October but I couldn’t get online top post it! 

It was so nice to go to church today.  We didn’t make it last week due to jet-lag and waking up at 11am!  So now we are fully adjusted to the 10 hour time difference.  The church, which has changed pastors since I was in the USA, has really grown.  I saw many families, missionaries and friends.  It was good to catch up with everyone. 

So we have a 5 ton truck to fill by Thursday and I decided to go back to Nakumatt this afternoon to finish the grocery shop for our compound food in Tonj.  I took 4 guys from the store around with me as I purchased 4 huge carts full of food.  When I went into the store it was beautiful sunshine and when I came out 2 hours later, it had poured with rain!  I could hear the downpour banging on the metal roof while I was shopping.  Thankfully the rain had stopped so we could unpack, repack, box and weight every box for the truck up to Loki in Northern Kenya.  There it will be stored and flown in when we have flights coming.  1 of the 5 tons will come in on a flight on the 22nd, so I am busy prioritizing that cargo and making sure it is clearly marked and seperated.  This week is going to be a crazy one as we prepare for teh arrival of

 

Today was so much fun.  We set out with our shirts on to walk at a safe location in Nairobi, called Jaffrey’s.  It’s a Muslim center but we walked AND prayed 13 laps or 5 km and covered that place in prayer!  We had our shirts with scripture on for everyone to see and we prayed God’s Word out loud for so many things.  Sabet took a lap and then I took a lap!!  As we prayed back and forth, walking with the kids and having the same shirts people were watching us.  We had the peace of the LORD Jesus and really enjoyed praying for the prayer walker’s in San Diego who haven’t walked yet (we’re 10 hours ahead)!  Thank you to all of you that sponsored us!

Today was a national holiday in Kenya and I forgot that Kenya has so many public holidays in October…3!  So we worked anyway because we have so much to do to be ready to leave for Sudan.  Everything was closed though so we were limited on what we could do.  I decided that making a dent in the 6 month Sudan grocery list would be good and Nakumatt was open today.  We have to buy enough food to fill a 5 ton truck to go to Lokichoggio in Northern Kenya next Thursday that will then get flown into Tonj as we have flights and need it.  This 6 month shopping extravaganza is overwhelming and really takes some planning.

So armed with 4 carts and 2 Nakumatt employees helping, we made a start on the list today.  We knew it would be a chore, so we took the kids to a playground first to run off some energy before spending several hours shopping!  They’re favorite place to go…Java house for a yummy strawberry milkshake!

On our way home, with the car loaded up with shopping, we decided to check on a friend from the USA visiting another minstry here in Kenya.  We met Melody years ago at North Coast Calvary and soon after she moved to Florida.  Last year we got to meet her again when we drove around Fl and we even stayed one night in her house.  When we got to the guesthouse she was staying at, we totally surprised her!  That was fun!  The LORD though really impressed it on our hearts to stop and say Hi even though we were tired from shopping.  This is a good reminder to listen to the Holy Spirit prompting as we found her colleague very sick and were able to pray for him and run to the pharmacy to get some medicine. 

Tomorrow’s the prayer walk to raise money for our medical clinic in Sudan and we plan to get up early and walk and pray here.